Blue Monday

An aptly named Blue Rock Thrush at Esashi last Monday.................

Some more early April birds.........

We were out west on Monday.................

2017 Best of #8

Some more photos from earlier in the year................

An autumn camping trip

We just got back from a 2 night camping trip..................

Another long and fruitless day

We were up bright and early for another long day in the spring sunshine...............

More visitors to the pool

 About a dozen species visted the small pool in the forest...............

A blue start to the day

A long long day started in a park to the north of Hakodate...................

A windy Monday

Yesterday we were on the west coast.......................

A baby fox.................

We went up Mt Hakodate this morning................

Snow snow snow

A lot of snow fell the last few days.....................

A pursuit of Bluetails

A male Red Flanked Bluetail in Goryokakyu Park this afternoon. It was very dark and the above shot is a big crop with lowish shutter speed and highish ISO.

I spent a few hours the last couple of days chasing this very active species around the park. They are a common passage visitor and I see loads of them every spring and autumn but can never get any decent shots, they are just too fast for me.

Yesterday had better light, there were 2 females and 1 male.

The females at least have the blue tail.................

Today was the opposite, 2 males and a female.

I hope they stick around for a couple more days. Just one shot a male close up in good light with a nice background, please.......................................

Yesterday an Osprey flew up the tiny river near my flat and today one was hunting over the moat in the park, it dived but on the other side of the park and I couldn't see if it came up with anything as I was busy getting frustrated with the bluetails. There was also a flock of 10 or so Common Crossbill but I couldn't get close to them. Other stuff included a few Dusky Thrush, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and lots of the common breeders such as White Wagtail, Oriental Greenfinch and Great Tit.

Last week I bit into a baguette and as the bread was a bit hard I cut the inside of my cheek and got a huge blood blister. Foolishly I popped it and now I have a huge great big mouth ulcer there. Hot food, spicy food, salty food...............all no-nos. At least beer soothes the pain...................


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Linked to WBW.

Mugged

We spent a long day in Onuma today, it was the first warm day of the year. Not many summer visitors yet but they are arriving every day, Eastern Crowned Warbler and Russet Sparrow made their first appearances of 2012 and there were lots of Japanese Thrush singing. All the common stuff was around including this female Black Woodpecker.

I really wanted to get photos of 2 species this spring: Mandarin Duck and Japanese Grosbeak. They are both so wary I may have to rethink my strategy, I even looked online at portable blinds.............maybe next year.

The tame Nuthtaches stalked me through the forest begging for food, they practically mugged me. At least I could get some different poses in different locations.

In Kamiiso this morning I saw the first Red Cheeked Starlings of the year as well as the first Wryneck, not much else around though. The last week in Hakodate was pretty quiet although yesterday a flock of Bewicks Swan was wheeling over the neighbourhood on their way north.

The felling of the trees last winter along the river means not many places for migrants to rest, all I could find this week were lots of Japanese Bush Warbler. A small copse remains in a private Go-Karting track and there were 2 Red Flanked Bluetails there, very hard to get a photo of (plus I looked like a pedophile shooting over the fence with my biggish white lens). This female was the best I could manage.

A big holiday week starts tomorrow, I have a few days day off coming up from Sunday so hopefully the migrants will continue arriving.

I didn't watch the Barcelona/Chelsea game but I'll probably get up to watch the Manc derby...................I haven't even thought about Euro 2012, I can't remember being so indifferent about an international tournament before...................so maybe England will surprise me.

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On this day (April 28th)

April 28th 2009.

Actually a day early but this week has been so uneventful I have literally nothing to post.........

The above pic shows a Japanese White-eye in the cherry blossoms near my flat 2 years ago. It must have been a warmer spring 2 years ago as the cherry blossoms are nowhere near open yet in 2011.

This has been a very quiet last week or so: cold wet weather, a busy schedule and ongoing nerve pains as a result of my slipped disk has meant very little action. I've had a couple of brief excursions but only Dusky Thrush, Hawfinch and Bullheaded Shrike are around. There were some Brambling around a few days ago and I had a brief fleeting glimpse of an odd looking bird from my window last weekend, it could have been a Woodcock. Or perhaps just a pigeon being weird.

2 years ago on this day there were lots of stuff around right near my flat, not only the White-eyes but also this Short Tailed Bush Warbler, not a bird I often get to photograph.



And this female Red Flanked Bluetail too.........



Unfortunately a lot of the trees and bushes along the river where I took the above 2 shots have gone as Hakodate City Hall have 'improved' the river (I wish they had picked up all the festering garbage at the same time). There really haven't been any migrants so far this spring in the handful of trees and bushes that have escaped the chainsaws.

On the same day 2 years ago there were a couple of very tame Crossbills in the park.



This one is uncropped.



Lots of stuff around 2 years ago but SFA around now, at least near my apartment.

I hope the weather improves soon, I have several days off coming up........

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Grey days

An Osprey just outside Hakodate a couple of days ago................

It's been a grey old week, cool enough for a light dusting of snow on the hills but not cold enough for any of it to fall in town yet. The skies have been grey all week.............

This Grey Heron looked a bit odd perched on top of a house just around the corner from my flat.

I messed up the Osprey shot, my settings were all wrong as I had forgotten to change them from the week before (it was set up for BIFs on a sunny day basically).

Lots of birds on the move now. Large numbers of Dusky Thrush especially as well as lots of common ducks at various locales. Nearer home today there were lots of small birds in the thinning vegetation alongside the river including Red Flanked Bluetail and Japanese White-eye, it was too dark for any decent shots though.

In the same place were Coal, Varied and Great Tit, Daurian Redstart, Bullheaded Shrike, Rustic and Blackfaced Buntings,  Hawfinch, Japanese Bush Warbler, Grey Starling and Dusky Thrush.

I also saw a rather lost looking Salmon splashing around in the tiny river............

Looking forward to the Ashes, this blog started just under 4 years ago when England were getting hammered 5-0, hope it is a totally different outcome this time. In the footy I've given up on Liverpool and England for a while, caring about them and their results after the previous 12 months showings has brought nothing but misery. So hopefully the cricket will bring some cheer..........

I missed that BBC show about Lee Evans and other famous twitchers, BBC's iplayer doesn't work outside the UK (dunno why, I'd even pay for it if I could) and birding documentaries don't seem so popular on torrent sites either.........

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Golden Week 2010 #2

An Asiatic Chipmunk and Siberian Stonechat.

We got up very early this morning and drove to the top of Mt Hakodate. It was windy but clear and not too cold. It wasn't a vintage day for migrants but it wasn't so bad; Blue and White Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Siskin, Rustic, Siberian Meadow and Black Faced Buntings, Nuthatch, several species of Tit, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese and Dusky Thrush (and other unidentified thrush species), Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, lots and lots of Japanese White-eye, Siberian Stonechat, Japanese Robin (heard only), Red Flanked Bluetail, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Asian Stubtail and Japanese Bush Warbler.

Lots of Bluetails, I'm still searching for the elusive good shot of one.

Black Faced Bunting were everywhere. Another common bird that I find hard to get a good shot of.

There are lots of Chipmunks in the forest that always pose nicely.

Yesterday we went to Asabu, Shiriuchi and Kikonai. I was hoping for some interesting waders. Common Sandpiper, Grey Tailed Tattler, Little Ringed Plover and this Whimbrel were the only shorebirds on show however.

At Asabu there were lots of Skylark, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Reed Bunting and Stonechat. At Shiriuchi I managed to see this species: Whiskered Tern. A new species for my Japan list (I've seen them in Australia and India before).

An awful photo. I only saw it for a few seconds before it flew off. My settings were all wrong so it was horribly underexposed, I didn't even have time to notice the zoom was only at 220mm so it's a 100% crop too.........still, a pretty nice find and the 3rd rare Tern I've found in the last 5 springs (Caspian in 2006 and Gull Billed Tern last year were the other 2).

It was a pretty dark day yesterday, here are a couple more poor underexposed shots. A Little Egret (a species which isn't so regular up here in Hokkaido) and an Osprey.

Other stuff from yesterday included Red Breasted Merganser, Goosander, Harlequin Duck, Red Necked Grebe and Great Egret.

We went back to Kikonai this lunchtime (the Tern and most of yesterday's stuff had gone) and added Pale Thrush to the list of new migrants for the year. This Whooper Swan will probably stay the summer. Is it old? Is it injured? Is it just plain lazy?

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I watched the footy last night. Liverpool were pretty embarrassing, I don't think Gerard's backpass was deliberate but I can understand why some people might think it might have been. Looks like we'll finish 7th, a disaster of a season...............the worst one since the days of Souness. I don't think Benitez will stay but who would want a job at a debt-ridden club with a pretty poor squad and impossibly high expectations?

At least I can start looking forward to the World Cup....................until England start playing that is. More emotional torture in the middle of the night, can my nerves stand it?