Autumn continues..............

We are in the middle of a beautiful spell of autumn weather..................

More birds in the gloom

Some more birds from the forest pool near Tomakomai.............

On this day (November 21st)

November 21st 2008.


A male Yellow Throated Bunting and a female (?) Rustic Bunting on a very autumnal day 3 years ago in Goryokaku Park.

The latter is a very shy species, this is probably the only half decent shot I've ever managed of one.........

Thanks for clicking this link.

Some spring waders

Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper, 3 waders from a long long spring day............

We started off very early and drove up Hakodateyama to check for migrants. There were quite a few birds around including lots of Red Flanked Bluetails, a bird I can never get a decent photo of. It was too dark and gloomy this morning for photos anyway. Other birds in the forest included Dusky, Brown and Japanese Thrush, Siberian Blue and Japanese Robin, Black Faced and Siberian Meadow Butnings, Japanese Bush Warbler, Japanese White-eye and Long Tailed Rosefinch. We didn't stay too long here, it looked sunnier to the east so we headed over that way.

Lots of stuff on the sea: Scaup, Red Breasted Merganser, Goosander, Harlequin Duck, Brent Goose, Pintail, Wigeon etc............our first stop was at Kikonai.

There were 7 species of wader here. Grey Tailed Tattler were the commonest, here's one with a Marsh Sandpiper. Like most of today's photos, some heavy cropping going on here.

And a lone Wood Sandpiper............

The other species were Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Whimbrel and Kentish Plover. There were 3 heron species. Grey Heron, Great Egret and Little Egret, just one of each plus a lone Whooper Swan that is always here. Did it just get bored of migrating north every summer? It looks fighting fit, is there such a thing as a lazy Swan?

Ducks here included a male Falcated Teal, a female Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Pochard. There were also a pair of Osprey but they were flying too high for any photos. Chestnut Eared Buting, Siberian Stonechat and Blue Rock Thrush were all singing, it was very springlike and even slightly warm.......

We then headed out to Matsumae, on the way I noticed 3 egrets in a field, 2 Cattle Egret and 1 Intermediate Egret. One of the Cattle Egrets was in full sumer plumage........

I think that's the first time I've seen all 4 egret species in one day in Hokkaido before. The 3 smaller ones are all fairly regular spring overshoots but Cattle and Intermediate are a little scarce.

This Rustic Bunting was in the same field..........

In Matsumae I had a couple of hours to kill whilst my wife looked around the cherry blossom park. There were a few Harlequins and Brent Geese on the sea, more Grey Tailed Tattlers and Common Sandpiper and a pair of Whimbrel........

Plus the inevitable Ospreys...........

We headed back to Hakodate and the rivermouth in Kamiiso. There were 4 Great Egret and 10 or so Night Heron which brought today's heron list to 6 species. Just before it got too dark a Black Tailed Godwit flew over, a local tick no less (#203).

Thanks for clicking this link.........

I'm exhausted.

So the Premier League season isn't over yet after all. God I hope Chelsea win on Sunday with a really controversial refereeing decision, just to see SAF's red spluttering rage.

Early morning in Onuma

A male Narcissus Flycatcher at Onuma this morning, one of many in fact.

I got up at 4.45am (!) in order to catch the earliest local train to the east side of Onuma. The forest was once again full of birds but it was a little overcast and this together with the increasing leaf cover meant photography was a little tricky sometimes. May is definitely the best month for birding but not for bird photography.

This Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was very photogenic though.

This was one of 4 Woodpecker species I saw today, the best was a briefly seen male Black Woodpecker. 

The Pygmy Woodpecker was very tame.

 

I took a couple of short videos of it. This one was with my compact camera.

And this was with the 7D and 100-400 lens, not ideal for a handheld video at all..........

Lots of summer visitors in the forest. Narcissus, Blue & White and Asian Brown Flycatchers, Japanese and Brown Thrushes, Short Tailed Bush, Japanese Bush, Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers,  Japanese Grosbeak, Russet Sparrow, Japanese White-eye, Oriental Cuckoo, Common Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Bullheaded Shrike, Oriental Turtle Dove, lots of Swallows and House Martins, Hawfinch, the usual resident Treecreepers, Tits, Nuthatches and Woodpeckers, Little Grebe, Coot, Red Cheeked Starling, Black Faced and Rustic Buntings.........

Here are some shots of male Russet Sparrows, not a bird I often get to photograph......

There were a lot of Marsh Tits too.

Treecreepers are a bird I struggle with, so fast and difficult to focus on.......

And here are a couple of record shots.

Blue and White Flycatchers are beautiful but I have yet to get a decent shot, only heavily cropped ones like this.

A male Rustic Bunting in summer plumage (not something we often get to see in south Hokkaido), shame it didn't come any close, this is another biggish crop.

Black Faced Buntings must be the commonest small bird in Onuma in the summer, here's a female.

The only waterbirds were Little Grebes and Coots...........

And here's a view of Mt Komagadake to finish with.........

Thanks for clicking on this link.

Guess I can start thinking about the World Cup now, only 4 weeks off. I'm old enough and wise enough not to expect much from England but that wisdom is always put to the test during the heat of a game and after a few beers....................

I may watch the FA Cup final this weekend and the 20-20 too (if it's on at a reasonable time). England might win a World Cup this summer after all................

*EDITED TO ADD*

I just approved some comments and they seem to have disappeared, apologies if you left a comment. They have gone somewhere in internetland, perhaps never to return..................

Winter begins..................

Heavy snow and subzero temperatures hit Hakodate yesterday, a little earlier than normal.

Just before the snow hit I walked down to the area around Hakodate docks to check if the Brent Geese had arrived (they hadn't). Not much around in the harbour area except these Harlequin Ducks......





The day before I'd been in Goryokakau Park, the Coot was still there as well as several Long Tailed Rosefinch which all flew off every time I got near.





The temperature was a bit higher today so I went back to Goryokaku park. 3 Wigeon were poking around on the moat.



The rest of the time I was trudging through the slush and playing hide and seek with some Buntings. 2 species including this superb male Yellow Throated.





Keeping it company were 2 Rustic Buntings.





So my book arrived. The colours were OK (I calibrated my screen) and the pics are sharp enough but about 50% of the photos are too dark. I guess this means my screen is too bright. Luckily I'd saved all the edited photos so could easily brighten them slightly. Now I have to decide if any of my pics from the last 3 weeks (since I ordered my sample copy) are worth putting in the revised edition. Once I'm happy with the revised edition I'll put it on sale. I've sold 13 of my calendars so far, thanks if you've bought one. The website is only in English I'm afraid, I guess that means no-one in Japan will buy it then.

Looking forward to the finale of the Shield next week. Can't wait in fact. I hardly ever watch TV shows these days but this one has had me hooked these last few years.

Lots more winter arrivals

Some Whooper Swans a few days ago on the outskirts of Hakodate. Lots of stuff arriving for the winter now. Around town in the last week the first Scaup, Goldeneye, Wren and Dusky Thrush have all arrived. And so has this individual.



The same Thayers Gull that has been on the local river the last 4 winters. Other Gull species have been arriving too, including this Glaucous Winged Gull on the beach at Kamiso this morning.



11 species of duck at Kamiso now as well as 3 Great Egret a few days ago too. We also went to Onuma twice in the last week and predictably took a lot of pictures of the tame regulars.





I could lie and tell you I didn't tempt them near my camera with sunflower seeds, but I'm too honest for such deceit.







Anyway I couldn't really photoshop those sunflower seeds away.........

A fox was hanging around waiting for some handouts too. Or eyeing the tiny birds that it would never be able to catch........







I was using the lens wide open which meant that although parts of the birds were often out of focus at least the background (bokeh) was nice. Very autumnal.







There were 5 species of Tit at Onuma including the above Varied Tits as well as Great, Coal, Long Tailed and Marsh Tits.



There were a few swans, grebes, ducks and egrets about too and lots and lots of Siskin though of course these weren't so tame.



Lots of small birds in Hakodate last week. Near my place I got Red Flanked Bluetail, Yellow Throated Bunting and lots of Rustic Bunting. This (and the Bluetail too) are one of my bogey species photo-wise. The best I could manage was this.



Here a few seasonal shots to round off.







Bird of the day was this species.





2 Daurian Jackdaw mixed in with the resident Large Billed and Carrion Crow at Onuma. There were also several Rook. Both species are pretty scarce autumn/winter visitors to Hokkaido and someone told us they weer around and we just manged to find them before sunset.

My Calendar finally arrived. You can buy it via the link if you want. A touch pricey for a calendar I agree but I have to say it looks OK. I don't make much profit, if you buy one the net profit will buy me 2 cans of beer. My book should be available soon too and I'll shamelessly plug that when it comes you can rest assured.

Just started watching 'How to lose friends and alienate people' which is pretty funny so far at least.

My other blog is still being experimented on. It'll be updated more often than this one, whether it'll replace this one is yet to be decided...........er I'll think about that later.