East Hokkaido Trip 2007 #2

We got up early on the 3rd day to check out the woods near Furen-ko. The woods at Shinkunitai (sp?) are currently inaccessible (a storm last year blew trees onto the boardwalk) so we went to a different location just a couple of miles away. It was a great location. If you could imagine a perfect forest this would be it. Tolkienesque and full of birds. Japanese Robin were abundant s were Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, Bullfinch, Red Flanked Bluetail, 5 species of Woodpecker including White Backed and this male Black Woodpecker.







As difficult for a novice like me to get a decent pic of as the ones at Onuma. Why can't they be as easy as this Coal Tit?




We then headed north up to Shiretoko via Notsuke-hanto, a well known coastal spit. Very handy for pics of Japanese Crane and White Tailed Eagle.





There were also quite a lot of waders around. Eastern Curlew and Mongolian Plover (in summer plumage) were new for the trip but surprisingly I didn't see any Redshanks (this being one of the few places where they breed in Japan). I saw lots last year here . Actually there were far fewer birds than last year (it was a week earlier though plus wthe previous winter had been much colder than this time round). In 2006 there were huge rafts of seaduck offshore of 6 species. This time there were only a few small groups of Scaup and Black Scoter. Much nicer weather in 2007. We walked down to a popular tourist attraction. Some dead trees. And they looked just like dead trees. That was 40 minutes of my life I'll never get back.




We the headed up to Shiretoko for 2 nights camping. It was here things began to go awry. It was because of these animals.



The campsite was ok. It was actually only a few hundred yards away from where we'd seen several Brown Bear last autumn. The campsite was protected by a rather flimsy looking electrified fence (a smart bear however could just amble up through the main entrance). It didn't stop the deer though. And here lieth the problem. After quite a lot to drink my wife saw some deer at night and came running over to tell me. Unfortunately she tripped over the guy rope and broke a small bone in her ankle (we only found the latter fact out today). That severely curtailed any activity for the rest of the holiday. I have to say it's getting funnier now I look back on it. Blame it on those deer.

This deer looks like a kangaroo.



Birds around the campsite included more Woodpeckers (Black being the best), Woodcock, lots of White Rumped Swift, the ultra cute Hokkaido race of of Long tailed Tit as well as the common Warblers and Flycatchers. Several White Tiled Eagle flew over and at night we could hear an Owl (Ural Owl I think).

Shiretoko is a beautiful place and is (almost) unspoilt. It's better in autumn scenery wise though.



Amazingly a river in Japan with no concrete in view.

Whilst in Shiretoko we went to Tofutsu-ko. This is a lagoon supposedly good for birds. Several White tailed Eagle were here, a few Long tailed rosefinch plus a smattering of the commoner Ducks and waders. We were too early for one specialty (Middendorf's Warbler), another specialty doesn't seem to occur anymore (Yellow Breasted Bunting) and I couldn't find the other 2 (Yellow Wagtail and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker). There were lots of Black Browed Reed Warblers everywhere.



And that was it for birding. The weather closed in and next day we headed south in rain and heavy fog to central Hokkaido. We stayed one night near Minami-Furano (in a log hotel with the best food I've eaten in Japan) and drove back home the next day. Just 150km from Hakodate this happened.



A puncture. Thank the lord we had joined JAF (Japanese Auto Federation) last week. A man came and fixed the wheel and we got back late last night.............

East Hokkaido Trip 2007 #1

A reflection of me in a horse's eye in Hidaka.




We drove over to East Hokkaido on Sunday May 27th. The weather was lousy most of the day unfortunately. Not much to see early on except the numerous Ospreys fishing on every river. We stopped at Mukawa near Tomakomai. This is an estuary well known for waders. Rather typically for Japan the pools that the waders and wildfowl all congregate on have been drained. There were still waders around though including about a thousand Red Necked Stint, many coming into summer plumage. Other waders included Dunlin, Whimbrel, 7 Bar Tailed Godwit (a Japanese first for me), plus the inevitable Grey Tailed Tattler and Little Ringed Plover.





A Lathams Snipe. One of the commonest roadside birds of the trip (along with Stonechat and Bullheaded Shrike) with a display flight and song that has to be witnessed to be believed.


We headed east after Mukawa, saw our first Japanese Crane of the trip and camped at Urahoro. Actually we really didn't camp as such. We rented a tiny bungalow as it was pouring down. The weather cleared and it was absolutely freezing at night (it was 1.5 degrees celsius). The campsite itself was pretty good for birds. Specied we saw here included Siberian Blue Robin, Brown Thrush, Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, the usual common Tits and Nuthatch, Narcissus, Brown and Blue & White Flycatcher, Hawfinch and Oriental Cuckoo.




In sunny weather we headed eastwards after bagging our first White tailed Eagle of the trip to Cape Kiritappu. This is one of several well known capes in east Hokkaido. There used to be Tufted Puffins nesting just offshore but I think these are long gone. A male Siberian Rubythroat was singing just behind some unused fast food stands in the carpark. Despite there hardly being any bushes it was still amazingly difficult to get a decent shot.






A Peregine came and caught a small bird. Stonechat, Black Backed Wagtail, Japanese Skylark and Reed Bunting were all common and one of these probably perished.



The Cape was a pleasant place to visit and the scenery was dramatic.




But also a bit reminiscent of a Hitchcock movie.



Just next to the cape was a small lagoon that had several Falcated Duck. Here's a crappy pic.



We finished the day out at Furen-ko. This is a well known birding spot and we stayed at Takeyoshi Matsuo's lodge at the lakeside. Actually he wasn't present but his helpful and friendly wife was. We just had time to pop out and see the sunset after seeing some of the common local stuff.........such as Japanese Crane.

Getting ready for a trip

A Jungle Crow mobbing a Black Kite. A rather low key birding week with nothing particularly exciting about. Here's a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker also at Onuma.




A male Mandarin at Onuma the other day.




I'm off on a 6 day trip on Sunday to east Hokkaido. Should get some nice species. I went twice last year and it's a pretty interesting place with lots of different habitats. Lakes, marshland, sea cliffs, mountains, forest and grassland.

Shame about the football the other night. I just knew Liverpool weren't going to score especially after Gerard fluffed those chances. Milan weren't even that good anyway.


Around May 25th down the years:

1984 (May 26th onwards) NE Scotland. A family holiday to Laggan Bridge. We often went there when I was a kid and stayed in the same cottage. Near the cottage were Twite, Siskin, various common waders breeding, Dipper, Ring Ouzel, Sedge warbler and Tree Pipit. Elsewhere I got Crested Tit and Wood warbler at Glenfinnan, Osprey at Loch Garten, my first ever Black Guilemot at Fort William plus Eider and Merlin at Arisaig.

1986 (May 26th) A big day in Lancashire. We were actually driven around by my friend's dad. We got a perfectly respectable 90 species (no Scope, no internet to get bird locations etc). No terribly exciting species. Bittern at Leighton Moss plus Little Gull and Little Tern at Seaforth being the most notable.

1989 (May 28th) Fairburn Ings. One of my rare forays into twitching to successfully get a Glossy Ibis.

1996 (May 26th) Ribble at Penwortham. Lots of migrants. Yellow Wagtail, Wheatear, Sedge warbler, Cuckoo and Common Tern.

1999 (May 29th) My first local patch Little Egret at Penwortham. Also around were Reed and Corn Bunting, Peregrine and (I think) a calling Quail. The latter is one of my 2 dodgiest local ticks. The other one being a Roseate Tern in May 1983. Hope the plans to develop the Ribble don't come into fruition.

2004 (May 26th) Mt Hakodate. All summer stuff present and accounted for including a singing Arctic Warbler.

2005 (May 25th) Yakumo. Good day for waders. Black Winged Stilt, Spotted Redshank (in summer plumage) and a lone Red Necked Pharalope (at close quarters instead of half a mile offshore).

Looking for waders

A Grey Tailed Tattler at Kamiso this morning. There were also around 20-30 Common Sandpiper, a male Scaup (see below), 2 male Shoveler and a few Teal.



We then headed up to Yakumo to check for waders. A flock of 20 or so Turnstone were the highlight, as well as more Common Sandpiper, Tattlers and a pair of Little Ringed Plover. Not much else though and certainly no interesting waders whatsoever. A few Ducks were still around. Wigeon, Shoveler and Scaup mainly. 2 Great White Egret were amongst the 30 or so Grey Heron. No smaller birds of note except for a male Reed Bunting and lots of singing Oriental Great Reed Warbler. Passerines tend to get more interesting towards the end of May. Several fishing Osprey were fun to watch. Here's distant one getting mugged by Black Tailed Gulls. It later lost its fish to a Black Kite......



We finished the day at Onuma. The usual commoner species were around but no real photo opps. Most interesting birds here were a group of Pacific White-rumped Swift and a (heard only again) Black Woodpecker.



The previous 72 hours saw almost non stop rain. On Friday we got out to Yunokawa and saw some small groups of Red Necked Pharalope about 500 metres offshore. Not the great spectacle of other recent years when calm clear weather allowed us to see tens or even hundreds of thousands close inshore. There were also some dark shearwaters too far out to ID. Sort Tailed Shearwaters probably.

Got drunk last night watching the dire FA cup final at the new Wembley. I was actually hoping for penalties when Drogba scored as it would have more exciting than anything in the turgid 120 minutes beforehand.

One word of advice for those traveling in Japan. If you ever stop at Hokka Hokka Bento and are tempted by the tasty looking picture on the menu showing the sirlon steak donburi don't be fooled. It's absolutely disgusting.

Around May 20th down the years:

Not much happening around this date..........what was I doing? Revising for exams I suppose (up to 1990 at least). Otherwise pretty quiet.

2005 (May 20th) 3 Little Egret and 2 Intermediate Egret flying over my neighbourhood. Also around were several Asian Brown Flycatcher. A couple of days later several Pacific White Rumped Swift flew over too.

2006 (May 21st) Set off on my first trip to East Hokkaido, visiting Furen-ko, Notsuke and Nemuro amongst other places. Japanese Crane, Blakiston's Fish Owl, Spectacled Guilemot, White tailed Eagle and lots of other goodies. You can read my report here

Spring continues

A Grey Tailed Tattler at Kamiso this morning.

Spring gathers pace in Hokkaido. A warm hazy spring day saw us get up very early and go up Mt Hakodate. Lots of common stuff around but no big falls of migrants alas. Most noticeable since last visit were the numbers of Narcissus Flycatcher. They were everywhere. Singing species included Siberian Blue and Japanese Robins, Oriental Cuckoo, Brown and Japanese Thrush, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Narcissus and Blue and White Flycatchers plus loads and loads of Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warblers. Non singing stuff included Red Flanked Bluetail and Pale Thrush. There were some unidentified things of course. A Pipit flew over without calling (or it could even have been a Yellow Wagtail as it was a very brief view and still quite dark) and god knows what the groups of finches were.

All the common resident species were around including this Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker.



We headed east to check for the Red Necked Pharalopes but they still hadn't arrived. Pelagic Cormorant, Brent Goose and Red Breasted Merganser were offshore but not much else. At Kamiso lingering winter species included Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Goosander. Grey Tailed Tattler were everywhere.



We headed out to Onuma in the afternoon. Many of the same singing species as Mt Hakodate were here. Some new birds for my 2007 list were Asian Brown Flycatcher and Japanese Green Pigeon (which has the weirdest call I've heard in Japan. It sounds like the Clangers from the 70's. Kind of.) The forest is becoming more overgrown and we heard lots of stuff but couldn't find it (like Black Woodpecker). Narcissus Flycatcher was abundant here too.



This is proving to be a bit of a bogey species as far as getting a dcent pic is concerned as is Mandarin Duck.



The Marsh Tits and Nuthatches are still ultra tame and easy to photograph.



Some depth of field issues with the Nuthatch pic (some parts are in focus and some aren't).

I'm already thinking about which lens I should buy next. 400 or 500mm? Do I need/can I even afford image stabilization? Canon? Sigma? Tamron? Tokina? New or second-hand?




So 2 more big games in the footy season (or 3 if you count England's must-win game in Estonia). 2006/7 was not really a vintage season although it will be a great one if Liverpool can beat Milan again. After that game we're going on a 5 night trip to east Hokkaido (we bought a tent and some camping gear today). We went last year in spring and autumn. Cranes, Eagles, Fish Owls, Bears and lots of other goodies.

Some more spring migrants

An Eye Browed Thrush in the local park this morning. There were 2 or 3 of them as well as a few Dusky Thrush all on their way north. Quite a few nice birds in the park. A female Narcissus Flycatcher, a female Red Flanked Bluetail, lots of Japanese White-eye and this singing Eastern Crowned Warbler.



Not great pictures. I've hit a ceiling with the lens I currently have. It's ok for record shots or blog photos like these (that hardly anyone ever sees) but it's simply too soft. Well I suppose it was the cheapest 300mm lens I could find. I'll have to wait a few months for the cash to splash on a better one. Aaargh-before that I have to pay car tax/local tax/ticket back to England/new tent......here's a non too sharp male Red Cheeked Starling.



And here's a Turtle in the moat of the aforementioned local park. I don't know if it's wild or introduced (although I see turtles at Onuma and on the local river sometimes too). And god only knows where they go in winter when the moat is frozen.



The park was full of retirement age men cutting the grass. I'm not joking there must have been over 50 of them. What a racket. And why do they need so many? Oh yeah. Full employment.

We went to Menagawa in the afternoon looking for Red Necked Pharalopes. Every year arriving around May 15-17 tens or maybe hundreds of thousands congregate offshore from Hakodate eastwards to Esan. Today was May 14 and there weren't any. A few Harlequin Ducks were the only things of interest on the sea. Yesterday we went to Yakumo and Onuma but the rain was so heavy I couldn't do much birding. A few Osprey. some passage ducks, no waders at all...........

Wryneck

A Wryneck at Yunokawa this afternoon. A very pleasant spring day and my first visit to the easternmost part of my patch for a while. The Wryneck was the most interesting species and Oriental Great Reed Warbler were the noisiest.



An abundant summer vistor to southern Hokkaido they seemingly sing from any bush near any water. They get bolder as spring develops and sing at the top of bushes so I should be able to get much better photos than this one.



Little Ringed Plovers has also arrived. Other species at Yunokawa included Stonechat, Chestnut Eared, Reed and Black Faced Buntings, Japanese Thrush, Blue & White Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail and the usual common stuff. Here are some photos from the last few days in Hakodate. A Stonechat today, a male Wigeon near my flat earlier in the week and a male Red Cheeked Starling in amongst the cherry blossoms a couple of days ago.









Yesterday in the local park there were lots of Japanese White-eye and a lone male Siskin. Not so many migrants though. Here's a couple of Slaty Backed Gulls relaxing in the park.