Shrikes and other stuff

There are 2 or 3 pairs of Bullheaded Shrike breeding nearby. These are pictures of a female only 2 or 3 minutes walk away. Very skittish and nervous and actually quite difficult to approach. Earlier in the week the weather was fine and sunny with lots of blue sky-ideal for snapping pictures of birds atop bushes.






The more boldly patterned males were much less accomodating and didn't pose for any nice pics.

The last few days have been cool and rainy. Not much of interest around my flat. A few Grey Wagtails are on the river, presumably this summer's immatures from further upstream. Oriental Great Reed Warblers are still singing and Red Cheeked Starlings are flying everywhere in small noisy groups. Last weekend I went to Yunokawa. The usual stuff was around including a family of Stonechats. Here's one of this year's fledglings.



And that's about it. I see Liverpool are buying loads more foreigners. No footie on TV now so I've been watching a few movies. On TV 'Planet of the Apes' (the recent remake) was a waste of 2 hours of my life (plus I found the fact one of the apes clearly fancied one of the humans just a little disturbing). 'Dog Soldiers' was better but got deleted off my hard drive immediately after watching. I don't need to see it again. I now have 'League of Gentlemen' seasons 2 and 3 to watch (I've never seen them).

Here's a picture to show how silly Japan can be. Bet you didn't know trashcans have an intelligent sense of humour.



Expats in Japan see this kind of random mangled English all the time. Nobody who makes or uses these products can actually understand English so any gibberish is ok. My personal fave is a savoury snack reveling in the name of 'homo sausage' which I found in a convenience store when I was living in Iwaki. Last week I saw a typical sour faced Japanese retiree walking down the street with a T-shirt boldly declaring 'I scored last night'. Dunno if he meant with a chick or he got a bag of weed. On the links to the right there's a site called 'engrish' which is full of this kind of stuff.

Quiet summer days

So I've been reduced to snapping pics of flowers now. It'll be bugs next probably. I have no idea what kind of flower this is or even if it's 'wild'. It was growing next to the local river anyway. Not much new in the way of birds about recently. It's been raining the last couple of days and my big toe on my right foot has been feeling a bit gouty again. We went back to Onuma again a couple of days ago as my wife wanted to see the baby Moorhens again.



And see them we did as well as young Coots, Narcissus Flycatcher with young, Osprey, some unidentified Cormorants roosting out in the middle of the lake (Great? Temincks?), Oriental Cuckoo and some of the commoner woodland resident species. Woodpeckers, Tits etc. I took my first Nuthatch pics for a while. Not the tame sunflower seed-eaters from winter but rather this one beating the f#*k out of some poor catapillar.





A bit hazy and over cast. Spring or autumn is better for pics of Komagadake.



Although all the decaying waterlilies (or is it lotus?) tend to turn half the lake into green slime in late autumn. Still at least they're still nice to look at now.



The Red Cheeked Starlings and Bullheaded Shrikes are as busy as ever on the river near my flat. I wish I'd worked out how to take a dcent shot of a bird outlined against a the sky. Even photoshop can't solve everything.







Around July 6 down the years:

1987 (July 4) A Little Egret at Freckleton. This was still a pretty scarce bird 20(!) years ago. Now apparently there's loads of them on the Ribble. I saw my first one in Penwortham in 1999 just before I came to Japan. in 2002 I visted a friend down in Devon and they were everywhere.

1987 (July 7-) A post A level 'lads' 2 week holiday to Mallorca. Great fun at the time but of course I cringe at the thought of visiting those kinds of resorts now. Lots of drinking and visting crappy Euro nightclubs, an embarrassing misunderstanding with a predatory elderly German homosexual (luckily I could still run quite fast in those days and used this ability once it finally dawned on me why he was buying me drinks) and a handful of new birds too. Audouins Gull was the best one (seen flying over our hotel), also Woodchat Shrike, Thekla Lark, Short toeed Lark and Sardinian Warbler. Here's a pic of me 20 years (and 20Kg) ago in Mallorca.



1996 (July 6-) Orkney. A 1 week camping trip to the Orkneys. The most northerly place I've ever been. I loved it. Even though it was barren and windy. No real darkness at night time in summer of course. Perfect for getting stoned outside the tent after returning from the pub in Stromness. One memorable day we walked miles and miles around all the neolithic sites and the most spectacular sea cliffs I've ever seen. Of course I moaned I was tired but I handled the Great Skua bombings better than my friend Jon. Finished up at Skarra Brae, the oldest 'village' in Europe. Some nice birds. The crossing was great (after a night's boozing in Thurso) with more seabirds than I've ever seen. I seem to be using the word 'ever' a lot today. Close views of Puffins and other alcids, Great and Arctic Skuas, colonies of Arctic Terns, Dolphins, Seals............and a night on the town in Edinburgh on our return to civilization.



2002 (July 10-) Yet another camping trip to Scotland, this time to Skye with my wife as part of our honeymoon (we did make it to Greece and Malaysia too). Very wet on the island and the midges were really bad too. We went to the same places as I had visited several years earlier. Birding highlights were the usual seabirds (lots and lots of Manx Shearwaters I remember), Grasshopper Warbler and Twite. The weather improved when we returned to the mainland at least.



2006 (July 5). Onuma. My first glimpse of Ruddy Kingfisher at Onuma.

Not too sure about the signing of Torres. Still he's got to be better than Bellamy for dressing room morale.

Food of the week has been fried tofu stuffed with shitake mushrooms, Japanese basil and cheese. And tinned pineapples and/or fresh strawberries for dessert.

Song of the week has been on my i-pod has been 'place to be' by Nick Drake.

TV shows of the week have been Shameless (season 3) and Blakes's 7 (season 3 sans Blake of course). Who's cooler? Kerr Avon or Frank Gallagher?

Pictures of Lily. And an Osprey.

We nosed around a corner of Onuma this afternoon. Waterlilies have taken over large portions of the lake and Moorhens poke around with their chicks.



Moorhens are a little scarce in Hokkaido, much more so than in the UK. Lots of small bird activity in the undergrowth at Onuma but no real photo ops. The usual cluster of birders with absurdly expensive wide aperture lenses were waiting for the Ruddy Kingfishers to return to their nesthole. I however couldn't be bothered braving the mosquitoes.

I could have done with an absurdly expensive lens earlier at Yakumo. Bright bright midday sunshine washed out my digiscoped Black Browed Reed Warblers and Stonechats leaving me with a camera full of crap pics. The DSLR shots were better but 300mm is not enough reach for skittish songbirds. The Grays Grasshopper Warblers were as skulking as ever.

An Osprey was fishing in the river. More incompetent camera work here. Not adjusting the settings after the Warblers I didn't have it set at a high enough shutter speed for action shots. Anyway here is a sequence of shots of a distant Osprey diving in the river and catching a fish.








Not much around Hakodate this week, Pacific Swift and Peregrine being the most interesting...........

Life in a Red Cheeked Starling colony

Had a bit of free time this afternoon so I checked the local river and Red Cheeked Starlings were everywhere. The male is a beautiful bird but I haven't really been able to get a decent shot with my DSLR. Today's were an improvement on previous efforts at least. They do spend a lot of time hidden in bushes though. Better than the ones I snapped up on the wires which were all predictably poor.



The females are pretty drab.



But like females everywhere they do all the real hard work when it comes to their offspring.





And here is a young one stepping out on the sidewalk. ISO was a bit too high on this pic alas.



Not much else about. Oriental Great Reed Warblers were still singing (at least 6 territories on the 1 km or so i walked down this afternoon) and this Bull Headed Shrike was watching the Starlings. Another crappy pic of a bird on a wire.

A few crappy pics of roadside birds

Some Asian House Martins nestbuilding around the lights at one of the local filling stations (or gas stands as they're known here). Lots of young birds around recently. Red Cheeked and Grey Starlings, Black Backed Wagtails, Spot Billed Ducks, Carrion Crows, Bull Headed Shrike and Oriental Great Reed Warbler have all seen with youngsters on the river near my flat.

Not much in the way of birding the last couple of weeks. I had an attack of gout. My father (and his father before him too) have it and it looks like I'll have to get used to it as I get older. Too much oily fish (which is supposed to be good for you FFS) and beer in 2007. Fish is a big thing here and I've been eating a lot of Sanma recently. Dunno the name in English but it's similar to sardines. My mother-in-law cooks it wonderfully in a sauce made from soy sauce and sweetened sake. Guess I'll have to cut down. The fish that is. Beer is a different story.

A lot of my recent pics have been snapped from the passenger seat of the car. Common roadside birds are Siberian Stonechat, Black Faced and Chestnut Eared Bunting, Bull Headed Shrike, Red Cheeked and Grey Starling and (in the right habitat) Oriental Great and Black Browed Reed Warblers. The problem is that they're usually perched on wires up above meaning it's very hard to get a good shot if they're silhouetted against a pale sky. I could get out of course but then of course they'll fly away. So here's a selection of crappy roadside birds. The first 2 are pretty poor and no amount of editing can rescue them. The Shrike isn't so bad maybe.









Summer is the slowest birding time around here. It's so overgrown everywhere, the weather is starting to get muggier and in a week or two the birds will stop even perching on overhead wires and get down to the serious business of raising families. And no football on TV. And I'm temporarily off the beer too because of the aforementioned gout. Thank god for torrents then. I watched 28 Weeks Later last night on my PC. A bit crap I have to say. The first movie, 28 Days Later was much better. The follow up was obviously aimed at the US market. American characters and lots of chase and action scenes. One absurd scene with a helicopter pilot mowing down the infected 'zombies' with his helicopter blades was one of the most unintentionally funny things I've ever seen in a movie. And tonight? Scarface extended edition? Greek myth type nonsense in 300? Blake's 7 season 2 episode 8?

Here's a nice summery scene from near Onuma this afternoon that kind of reminds me of Europe.



And here's a 'castle' at Matsumae. Whilst it looks moderately interesting it is, in fact, a fake. The real castle burned down sometime last century. It is however the only vaguely historical Japanese architecture in the whole of Hokkaido (except for a few wooden houses from late Victorian times dotted about). Locals flock there in May to 'view' the cherry blossoms in the castle grounds.




Around June 24 down the years:

1985 (from June 25th). A post O level trip to NW Scotland with my dad and old birding pal Alban. Loch Garten, Insh Marshes, Rhun, Mallaig etc. Birds included Crested Tit, Osprey, Hen Harrier, lots of seabirds including Storm Petrel and Red Throated diver and several White Tailed Eagle too.

1987 (June 27). A 'big day' in Lancashire. Only 86 species. I think we were a bit hungover when we did this and gave up in the afternoon sometime.

1989 (June 22). Very hot summer and I went down to London to work in the long summer vacation between my second and third year at University. I stayed in Ilford/Leytonstone and didn't see many birds except for Great Crested Grebes dodging the rats in Valentines Park.

1990 (June 19-23). Ullswater. Camping with a friend after we'd finished our finals. We stayed near Glenridding, took various intoxicants sitting in front of the tent and did basically nothing. We managed to watch the England v Egypt World Cup game in the nearest pub and another night laughed as we listened to the radio as Scotland went out in the first round yet again. Sobering to think Italia '90 is probably the closest England will get to winning the World Cup in my lifetime. Birds? A male Pied Flycatcher was the only thing worth mentioning. A few days later I graduated and the rest of my life started.

1995 (from June 29). The Isle of Skye. Camping with an old friend named Jon. Surprisingly hot and hardly any midges. A memorable drunk and stoned night in the bar at the Sligachan was one of many highlights. Clifftop camping at Elgol was also very mellow. Why don't I do this kind of stuff anymore? The travelling not substance abuse I mean. Summer plumage Golden Plovers were the birding highlight. This was one of the best holidays in my life I have to say. Here's a pic of me with the Cuillins in the background.



I got that white T shirt at a Bongwater concert sometime in 1991(?) when I was completely wasted and decided that a tenner was a reasonable price to pay for a Bongwater t shirt (that was a lot of money for a T shirt in 1991). It was however my favourite T shirt but like so many things from that time it's now gone forever.

1999 (June 23). I arrived in Japan. I stayed in the crappiest city in Japan. Iwaki. I hated it. I mean really hated it. The city, the job, most of my co-workers, my flat, the weather. There was a river that I birded halfheartedly but it wasn't the best season. Osprey, Fan Tailed Warbler and Little Egret were the only things of interest. I'm sure it would have got much better from autumn to spring but I never got to find out as I transferred to Hokkkaido ASAP and life got better very quickly.

Summer stuff

A Little Ringed Plover Plover near Yakumo this afternoon. 2 adults with 2 youngsters in tow. It was rather warm today and the migration season has come to an end. Birding becomes fairly predictable from mid June in these parts. I did however discover adult Little Ringed Plovers can run faster than a car doing about 10 km/h.



We did a grand tour of Oshima today. First up was Asabu where there were lots of singing Oriental and Black Browed Reed Warbler, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Common and Oriental Cuckoos plus Siberian Stonechat. These birds are common pretty much everywhere across the region in summer. I got a Caspian Tern here last June but nothing quite so good today. An Oriental Honey Buzzard was the bird of the day en route to Yakumo. Yakumo had similar stuff to Asabu including several singing Grays Grasshopper Warbler and a few lingering winter ducks (including Scaup and Pochard). Ospreys were fishing in the river but too far away for a pic. Here's an Oriental Great Reed Warbler instead.




We finished at Onuma where the forest gets more amazonian every passing day. Several biders were waiting for the Ruddy Kingfishers to come back to their nesthole for the evening but there were too many bugs about for my taste. Dunno what this butterfly is (Swallowtail?) but it is something to photograph when there are no birds about.




Or I could try reptilia.




Lots of dead snakes on the mountain roads in summer.

I got a new bird last week. Little Cuckoo. I'd familiarised myself with their call and one was calling in the trees outside a friend's place where we were having a barbecue. It eventually flew off and allowed a brief view after my seventh beer. Oriental and Common Cuckoo were also singing. The next day at Menagawa there were TWO Little Cuckoos. A Hawfinch at my friend's feeder would have made a great pic if it hadn't been so late (ie it was getting dark and I'd already gotten drunk).

Some common roadside birds.A Chestnut Eared Bunting and some Stonechats.









So the footy season is over. Wonder if England will make it to Euro 2008? They'll have to win their 3 home games before they head to Moscow...............

I've been catching up with some of the torrents I've downloaded this spring. Blakes 7/Shameless/Dead Man's Shoes and Hot Fuzz have been the entertainment chez nous this week. I'd forgotten what a sarcastic bastard Avon was. And Hot Fuzz and Dead Man's Shoes offer somewhat differing vies of smalltown England.I missed Shameless (well I do live in Japan) the first time round.

Around June 13th down the years:


1987 (June 17th). Just after my A levels. Oh life was so easy then. St Bees Head and Leighton Moss. Shag, Fullmar, Gannet, Rock Pipit, Guilemot, Razorbill, Black Guilemot, Marsh Harrier and Reed Warbler.

1992 (June 16th). A 'big day' in Norfolk. Not very well planned and we failed to get 100 but still managed 3 lifers at the time. Barn Owl, Stone Curlew and Avocet. Also around were Bittern, Bearded Tit, Garganey, Little and Sandwich Tern, Egyptian Goose and Turtle Dove. One of only 2 visits to East Anglia in my life and my only visits to Cley and Titchwell.

1997 (June ?). A massive 5 day drinking binge in Prague. I was living in Munich at the time. Prague seemed a bit rundown after Bavaria or maybe I was just hungover the whole time. I lost the photos of this trip when I left Germany. Birds? On the bus back to Germany I saw a pair of White Storks atop a church in a quaint village somewhere in the Czech Republic.

2003 (June 15). Hakodate. An Intermediate Egret on the river near my flat.


2006 (June 18). Asabu. A Caspian Tern. Apparently a first for Hokkaido but I have no photo as proof. But it was. Oh yes.

Ruddy Kingfishers

I watched and photographed a pair of Ruddy Kingfishers at the nesthole today. Just off the road that skirts around the lake at Onuma. Quite a gathering. About a dozen or so photographers with an astonishingly large and expensive set of lenses. I actually digiscoped these images and my set-up looked pathetically small compared to some of the monsters perched on the various tripods assembled. The birds were very co-operative although any nesthole action was too quick for my digiscoping set-up (the birds were too far away for my cheap 300mm lens to get any decent shots). It was difficult to get a shot of them together. This was the best I managed.



It's been raining and thundering all day but I could get the Kingfisher shots in a small 2 hour rainless window. The forest around Onuma now is a mosquito infested riot of jungle-like green. Less than 2 months ago it was devoid of any leaves at all and had snow on the ground!

It was strange to do digiscoping again. Compact cameras have improved since I bought my set-up. More megapixels, faster shutter speeds etc. My humble 4mp one has fallen a bit of a way behind but there's no way I can update it after splashing out on the DSLR. Still, I'm reasonably pleased with today's photos even if the mosquitoes were pretty aggressive.






I was concentrating on the Kingfishers at Onuma but there were also Japanese Grosbeak, Treecreeper, Narcissus Flycatcher, Sand Martin, Brown Thrush and the usual common stuff around. The weather was great up until yesterday but I was a little birded out after the east Hokkaido trip. Only common stuff around my apartment including Oriental Great Reed Warbler.



These are very common summer visitors and can be heard noisily singing from pretty much any scrubby area near water. On the crappy river that flows through town near my flat there are 6 or 7 territories and they are abundant over at Yunokawa.



A Black Kite at Kamiso last Sunday. Not much else here........except more Oriental Great Reed Warbler of course.

So it's Estonia v England tonight. I'll probably watch it live on my PC (delayed transmission only on satellite TV here). It's morbidly fascinating watching just how bad England have been the last couple of years. Such a collection of highly paid superstars playing like a team of hungover Sunday morning park footballers who have only just been introduced to each other.

Around June 6th down the years:

1983 (June 5th) Ribble at Penwortham. 3 immature Little Gull flying upstream.

1989 (June 10th). Ribble at Penwortham again. Start of a really hot spell. Typical summer stuff included Cuckoo, Sand Martin, Common Tern, 3 singing Corn Bunting, Yellow Wagtail, Partridge.

2003 (June 4th) Japanese Green Pigeon and Arctic Warbler at Mt Hakodate were 2 species that brought up my 100 on my first yearlist in Hakodate. The next day at Yunokawa there was singing Black Browed Reed Warbler amongst other stuff.

2004 (June 9th) A barely glimpsed lifer at Yunokawa. Grays Grasshopper Warbler. Surely one of the most difficult birds to see in Japan.

2006 (June 5th) A very late second summer Glaucous Gull at Kamiso.