A day by a lake

We took our guests out to Onuma to show them the tame Nuthatches and Tits which were bang on form as usual. Later on we even bumped into another expat from Hakodate who goes birding. There were a few Japanese photographers looking for the Black Woodpeckers. I saw this female earlier in the day...........here's a crappy record shot.



There were still no Eagles on the ice though we did see a lone White Tailed Eagle fly over the lake. The lake is still pretty much frozen and the Whooper Swans were still present. As was the lone Coot which at least struck some interesting poses.







Like I said the lake was still frozen, perhaps about 99%.



My wife managed to drop her cellphonne into the other 1%. We bought here a new one later on and my god cellphones have come on a bit since I was last in the NTT Docomo shop. My wife's new one has 5 TV stations , a 5 megapixel camera, full internet capabilities, she can use it abroad and lots of other functions she'll never actually need. I want one. I'll get it when we come back from England......

I got some nice shots of the local Great Tits which are usually much less approachable than its' congeners.





The Varied Tits were also posing nicely.





As were the Marsh Tits.





And the Nuthatches.





A slightly different view of Mt Komagadake to finish off, this one from the southern side with the railway in the foreground. My father's hobby is taking pictures of trains but sorry dad there's no train going past and I was too cold and tired to wait for one.



A busy last few days. Should I get up at 5am and watch the Champion's League and then go out for a day's birding? I'll sleep on it. Still got sh*tloads of movies to get through too.........time for a beer followed by a bath I think.

Waxwings

I had a couple of spare hours yesterday and took a quick walk near my flat and was rewarded with a flock of over 100 Bohemian Waxwing.



Bang in the centre in town on a busy pedestrian street. They would fly down from the wires/TV antennae, snaffle a load of berries and fly off again. In very poor light it was difficult to get many good shots. I also had to dash to and fro across a very busy road just in front of the local Police HQ. Locals stare at foreigners anyway and my apparently strange behaviour made all their birthdays come at once.





Only 1 of the 2 species of Waxwing were present in this flock. The other one, Japanese Waxwing, han't graced Hakodate with its' presence yet this year. The shots where they're sitting on top of people's house were ok but when they all swarmed down onto the ground I could only get burred or dark images that photoshop can't rescue. They do like their berries though, even the wizened withery looking ones on Hon-cho.







Blue sky would have been nice. High ISO settings and problems with exposure settings (once again I forgot to change settings at the wrong moments) meant I was a bit disappointed when I got home and downloaded the photos onto my computer.







An old friend with his new(ish) wife passed through Hakodate on Sunday/Monday so I had to go back to tidy the flat to make it halfway decent. By the time I went out again in the late afternoon the Waxwings had gone but there were flocks of Redpoll (30 or so), Crossbill (20 or so), Brambling (20-30) and Asian Rosy Finch (4 or 5). The light really wasn't good, here's pics off those 4 species.









We went out with the aforementioned friends and had a very pleasant evening where I drank and ate far too much and this morning somewhat tired and hungover today went to Onuma before they got on the train and departed to central Hokkaido.. Lots of pics which I'll post tomorrow I think.

Finch month continues

A grey but very mild Friday saw me walk around in the slush trying in vain to get nice shots of hordes of finches and other passerines today. Redpoll, Brambling, Crossbill, Asian Rosy Finch (just 1), Oriental Greenfinch and Hawfinch were all present but in the poor light actively feeding birds can be tricky to capture with my photo gear.




Redpolls have been common across the whole region all winter. I don't really know wht. Before this winter the only one I'd ever seen locally was 1 individual 5 years ago. I'd also only ever seen 2 Rosy Finch in the previous 5 years but have seen loads all over the place this year. And I hadn't seen any Crossbills in Hakodate for 3 years either. Bramblings are a bit more regular.



Siskins have been rather scarce this winter and I haven't seen any Bullfinch in town yet this year (although I did see some in Onuma a couple of days ago). these tend to come around this time to start nibbling on the buds that start to sprout on the trees.

Not much else around except the Finches. Lots and lots of Dusky Thrush and a lone female Sparrowhawk.

Shame about Gazza. I saw him once in the players bar at White Hart Lane. Must have been in the early 90's (so he was probably injured). I saw him play a couple of times, once for Newcastle and once for England. The seminal moments I watched on TV. The tears at Italia 90, the free-kick against Arsenal and the lunge against Gary Charles (another alcoholic funnily enough), the goal against Scotland.........the only England player of my lifetime who could have acheived greatness. Could have but didn't. Hope he gets well soon and finally grows up.

Goldeneye

A pretty cold day again saw us at Onuma for the first time in a while. I was hoping to see Stellers Sea Eagle perched on the ice on the edge of the melting areas trying to scavenge fish. Unfortunately the lake was still frozen (unlike last year at this time) so I had to make do with a drake Goldeneye and the usual Nuthatches & friends.





I think I have Nuthatch shots more or less nailed.





Mind you they're so tame I have no excuses for not getting good shots.



The Goldeneye was displaying to the Mallards, Tufted Ducks and Whooper Swans.





There were a few other Goldeneye about, a lone Coot, a couple of Smew, a female Black Woodpecker, several Jay, a Goshawk, some Long Tailed Rosefinch, my first Bullfinch of the year and 5 White tailed Eagle of various ages. Here's a first winter one near Hakodate when the sky was clear earlier in the morning. Best pic of a very average bunch.





Onuma was very wintry, if overcast. Here's a random selection of wintry shots. My wife takes much better shots of this type of thing so please check her blog(s) out, links on the right.





Mt Komagadake was covered in cloud and it was too cold to hang around on the off chance the cloud would lift.



The usual common birds included Marsh and Varied Tits.





So I finally got my re-entry permit and 4 weeks tomorrow I'll be heading back to Lancashire for a long overdue visit.......