Red Cheeked Starlings

 

Not much to report in Hakodate this last week, the weather improved at last though. The Red Cheeked starlings were busy on the river feeding the young which have just left the nest.

 

Most of the action was deep inside the bushes but occasionally they sat out in the open.

 

 

Family groups of Grey Wagtails appeared a couple of days ago, they bred further upstream but move downstream after they've fledged. the Shrike family are also busy but no more grisly sparrow hunting for me to photograph.........

Midsummer in the ricefields..........

A Siberian Stonechat at Ono this afternoon.



The sun finally came out today (and I even got a nasty sunburn on my neck) and we headed out to Onuma and after that the ricefields in Ono. Lots of activity in the padis, lots of young birds and singing adults. Night Herons were everywhere feasting on the frogs and tadpoles, Skylarks were abundant, Chestnut Eared Buntings were singing from the fenceposts, Swallows and Asian House Martins were swooping low over the water and family groups Siberian Stonechats were all over the place.





This tame but bedraggled looking male was star of the day...........









Black Browed Reed Warblers occupied very patch of long grass............a shame that I couldn't get a clear shot all afternoon........





Oriental Reed Warblers were even more numerous.........



And here's a boring pic of a bird I don't get to photograph so often, a female Reed Bunting.......



Earlier we were at Onuma, I got my first mosquito bites of the summer. Not much here. There were birds in the forest but now it's so lush and overgrown they're difficult to find. Lots of Narcissus Flycatcher singing, we heard a Black Woodpecker and I got this so-so shot of a Moorhen in amongst the lotus..........





I spent a frustrating night trying to watch the Lions game on P2P last night. I have to watch this type of stuff on a Windows system alas. Sopcast doesn't seem to work on IE8 and the usually reliable JustinTV seems to be pay per view now..........

Tuesday is the 10th anniversary of my arrival in Japan. My God. I can't believe it's been 10 years. I arrived as a slightly jaded 30 year old and spent the first 4 months in a boring small town about 2 hours north of Tokyo. It was stinking hot and I wondered what I had let myself in for. Things improved when I moved to Hokkaido though........

10 years ago! That was when the internet was still a bit of a novelty (well it was to me anyway). I was single, a heavy smoker and drinker, in debt and still living life as if everything was temporary, nothing had changed since I'd left university. I had no interest in photography and was a partially lapsed birder. Man U were the top team in England and Europe, Liverpool were good but always second or third best. I still cared about music and fashion. I wasn't overweight.

I'm going to crack open a beer (note use of the singular) and think what else has changed since then..............and what hasn't.

A week around my neighbourhood

An adult Black Crowned Night Heron and a Bullheaded Shrike killing a Tree Sparrow........

Still cloudy every day and as I've been feeling a little unwell this week I just spent my free time checking out the local neighbourhood.

The breeding season is well underway and adults are busily feed ing youngsters everywhere. The young Bullheaded Shrikes and Red Cheeked Starlings have both left their nests......





The adults hang around making sure I'm not up to no good......



And the parents have been bringing food........





The Shrike caught and killed the Tree Sparrow and a a couple of minutes later flew off with the bloody head of its prey in its mouth..........

The Red Cheeked Starlings weren't quite as gruesome......





Whilst checking out some Kingfishers (no pics alas) I noticed this adult Black Crowned Night Heron standing next to the river........



It moved around a little and I shot it from a couple of different angles......





Unfortunately when it actually caught a fish f**kwit here was checking his camera settings and missed his chance.........this is just after it swallowed..........



Will the sun come out soon? I hope so, it's been the gloomiest June I can recall (and I've been here for ten of them).

I've been watching 'Blakes 7' this last week, I just have the very last episode to watch tonight (the one where Avon kills Blake). I suppose the last (and only) time I watched it was when it was originally aired back in the early 80's.

I got buzzed by a Large Billed Crow the other day. They get very aggressive in the breeding season when you walk near their nest. Pairs perch atop houses on either side of the river and call warnings to each other, if you take your eyes off them down they swoop to let you know you're not welcome..............

Erm, yet another rainy Sunday in Hokkaido.

One of several Black Browed Reed Warblers at Ono this afternoon. One of my fave summer birds, they're a little bit shy but not as cowardly as their much bigger and noisier relatives, Oriental Reed Warblers.

I still couldn't get really close though.......







Lots of activity in the ricefields, Chestnut Eared Buntings, Night Herons, Lathams Snipes...........and lots and lots of Stonechats. the ones I've been photographing a lot recently have had a new addition to the family.





And here's a baby White Wagtail...........



Not much to report from town, the common birds are still common. The Red Cheeked Starlings are very active and the first young should be leaving the nest this week.....



And ditto the Bullheaded Shrikes.......



I'll stop moaning about the weather and moan about a new topic instead. This..........



The City Hall employs a small army of men to cut the grass in town. I admit the grass does grow very quickly here in summer but these guys have become the bane of my life. See that thing he's using to cut the grass? That's something to trim the edges right? Or perhaps to get in those little nooks and crannies where a regular lawnmower can't reach? Then why the hell do they use them to cut a whole field? I could put up with the noise for the hour or so it would take (with a normal lawnmower) to cut the waste ground next to my apartment building. But it took two whole days for this clown to do it. Two days of whirring buzzing noise.

I don't think Japan is a 'let's get things done' society. Rather it's a 'let's find something to keep us all occupied' society. Efficiency is not important as long as everyone is seen to be working hard. This method of cutting the grass ticks all the right boxes in Japan. Someone is seen to be working hard (even if the task is ridiculous) and they're being as noisy as hell about it too just in case nobody noticed he was working hard in the firs place.

Imagine a factory. The manager realizes the floor needs to be swept. He could give the job to a professional floor sweeper with a big brush who could do it in an hour or so or he could give the job to a dozen other guys with toothbrushes. He tells them to get their toothbrushes ready and says it's OK to take a few days about it. That factory is every City Hall in Japan.

Why do I get annoyed about this? Because I have to listen to that f**king machine (what is it called, a Strimmer or something?) from 8.30am to 5pm.

You can tell I'm bored.

So England look like they can book their hotels in South Africa. I'm happy Ronaldo is on his way, never liked the smarmy little ba*tard anyway.

I hope the weather improves. If not, i'll have to find something else to moan about. That new noisy as hell construction project just round the corner will probably fit the bill..........

Yet another rainy week in Hokkaido

Many Japanese people tell me the rainy season doesn't reach Hokkaido. Yet every year when the rainy season pushes up through Honshu it also pi**es down with rain here in south Hokkaido. Grey skies, coolish humid weather and lots and lots of rain.

The Stonechats were still in exactly the same place. If the light had been any good I could have gotten some killer shots.





We ended up at Onuma, lots of common stuff in the forest but it was dark and full of mosquitoes. This Kingfisher was the best shot I could come up with. At 400mm and 1/60 second it isn't great.



Not much to report from Hakodate, the nasty weather has curtailed any photo opps. The Red Cheeked Starlings and Oriental Reed Warblers are still busy on the river.....







And this baby Great Tit was kind of cute.......



I've been watching a lot of violent cockney movies this week. 'Rise of the Footsoldier', 'The Business', 'The Football Factory' and 'Nil by Mouth'. I'm naturally a little jaded after hearing the 'C' word approx 1500 times but it brought back memories of my time in Hackney in the early 90's. One time I went to a pub next to Victoria Park and joked to my friend the barman was like a cockney criminal cliche (I did it out of earshot of said barman naturally). Turned out he was an escaped con and former gangland kingpin who was shot at point blank range a few weeks later.

I've also been watching recent Harry Enfield clips on youtube and have to say I often burst out laughing. I miss this kind of stuff from back home, thank god for the internet. That character selling junk to pretentious housewives in Notting Hill is a work of genius. Their Bil Gates/Steve Jobs characters are also pretty funny, especially the 'i-hump' sketch (hey I'm backing up my hard disk onto an external hard drive as I type this so I suppose I have a small part of nerd in my character too).

I've more or less decided to give up on my other blog. Again. Quite simply the software isn't very good (again) and it's a pain to navigate. And nobody ever reads it anyway. So I'll probably update this one more than once a week from now on......

So England won last night, I watched it on my computer. I'm sure they'll win on Wednesday and with Ukraine/Croatia drawing It's looking pretty good. Yet on the various footy forums there are loads of people complaining about England being crap and their fans being deluded. Yes I know we're crap but at least we're probably going to the World Cup and this time last year that looked unlikely. And I'm glad I'm not a fan of Portugal, Sweden, the Czech Republic or several other 'big' countries who look very much in danger of missing out.......

The less said about the cricket the better though.........