Wader Season #6

   

There were still 4 or 5 Red Necked Stints at Kamiso this lunchtime.

And there were several other species of wader including 1 Ruff and 2 Bar Tailed Godwit.........

The light wasn't exactly ideal, harsh midday sun behind the birds..............

2 Grey Plover were also around but they didn't want to be photographed alas.

The Ruff didn't seem to mind the attention though.................

The Red Necked Stint was in better lighting.............

Nearer home there were more migrants passing through, Eastern Crowned Warblers, Siberian Stonechats and yet more Asian Brown Flycatchers............

Other stuff flitting around in the undergrowth was left unidentified, probably just Black Faced Buntings or the suchlike.

Here's a very scruffy looking young Bullheaded Shrike.........

The Night Herons are still playing hide and seek............

This blogger service has changed  its interface so I don't know how this will turn out.........

Great result for England the other night but lets not get too carried away. I've been watching England for over 30 years and am a little too jaded to really believe they can get past the last 8. Still when you think it was only just over 12 months ago they were drawing 0-0 at half-time against Andorra and qualification, hell even second place and a play off place,  seemed a long long way off. Unbelievable that Heskey is still playing. Yes I know he brings others into the game, roughs up opponents' defences etc etc but those 2 absolute sitters he missed!?! C'mon Emile even I could've scored them..............................................

England 's World Cup qualification and the Ashes Victory mean 2009 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for my armchair sports...............................

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Wader Season #5

Wader season continues in south Hokkaido, this week is usually the peak..............






The Red Necked Stints were still on the same stretch of beach at Kamiso. They are surprisingly difficult to see sometimes and for non birding folk walking on the beach they are probably just about invisible..........













They were pretty tame. As you can see from this pic of my wife.........



There were also quite a few Grey Tailed Tattler around too........





The Tattlers and Stints are by far the commonest passage shorebirds but there are other species around too. Here's a crappy record shot of a Grey Plover, a local tick no less.



The only other wader species today was a Common Sandpiper. A few Harlequin Duck were around, the first of the winter visitors (even though it was a hot sultry day).

I fell asleep during the England game last night. I see Diego Maradonna is proving the rule that great players generally make crap coaches/managers. If I was a French/Portuguese fan I might start looking at alternative plans for next summer. Just watching the 2nd ODI, seems like a real anticlimax after the Ashes...........

Wader Season #4

We had a couple of hours in the late afternoon today so we headed out to Kamsio and there was a group of 10 or so Red Necked Stints on the beach.................







They were pretty tame and posed nicely, these pics are only slightly cropped...........





The late afternoon light helped a lot with these shots..........







Not much sport online to watch, guess I'll watch Scotland crash out of the WCQs, can't be bothered staying up to watch the meaningless England friendly though.........

What the hell are these things?

Yes I know what these are, one immature and one adult Night Heron on the river this lunchtime.

But I'm not sure about these..........most of these are from Tuesday this week. Lots of flycatchers passing through, but which species.........?

Are they Asian Brown or Sooty Flycatchers? They do look pretty dark (which would suggest Sooty) but I have no idea to be honest.





This is obviously a young one, I think Asian Brown.



This one looks pretty pale, is it just an Asian Brown?



God knows. Here are some more shots.





This one was today (Friday).



And this is from Monday.



If anyone can help me out here with this Flycatcher ID mental block I have I'd be grateful...........