Some more harbour birds........

I went back to the harbour at Kamiso, the birds were basically the same but it was even darker, most of today's shots were at ISO 800.

There were slightly fewer birds. There were lots of people fishing from the side of the harbour: 3 Grebes got snagged in the fishing lines and managed to pull a fishing rod into the water, they swam off with the rod following them, sadly I don't rate their chances of survival very highly.

Like I say, very dark meaning lots of underexposed shots that came out noisy in postprocessing.

Some shots would have been great if the light had been better.

There were about 30 of them today............

Yesterday I saw thousands and thousands of Red Breasted Merganser offshore. A few ventured into Kamiso harbour again.........

This is a female.

And this creepy looking one is a young male moulting into adult plumage.

There were 2 Great Crested Grebes on the sea. I saw a Little Grebe on the river yesterday so that means all 5 species of Grebe are in Hakodate at the moment. The Red Necked was still around today.

The sun came out just before I left............

There were several Glaucous Gull around, one of 7 Gull species in and around the harbour.

Here's a bird I've never photographed before: a Red Throated Diver. This was the other side of the sea wall.

I really want to get those Grebes in good light................

Liverpool lost again, I've stopped caring.

On this day (March 12th)....................

March 12th 2008.


Female Black Woodpecker at Onuma.


One of the local specialties, they can be seen at many locales in south Hokkaido.


This is a regularly seen species in early spring at Onuma, this female was especially tame as she flitted around the forest checking out nestholes. The male was also around but for some reason is always much more wary............

More harbourside birds.............

3 of the species in the harbour at Kamiso this morning. Red Necked Grebe, Black Necked Grebe and Red Breasted Merganser.

It was dark and snowing but the harbour was full of birds. They were chasing fish around and the flocks followed the food. The Red Necked Grebe came very close...........

Shame it was still in winter plumage but it's still by far the best photo opp I've had for this species.

There was also a lone Slavonian Grebe (too far off for a decent photo and that was in winter colours too) and about 50-60 Black Necked Grebes, many of which were changing into their summer best.

The harbour at Kamiso is much bigger than at Shikabe and a lot of the time the birds were out in the middle and a little far off........

The reason for the concentration of birds appeared to be the fact there were lots of small fish in the harbour........

The Grebes didn't have it all their own way, I saw a Slaty Backed Gull eating a very fresh looking Black Necked Grebe corpse.

The next commonest species in the harbour was Red Breasted Merganser.

And of course there were some Scaup.

Other stuff included Goldenye, a surprise flyover Osprey (very early, I've never seen them in March before) and this male Shoveler.

Another species I haven't photographed so much and one I'd forgotten how beautiful it was.

This Glaucous Gull was eating the Grebe.......

We'd only gone to the harbour by accident, we had intended to spend the day at Onuma.

The weather was really nasty there, this Nuthatch was the only thing to photograph. The Owl wasn't at home and visibility was so poor we couldn't check to see if there were any eagles on the ice.

This adult White Tailed Eagle was in Kamsio however.........

So no way Liverpool will finish 4th this season, I've given up on that. If we did finish 4th it would mean Benitez would stay and I don't think that is a good thing.

I watched 'The Descent Part 2' which was laughably bad (I rather liked the first one) and am halfway through 'The Hangover' which seems pretty funny so far.

So after a very quiet last few weeks the birding has picked up, hopefully we'll get a good spring. I'll try he harbour again at Kamiso, maybe a couple of visits over the next week or so and hopefully with some sunshine...........

Scratching and red eyes...........

One of many Black Necked Grebes at Shikabe and the Ural Owl at Onuma.

We had a long drive today, first we headed east towards Esan. Brent Geese, Harlequin Duck, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser and Scaup were on the sea but nothing close enough for a decent shot. This adult Glaucous Winged Gull at Menagawa was one one of many.........

The coast was looking nice in bright spring-like sunshine, we headed north up to Shikabe to check out the harbour there. the Black Necked Grebes were present and some were well on the way to breeding plumage.

Most were still in winter colours however...........

My poor wife hates this kind of birding: hanging around fishing harbours full of birdsh*t and grumpy old fisherfolk. We headed over to Onuma where the weather turned wintry. The Ural Owl was there, I even took a video. In the second half of the video it actually does something...........

Shame about the sound of people talking. There were 2 other photographers there quietly doing their thing when an old oyaji came talking loudly and blowing cigarette smoke in my face.

It's a well-known Owl and I'm sure lots of folk have identical pics to these.

Whilst I was taking these shots I could hear the barking cries of eagles. There were 3 of them on the frozen lake, nearby a fox and lots of crows were eating a dead Whooper Swan. It was very dark, here's a young Stellers Sea Eagle in the distance.............

By now it was snowing and rather cold.............

Not much in Hakodate the last few days. Hawfinches everywhere: usually I can see 1 or 2 on TV aerials from my living room window. Dusky Thrush too............and that's about it.

I walked down to the Brent Goose spot on Friday.

Not many close enough to photograph, ditto the Harlequin Ducks. A Black Throated Diver was the most interesting bird of the day..........

Here's a view from Hakodate looking towards Onuma.

So another quiet week draws to a close. It was nice to see the Owl again though and if I can persuade the wife we can hopefully return to the Black Necked Grebes a couple more times and see them change into their summer plumage...........

On this day (March 5th)....................

March 5th 2008.


Male Common Crossbill in Goryokaku Park. This individual is presumably a 3rd year or older bird as its plumage is deep red, younger birds tend to be more orange in colour.


This individual was part of a very tame group that came down to drink some of the snow, I got up early to take this shot before the park was overrun by tourists.


The park is now overrun by a construction project and the part of the park where I shot this is currently out of bounds..........the work will apparently finish this summer after 4 or so years of plundering the tax revenues to create artificial jobs and no doubt big bank balances for corrupt local politicians.


The last 2 years were very good for Crossbills but they are an unpredictable bird, so far in 2010 I have yet to see a single one. I check all the local stands of pine trees every day almost as an act of faith................


I first saw them back in 2002 and they came the next 2 years and then were absent from 2005 until 2008: I hope it won't be such a long gap this time, they have to be my fave small bird.