Golden Week 2010 #2

An Asiatic Chipmunk and Siberian Stonechat.

We got up very early this morning and drove to the top of Mt Hakodate. It was windy but clear and not too cold. It wasn't a vintage day for migrants but it wasn't so bad; Blue and White Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Siskin, Rustic, Siberian Meadow and Black Faced Buntings, Nuthatch, several species of Tit, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese and Dusky Thrush (and other unidentified thrush species), Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, lots and lots of Japanese White-eye, Siberian Stonechat, Japanese Robin (heard only), Red Flanked Bluetail, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Asian Stubtail and Japanese Bush Warbler.

Lots of Bluetails, I'm still searching for the elusive good shot of one.

Black Faced Bunting were everywhere. Another common bird that I find hard to get a good shot of.

There are lots of Chipmunks in the forest that always pose nicely.

Yesterday we went to Asabu, Shiriuchi and Kikonai. I was hoping for some interesting waders. Common Sandpiper, Grey Tailed Tattler, Little Ringed Plover and this Whimbrel were the only shorebirds on show however.

At Asabu there were lots of Skylark, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Reed Bunting and Stonechat. At Shiriuchi I managed to see this species: Whiskered Tern. A new species for my Japan list (I've seen them in Australia and India before).

An awful photo. I only saw it for a few seconds before it flew off. My settings were all wrong so it was horribly underexposed, I didn't even have time to notice the zoom was only at 220mm so it's a 100% crop too.........still, a pretty nice find and the 3rd rare Tern I've found in the last 5 springs (Caspian in 2006 and Gull Billed Tern last year were the other 2).

It was a pretty dark day yesterday, here are a couple more poor underexposed shots. A Little Egret (a species which isn't so regular up here in Hokkaido) and an Osprey.

Other stuff from yesterday included Red Breasted Merganser, Goosander, Harlequin Duck, Red Necked Grebe and Great Egret.

We went back to Kikonai this lunchtime (the Tern and most of yesterday's stuff had gone) and added Pale Thrush to the list of new migrants for the year. This Whooper Swan will probably stay the summer. Is it old? Is it injured? Is it just plain lazy?

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I watched the footy last night. Liverpool were pretty embarrassing, I don't think Gerard's backpass was deliberate but I can understand why some people might think it might have been. Looks like we'll finish 7th, a disaster of a season...............the worst one since the days of Souness. I don't think Benitez will stay but who would want a job at a debt-ridden club with a pretty poor squad and impossibly high expectations?

At least I can start looking forward to the World Cup....................until England start playing that is. More emotional torture in the middle of the night, can my nerves stand it?

Golden Week 2010 #1

Golden Week (a 5 day holiday in Japan) began today and we visited Onuma in the afternoon. The Nuthatches were still tame but looking very very scruffy, it must be spring moult time.

Some Marsh Tits and Great Tits were also around.

Not many summer migrants in evidence at Onuma, some Swallows and Bush Warblers but that was about all. We went to a small pond nearby and it was very reminiscent of the UK. Coot, Moorhen, Grey Heron and these 2 species: Little Grebe and Kingfisher. It was a bit dark and the Kingfisher pic is a very heavy crop.

Earlier in the day we checked Kamiso, not much on the sea at all, here's a summer plumage Black Headed Gull which always feels a bit exotic here in Hokkaido.

I saw another birder here who said he saw a Little Gull (very rare in Japan) 10 years ago in this exact same place....................

We passed through the ricefields in Ono on the way to Onuma. They haven't been irrigated yet and the ditches don't have many reeds in either. Still a few Siberian Stonechat, Reed Bunting and lots of Skylark were about.

I doubt Liverpool will still be in with a shout of 4th place tomorrow but you never know.........

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By the way if you're curious as to how I get so close to the Nuthatches here's the answer.

We cheat.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

An Eastern Crowned Warbler in some of the bushes alongside the local river this afternoon. The weather has been atrocious the last 2 or 3 days, very windy and lots of really heavy rain. Today was my first foray out for a while. I got up early and saw Siberian Stonechat, Osprey, Japanese Bush Warbler, Dusky Thrush, Hawfinch and Teal. I then headed down to the nearest quayside to see if any interesting birds had been blown into the harbours. They hadn't.

The afternoon was better. Eastern Crowneds are one of 3 breeding phylloscopus warblers and are usualy the first to arrive at the end of April, and here is the first one of the year.

It was extremely hard to focus, the wind was blowing branches all over the place and it's an active species anyway.

A female Red Flanked Bluetail wasn't as confiding. A couple of unidentified Thrush species were also skulking around, I couldn't get a clear look at all. As I've said before City Hall has chopped down lots of the bushes and trees but the birds were adept at finding unmolested patches to hide in.

I got up to watch Liverpool vs Athletico Madrid. I'm too jaded to worry about Liverpool getting knocked out but one thing that struck me was how utterly awful the Liverpool bench is. The 3 subs who came on show the paucity of Liverpool's second string players. Degen? That Morroccan one who never scores? That Spanish kid who looks about 12 years old? WTF? Is that honestly the best we can manage? It isn't an exaggeration to say all the other 19 clubs in the Premier League have deeper squads than Liverpool.

Enough of that, I'm in the middle of 5 or 6 days off (a couple of hours tomorrow morning but that's all), the weather seems to have changed for the better and May is the best birding month of the year..............

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On this day (April 28th)....................

April 28th 2006.

A blurry old pic of a pair of Black Winged Stilt at Kamiso 4 years ago. Just after I'd started digiscoping. There were a bit flighty I recall, dunno if I could have done much better with a DSLR. They stuck around for a couple of weeks and I saw another one a couple of weeks later at Onuma. I got very close to that individual and if I'd had my current set-up I could have got some nice pics. Of course I haven't seen one since.............

Probably a regular spring overshoot, I saw several in 2005 in Yakumo for example.

Spring 2010 continues

Spring is moving on and more migrants are passing through, the above is a blurry pic of a Japanese Bush Warbler which is one of the commonest. A nondescript bird, it does have a remarkable song. The first Red Cheeked Starling of the season also appeared today, a female. Again, not a particularly good shot but it like I say this individual was the first of 2010.

Asian House Martin have arrived, they nest in colonies under some of the local bridges. Black Faced Bunting, another common summer migrant, have also started singing along the river. Other stuff this last couple of days included Reed Bunting, Red Flanked Bluetail and Bullheaded Shrike.

I took a walk down to the nearest quayside, not much around except for the Black Throated Diver which is still in winter plumage.

I bumped into my father-in-law who was catching crabs off the quayside............some of which will be arriving for dinner shortly.

Gah, I've done something to my back again, dunno what exactly but it's pretty painful.

So for Liverpool to finish 4th this has to happen; Spurs lose at home to Bolton, City draw against Villa and again against Spurs midweek, we beat Chelsea. If that happens all 4 teams will be level on points going into the last round of fixtures with Liverpool having the best goal difference. I can see the 2 City games being draws but can Bolton do Spurs? About as realistic as Liverpool beating Chelsea, ie not very...........

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Grey waters and dirty optics

A Short Tailed Shearwater in the Tsugaru Straits this afternoon.

I joined a local birding group's outing on the Hakodate-Oma ferry. Oma is a smal port in the north of Honshu, it's a out 90 minutes away from Hakodate. Short tailed Shearwaters were the focus of the trip, countless numbers migrate through the straits and have come all the way from Tasmania. I've seen them from the shore before but this was the first time I've been close.

They were tricky to photograph, I have lots of shots of out of focus birds and in focus waves. Other stuff on the sea included Rhinoceros Auklet and a couple of flocks of Red Pharalope. This was a lifer for me.

In late May there is a heavy passage of Red Necked Pharalope (which again can be seen from the shore) but I didn't realise the other species was here too. Nice to see a few in summer plumage too.

There were also some Dolphins which were impossible to get a decent shot of.

So landed at Oma and had 2 or 3 hours to kill. Oma is a really rundown ramshackle place. It is noticeably poorer than Hokkaido and the town seems to lack any facilities whatsoever. This ferry service will close later this year meaning Oma will be even more of a dead-end. Me and the wife came here 10 years ago to visit the nearby Osore-zan to see the itako (mediums who can speak to the dead.............yeah right) do their thing. It was a backwater then too........

There were a few birds however. Brent Geese and Whooper Swan flocks were heading north and there was an Osprey fishing in the port. When I was taking these I was thinking 'wow, these are going to be my best ever Osprey shots'.

When I looked at them a couple of minutes later I was thinking 'wow, what the f**k is wrong with these?' I checked the camera settings and then looked at the lens. The optics were filthy, caked with sea spray I guess. I didn't have any lens cleaning gear with me and very gently cleaned it the best I could with the sleeve of my shirt.

There were several species of wader there too. Turnstone, Little Ringed Plover and a summer plumage Pacific Golden Plover. The resulting pics weren't quite as bad but still look as if they were taken through a dirty window.

The weather was better on the way back and there were still loads of Shearwaters. This one seems very pale, dunno if it was just the angle and the way the sun caught it or what...........

So an interesting day and a nice change. I met some friendly folk including a doctor from Matsumae who spoke extremely good English, the tour 'leader' who is a retired professor and a big expert on seabirds plus a couple from Sapporo who professed to be fans of this blog.

Next time I do this sort of thing I'll put a filter on my lens, a slight drop in IQ quality is better than a salty lens.

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*Edited to Add*

Whilst dumping lots of photos in the trash I've been looking through some of the other Pharalope pics and found at least 1 Red Necked Pharalope in there (not on the above pic though).

Spring stuff

A Red Necked Grebe coming into summer plumage. A very dark and cloudy day when I took these.

It's been a little chilly the last few days in Hakodate but the spring birds are starting to arrive.................

In the same place as the grebe I saw my first Swallow of spring and also my first wader.........

The first time I've ever photographed a Common Sandpiper (!).

Migrants were also present on the river near my flat.

This was one of a pair of Red Flanked Bluetails. They didn't come any closer (even the above shot is a crop). This is one of my target species this spring, I have to get a good shot of it. Well, not have to as such but it's a really attractive bird that is common in spring but until now it has been beyond me to get a decent shot of it.

Other migrants included several Japanese Bush Warbler, a male Japanese Thrush, Common Buzzard, Bullheaded Shrike, Grey Wagtail, Siberian Stonechat and Black Faced Bunting. Whilst I was waiting in vain for the Bluetails to come closer a small flock of Coal Tit (presumably migrants too) kept me entertained.

I watched 'Surrogates' the other night. Normally I avoid Bruce Willis movies like the plague but this one wasn't so bad.

I've just been working out the permutations that would see Liverpool finishing 4th. Basically Spurs and City need to lose this weekend (they both have very hard games). City then have to draw against Spurs and Villa. Villa need to draw or (better) lose to B'ham. Bolton need to get a draw at Spurs. Liverpool need to win their 3 remaining games (which includes beating Chelsea). It would help if West Ham and Burnley have something to play for on the last day and Hull don't.

There need to be a lot of results coming together for that to happen.

On this day (April 21st)....................

April 21st 2008.


Male Common Crossbill in an acrobatic pose in the small park near my flat a couple of years ago. This was in a corner of the park behind the public toilet, not a place I'd normally choose to loiter in...............


Crossbills usually start to depart Hakodate in late April, the odd group occasionally lingers though. Probably my fave small bird as you can tell by the number of photos I post of them.........