2010 Best of #2

A male Siberian Stonechat on the outskirts of town. The padis on the outskirts of Hakodate always provide nice photo opps for common birds such as the above Stonechats and Black Browed Reed Warblers.



Nearer home there were 10 or so pairs of Oriental Reed Warblers with their loud noisy songs.





Another common local breeder, the Asian House Martin.



The Red Cheeked Starlings eggs must have hatched in late June, this led to a feeding frenzy.



Lathams Snipe seemed very common this summer too.



Over at Shikabe we found a good place to photograph Japanese Green Pigeon as they came down to the sea to drink saltwater..................





Late summer saw some nice Osprey views at Kamiiso.





Highlight of the summer for me was a pelagic trip off Tomakomai in August resulting in lots of new birds for me and a nice chance for some albatross pics. These are Black Footed Albatross.






The wader season started in early August with these Sanderling up at Oshamanbe.



And also at Oshamanbe............both Great Knot (top) and Red Knot.





And Ruddy Turnstone too.



The beach at Kamiiso also proved to be a good spot for waders.

Bar Tailed Godwit (the first 2), Dunlin, Lesser Sand Plover, Red Necked Stint and Grey Plover.........













Grey Tailed Tattler were everywhere, this individual was at Shikabe.



After the wader season there is always a bit of a lull. October is great for birdwatching and usually has interesting birds but some reason I never get good photos of them. The only real photo opps are of the Night Herons.............



And an Osprey on a pole.................no blue sky here alas.




The end of the year was a little quiet due to my back injury, these Japanese Waxwing from a couple of weeks ago were the highlight...........



And here's a video compilation I made from 2010. Not a masterpiece of course but it gives you a flavour of the local birds at least..........





Thanks for clicking this link.



I'm heading back to England today, that'll be a bit weird. I haven't been back for a while and in my semi-crippled state it'll be a bit surreal.

The year has kind of petered out thanks to my slipped disk but it was a pretty good year for birds. I got 11 new species on my Japanese list (up to 249, I think anyway) and half a dozen or so on my Hakodate list (running at 197 now I think). I don't really do any twitching, theer's no grapevine here plus of course I can't even drive.

I'm still missing several species that everyone else around here seems to see; Snow Bunting, Hazel Grouse and Rough Legged Buzzard for example. Hopefully I can see these in 2011 and many more besides.

2010 was crap for Liverpool and England in the footy, I'm getting immune to the pain as I grow older. At least the cricket appears to be going OK..........

Thanks to everyone who checks this blog, I appreciate your comments and the fact you make time to look at my pics and to in some cases read my moaning about aches and pains and personal ongoing war with construction noise.

On this day (December 14th)....................

December 14th 2008.


Female Merlin just outside Hakodate.


A regular winter visitor, this species sometimes hunts in the town, I've even seen it from my living room window.........

Last outing of the year..........

There seems to have been an influx of Japanese Waxwing in south Hokkaido. The flock in the park near my flat increased to 9 and I saw 2 other (larger) flocks on the outskirts of town yesterday. These pics are from Friday.

Looks like I'm stuck with a gammy leg for the next few weeks, I'll try to stop moaning about it.

No Bohemian Waxwings at all, hopefully they'll hit town when I return in January............

Yesterday saw winter hit Hakodate at last. In Ono there was a huge flock of Rook with a few Daurian Jackdaw and in Kamiiso we found this adult White Tailed Eagle.

This individual appears every winter in the same spot.

We went to Onuma and the snow was pretty heavy. It was also very dark. I spent an hour or so withe the tame Tits and Nuthatches.

Thanks for clicking this link..........



So my next 'live' post will probably be from England, now I have to do packing and arrange lots of things..............I have a headache.

On this day (December 11th)....................

December 11th 2007.

Common Kingfisher on the river near my apartment. Normally a shy species, for a week or two 4 years ago this individual was surprisingly approachable. It's a shame that most of these trees have been chopped down since.................

This is a common bird across south Hokkaido but I've struggled to get decent shots of it. A big lens and a lot of patience is needed I think, alas I have little of the latter and none of the former..........

Japanese Waxwings

A quick hobble over to a small park near my flat today resulted in a nice find: a flock of 6 Japanese Waxwing. Note the red tip to the tail and the yellow flash on the belly (adults only) which distinguish it from Bohemian Waxwings (which tend to be much commoner in Hokkaido).

They were mostly high up in the trees against a grey sky but this individual came down a bit just as some afternoon sunshine peeked out from behind a cloud............

Great result in the cricket, not counting my chickens yet though. The last time England won a series in Australia I was in my first year at University, it seems like a lifetime ago. I was also 15kg lighter and 24 years younger...............

I wish the Botham v Chappell fight was on youtube somewhere.

Still fairly mild in Hakodate and no snow in town.

My back and leg are still f***ed and outside is still construction  noise hell.

But you just gotta love Waxwings................

Not much else around on my very short walk (my right leg hurts after 10 or so paces so I have to walk very slowly with lots of stops). Several Hawfinch and a few Dusky Thrush and that's about it.

Thanks for clicking this link.

Hobbling

Thanks to Tomohiro for driving me up to Yakumo yesterday and waiting patiently as I limped behind him. There were plenty of eagles again but apart from a couple of White Tailed Eagles here most of them were high in the sky............

Rather mild here, it appears the UK has gotten our snow and ice. You can keep it for a couple of weeks until I get back.............

My leg still hurts and I can only hobble around and there is still loads of construction noise outside but i'll try not to moan. As much.

I've hardly been out of the house, I struggled down to the river for 10 minutes the other day, there were a few Hawfinches but not much else around.

I've watched most of the Ashes so far, god I hope we can go 1-0 up tomorrow. Online 'illegal' streaming is excellent (although it occasionally goes off), I've been watching most of the Sky's broadcasting.

I've also been watching 'Mid Morning Matters' on youtube, Alan Partridge's new online comedy.

See, if I hadn't f***ed up my lumbar disc I wouldn't have watched all the cricket. One silver lining. Mind you i'd prefer to watch the cricket without any back or leg pain at all.

Thanks for clicking this link.