Waxwings #1

Yesterday there was a flock of 20 or so Bohemian Waxwings in the small park round the back of my apartment. Usually they are up in the trees but not this time, they were feeding on the fallen berries on the ground..............

I managed to get some nice group shots.

There were other birds in the park: a flock of 10 or so Siskin, a few Brambling and Dusky Thrush and a White Tailed Eagle even flew high overhead. But I was concentrating on the Waxwings..........

I did get a few perched shots too.......

And sometimes in the odd remaining piles of snow..........

The Waxwings provided a couple of hours when I could forget all the turmoil in Japan. I almost feel guilty for taking photos of birds and posting them on the internet whilst only a couple of hundreds of miles away survivors of the tsunami are grief-stricken cold and hungry. Blogging about birds seems so trivial. The news from Fukushima seems to have knocked the tsunami out of the news, what a tragedy that the world isn't thinking so much about those survivors anymore, the whole families and villages lost forever. Those small fishing towns that were destroyed are exactly the same as Shikabe, Yakumo, Sawara etc, the towns I spend a lot of my time in when I'm out taking photos. If the quake had been 200 or 300KM further north those small towns may have become as well known to the world as those of Miamisanriku and Kesennuma.

It's hard to gauge what's really happening down there at the power plant, my Japanese isn't good enough to follow the news broadcast word for word so I'm also relying on the international media. The Japanese media seems to be underplaying the situation down in Fukushima whilst the foreign media seem to looking for the most sensational story, at the moment I'm of the opinion that it's too far away to be a health problem for us here in Hakodate but the government/electrical company isn't telling us everything, they don't seem to be in any control whatsoever of the situation. If I was living further down south and nearer the plant with no trains and no gasoline and relying on the Japanese government and electrical companies for info I think I'd be tearing my hair out and suffering my own personal meltdown.

The emperor addressed the nation today, an unprecedented act. I really hope there is no mass panic down in Tokyo as I think the government would completely lose control. It won't come to that I'm sure but FFS sort out that power station quickly please.

I took a lot of Waxwing pics, I'll post some more presently........

On this day (March 15th).............

March 15th 2009.

Common Crossbill in Hakodate.

Male giving me a stare. Part of a big influx 2 years ago in Hakodate. This pic is only slightly cropped, they can be a surprisingly tame species sometimes...............

I'm not going out much at the moment, just not really in the mood what with everything going on just across the Tsugaru Straits. I have been checking this same area for Crossbills though and nothing doing there...........

Monday morning

A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker yesterday at Onuma.

A weird surreal atmosphere at the moment, Hakodate seems to be normal if a little quiet. Only 1 person (AFAIK) died, he drowned in his apartment when the low lying area near the bay was flooded. As I said in my last post I was there 2 or 3 hours before. I was sitting on the edge of the harbour, feet dangling a few inches above the water whilst taking photos of the Black Necked Grebe.

When I got home I was taking a nap, the doorbell rang (it was the postman with a recorded delivery) and just as I was signing for the letter the quake hit. As the water started sloshing out of the fishtank I grabbed hold of it expecting the quake to peter out after a few seconds but it just kept going and going, I thought christ I should get out of the building here and put some clothes on and headed out of the door with the whole building swaying and creaking. It stopped as I was heading out of the door so I went back in and mopped up in the living room, a strong aftershock a few minutes later meant I was mopping up again soon. My wife called and said do NOT go near the sea. 

I switched on the TV and watched the local news, it had live footage of some ports in Hokkaido getting damaged but nothing too bad, it said the tsunami would hit Hakodate at 4.10pm (in about 20 minutes). At 4.10 they had a camera fixed on the low lying area in Hakodate Bay and it quickly filled with water, nothing too dramatic but a bit disconcerting. I thought well maybe this wasn't too bad after all. Then I turned in the national news to see what was happening elsewhere in Japan and I'm sure you've all seen how utterly shocking those pictures were.

If that wasn't bad enough now there are the nuclear issues. I used to live in Fukushima Prefecture, thank god I don't live there anymore. Up here we are far enough away (and the wind direction is helping too) for us presumably to be unaffected but it is pretty scary stuff, if I was living in Fukushima now I think I would be heading south ASAP. There are some nuclear power stations just across the straits from Hakodate in Aomori but I understand they are undamaged.

No food shortages so far up in Hokkaido but there were lines at some of the gas stations yesterday, hopefully that's just a few folk overreacting. The planned power outages shouldn't spread up here, at least I wouldn't have thought so. In Hokkaido we haven't really been directly affected by the quake/tsunami but obviously it isn't very far away at all (400 or 500 km away as the crow flies to Miyagi-ken) and many people here have friends/family in the affected area. My wife's friend lived in one of the coastal neighbourhoods in Sendai that was very badly hit, she has tried contacting her but hasn't heard anything back yet.

Thank you for all the messages expressing concern on the last post. I feel a bit sheepish, like I say we got off very lightly indeed here. Just a couple of very scary minutes when the quake hit and lingering unease over the nuclear issues, very very minor indeed compared to the horrors the people are facing further south.

We couldn't go near the coasts yesterday, the tsunami warnings were still in effect so we spent a couple of hours at Onuma feeding the Tits and Nuthatches.

Other stuff at Onuma included Smew, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Egret, Grey Heron, White Tailed Eagle and Treecreeper.

Not much in Hakodate the last few days, just the usual common stuff. 2 Great Egrets on the river as well as 7 species of duck (including both Merganser species and a drake Shoveler), a flock of Brambling and this tame Oriental Turtle Dove.

Shaken

A Black Necked Grebe in Hakodate today. The EXIF data shows it was taken at around 11.30am, about 5 hours later this area was flooded as a result of the tsunami.

I was home at 2.46pm when the quake hit, it was pretty f**king scary. It lasted 3 or 4 minutes, the building was swaying, things were flying off shelves and water was sloshing out of the fish tank. I switched on the TV and watched the events unfold, wow what shocking images. 

There were several large aftershocks but it looks like Hakodate got off pretty lightly, it is a few hundred KM north of the epicenter and I live far enough from the coast not to panic.

The Back Necked Grebe seemed to have some kind of beak deformity. I've actually been looking for both Grebes and Crossbills this last week, this bird seems to tick both boxes.

There are at least 2 Great Egrets on the local river, they sometimes perch on the rooftops.

The Siskins are still around.

Today I finished off on the beach, a 'Tamiyr' type Gull was there.......note the yellwish legs.

This one had dark eyes, I thought it may have been a Thayers Gull but it isn't. It's just a Vega Gull I think, it had dark wingtips when it flew off.......

I had a couple of semi funny trivial flippant little incidents that happened this week I was going to write about but after the events today in Japan I don't really feel like it.

Ons of the people I sometimes go up to Yakumo with actually lives and works down near Sendai, I hope he's OK.

On this day (March 10th)..........

March 10th 2008.

Asian Rosy Finch in Hakodate.

Winter 2007/2008 saw a big influx of Asian Rosy Finch into south Hokkaido. This was one of a pair that stayed several weeks near my apartment and was often seen in local gardens..........

Thanks for clicking this link.

A slow March #2

A bit of a quiet Sunday started off in Yakumo, the first time I'd been back since a very productive visit 2 weeks ago. There were no Stellers Sea Eagles, they must have headed north by now I guess. But there were were 6 White Tailed Eagles at the river mouth, 2 adults and 4 immatures. Only a short session on the bridge, here are a couple of shots...........

Am I being greedy when I just think 'meh' when I see immature White Tailed Eagles?

I was with a friend and was hoping to find a Peregrine for him. This young one, presumably the same individual as 2 weeks ago, put in a brief appearance.........

We then headed down to Onuma, I hoped to repeat my luck and find a Black Woodpecker for him. No joy here but the Tits and Nuthatches kept us entertained at least........

I then went back to Hakodate to have a late birthday lunch with my good wife, we had a buffet style one and true to form I absolutely stuffed myself. A walk on the beach at Nanaehama just before sunset failed to produce the Lapland Buntings (they too must have gone north) but there were a couple of Slavonian Grebes reasonably close inshore, a bit too dark and the sea too choppy though for any good shots........

Thanks for clicking this link......

Hope Liverpool can do Man Utd tonight.........

A slow March

A Nuthatch at Onuma this afternoon. Thanks to Mariko for giving me a ride (in her spanking new car) and buying me a nice sushi lunch too..........

A bit of a quiet week. I've been to most of the local haunts but not much around. Some stuff on the sea: 3 species of Grebe including Great crested, Black Necked and Slavonian. Pelagic Cormorant, the usual common seaducks including large rafts of Scaup, Glaucous Gull, White Tailed Eagle, Harlequin Duck, Buzzard, Brambling, Great, Coal and Varied Tit, Great Egret, Wigeon, Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker etc. 

I did bump into 2 people birding on the local river who said they'd just seen a Taiga Flycatcher (in the same place I'd seen one the autumn before last) but I couldn't find it..........

The Grey Headed Woodpecker is still in Goryokaku park but it's tricky to get a good photo, always against dodgy backgrounds in poor light.........

The Brent Geese are building in number.........

And of all else fails there are always the Nuthatches..........

I watched England's epic tie with India, thank god I didn't stay up to watch them lose against the cricketing giants of Ireland.............

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

On this day (March 2nd)..........

March 2nd 2009.

Blakistons Fish Owl in Rausu.

In case you're unfamiliar with the set up in Rasuu these Owls (100% wild) are attracted to a pond each night by a free fish supper.

Me and a friend waited in the car for this, we had beer and hot sake handy and a good night was had by all...................

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

On this day (March 1st)...........

March 1st 2009

Immature White Tailed and Stellers Sea Eagles in Nemuro.

A bit odd to see these in an urban setting, as you can see they were perching on telegraph poles like crows or pigeons.

Winter 2008/9 was a very poor year for salmon in Hokkaido, perhaps they were hanging around town because of hunger or maybe this is an an annual occurrence, I have to say I don't really know..............

Thanks for clicking this link.....