More birds in the blossoms...........

A male Red Cheeked Starling in the cherry blossoms this morning..............

A beautiful spring morning in Hakodate, lots of activity in the cherry blossoms.

These Tree Sparrows certainly weren't shy. There were lots of Russet Sparrows around too and a flock of 10 or so Siskin...........

And the inevitable Japanese White-eye. It was a little windy in the afternoon, it was difficult to track them up in the swaying branches..........

So Man Utd will get #19 then, no exciting end to the season after all (well not at the top anyway).

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A grey Sunday

The grey skies returned today, we had a brief foray out to Kamiiso. I wanted to check for waders, all I could find was a group of 4 Ruddy Turnstone.

A pair of Osprey were fishing over the harbour, if the sky had been blue and the sun had been shining I could have gotten some nice shots, alas the sky was battleship grey.

One of them got a fish, I missed the dive as it happened on the other side of the seawall, I did see it fly past with its catch though.

Not much else around, a few Scaup on the sea, a few Pochard and Tufted Duck in the harbour. We went a little inland, a lone Crossbill flew over, a Japanese Thrush was singing a top a tall tree, a few Hawfinch here and there and a flock of Japanese White-eye were feeding in the cherry blossoms. Again, blue sky and good light would have been nice.

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End of Golden Week

A male Blue and White Flycatcher on the river near my apartment yesterday. That branch is a tad annoying..............

Golden week (the major spring holiday week in Japan) has just finished, it is always great for birding as it co-incides with the arrival of lots of migrants from the south............

Yesterday was particularly good, in addition to the flycatcher there was a male Siberian Rubythroat, several Red Flanked Bluetails, a female Japanese Thrush, several Eastern Crowned Warblers and a flock of Russet Sparrows.

This is a common summer visitor to Onuma but I very rarely see them in Hakodate. Surprise of the day was another small flock of Japanese Waxwing. they look a bit odd with no snow or red berries anywhere.

Commoner migrants included Japanese Bush Warbler and several groups of Japanese White-eye.

Shame I couldn't get them in the cherry blossoms............

Lots of Red Cheeked Starlings around now. These are one of the summer staples, unlike the above birds they aren't just passing through town, they'll be here all summer.

And here's an Oriental Greenfinch, a very common local bird but I think this is the first halfway decent shot I've managed of one............

Very nice light yesterday as you can see. Today was hazier (and now, this evening, it's p***ing down with rain). Not many migrants present this morning, a few Dusky Thrush and Hawfinch remain and I saw my first Oriental Reed Warbler of the year.

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Some more spring waders

Yesterday afternoon at Kamiiso saw several species of wader present on the beach. From the top: Kentish Plover, Black Tailed Godwit, Red Necked Stint and Grey Tailed Tattler.

The Godwit was presumably the same one I'd seen a couple of days earlier.

This species is somewhat scarcer than the Bar Tailed Godwit, at least here in south Hokkaido. I've seen it a few times at Yakumo but this individual was the first one in Hakodate.

It was hanging around with the Tattler. Grey Tailed Tattlers are the commonest spring wader.......

Indeed it seemed to be stalking it............

This Kentish Plover was looking pretty cute..........

It was paired up with the Red Necked Stint.

Red Necked Stints are abundant in autumn but I only ever see a few in spring. They look much better at this time of year............

Other waders around included 1 Whimbrel, 2 Turnstone and a Greenshank. Not exactly Mai Po but still nice to see..............

Let's hope Chelsea make the end of the season a little more interesting for the neutrals, a big gaffe by Howard Webb leading to a controversial last minute goal would be very nice indeed.

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Red Rumped Swallow...........

I got up early to catch the second half of Man Utd's reserves beating some German pub team and as the sun came up it became apparent that we were finally to get some nice weather this Golden Week.

I had a quick look down the river, a lone Red Flanked Bluetail was flitting around in the bushes and this Kingfisher was flying up and down the river.

I was hoping for some of the scarcer migrants, a Wryneck maybe or perhaps a Whites Thrush. There didn't seem to be any migrants around (apart from the Bluetail) except lots and lots of hirundines. Just Asian House Martins and Barn Swallows I thought  but I was wrong...............

The flock contained 3 or 4 Red Rumped Swallows, a new bird for my Japanese list. I've seen them before in Indonesia and Greece, both times I remember thinking eh that swallow looks a bit weird.

I'm raking in additions to my Hakodate list, this was the 7th of the year so far (#204 I think).

My wife disappeared to take some cherry blossom pictures and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. We then headed out to the ricefields at Ono, no waders inland today but lots of Siberian Stonechats as always.

In the hills I got my first Sakhalin Leaf Warbler but otherwise not much else around so headed home visa Kamiiso where I saw several wader species on the beach (I'll post those later).

Back home the cherry blossoms are out. I prefer views of them like this rather than whole trees of them.

Lots of Red Cheeked Starlings arriving now.

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