Leaf Warblers in the leaves............

I took a couple of brief looks at the bushes next to the local river and they were full of warblers..........

Rather like in the UK there are 3 breeding species of phylloscopus warblers in Hokkaido. Eastern Crowned, Sakhalin Leaf and Arctic Warblers. The above one is an Eastern Crowned Warbler and this one is a Sakhalin Leaf Warbler.

Eastern Crowned (let's call them ECW) are very common indeed and are greener with a diagnostic head pattern, they also have a paridae like song that is one of the most familiar sounds of the summer forest.

There must have been a dozen or more ECWs flitting around in 2 or 3 small trees, very difficult to track with a slowish lens plus it was pretty dark in some of the places too..............

There were only 2 or 3 Sakhalin Leaf Warblers. These are browner and have a loud metallic call (and a weird Clangers-like song). They only breed in north Japan and Sakhalin (a large Siberian island to the north of Hokkaido), there is a very similar mainland east Asian species (Pale Legged Leaf Warbler) from which it was recently split.

The third phylloscopus species, the Arctic Warbler,  doesn't usually arrive until the 3rd or 4th week of May and seems to be less common than the others. I don't see so many in spring, possibly they pass through unnoticed as the foliage thickens. They leave later than the others though, I see lots of them in late September to mid October (the ECW/SLWs pass through in August when the foliage is at its thickest and anyway I'm on the beach looking for waders at that time). They have a very distinctive buzzing call and trilling song, I sometimes hear them in the forest at Mat Hakodate in early June.

Like the UK there are 10 or so rarer phylloscopus vagrants, many of which are rarities in the UK too (Dusky, Raddes, Yellow Browed etc). I hope to stumble across some of these although I find these kind of warblers very tricky to ID. I can manage the 3 common ones because of their calls but when one individual (probably in autumn so with worn adult plumage or an immature) is silently flitting around behind the leaves................I don't know about that TBH.

Willow Warblers, Wood Warblers and Chiffchaffs are sought after rarities here by the way.......

I saw another male Blue and White Flycatcher today as well as Japanese White-eye, Dusky Thrush, other unidentified thrushes, Hawfinch and a flyover Great Egret. Yesterday I also saw Peregrine ans the last of the winter Teal. The flock of Russet Sparrow remains (20 or so birds) but they are very shy and fly off if I even look in their general direction. Before this week I had only ever seen them once in Hakodate, I wonder if this flock will stay and breed in the small park near my flat.........

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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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