A windy Sunday

An Osprey struggling in the wind at Kikonai this morning. There was a very strong (and cold) easterly wind (not so good for migrants though this side of Eurasia).

The first passage waders have appeared liker this Greenshank.

I also disturbed a Snipe species but couldn't ID it. The common breeding waders, Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper, had already arrived. Here's one of the latter.

Still lots of Brent Geese, Wigeon, Pintail and Red Breasted Merganser offshore but the sea was too rough to check properly. A Glaucous Gull was at Kamiiso but not much else. Ospreys were everywhere again and the ones at Kikonai were the easiest to photograph.

We started off at Onuma but it was cold and windy here too............and foggy. The 4 species of woodpecker were all very active again, here's a male Japanese Pygmy.

 Other stuff at Onuma included Japanese Grosbeak, Whooper Swan, Goosander, Treecreeper and Goldcrest. Brown Thrush and Lathams Snipe were new arrivals, the tame tits and nuthatches were still begging for food.

May is generally the best birding month in Hakodate, hopefully I'll have a few new birds to see and photograph next week.........

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Spring slowly unrolling #3

A male Black Woodpecker at Onuma this afternoon. 4 species of woodpecker, 6 species of tits and the Nuthatches were all very active today. Other stuff in the forest included Brambling, Dusky Thrush, Japanese Thrush, Japanese Grosbeak and lots of Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler................the latter is a dull skulking bird but it is easy to see at this time of year.

The lake is largely ice free now so the waterbirds have dispersed. I saw lots of Mandarin Duck but that species is very shy here and impossible to approach closely. Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Coot, Goosander, Whooper Swan and Great Egret were around.............

Not much in Hakodate this last week, the Brent Geese were still around earlier in the week........

A Woodcock near my apartment was the most interesting bird in town and offshore at Cape Tachimachi a few days ago I saw several Black Throated Diver, a Rhinoceros Auklet and lots of Red Necked Grebe. A female Merlin flew across the highway in Ono on the way home today too.

Not a great last few weeks for my teaching business, we all have slumps but this was one has been a little severe as the wife is now between jobs. Why am I 43 years old and skint all the time?

To top it all there appears to be something wrong with my 100-400L lens...........the tension ring doesn't lock and there is quite a bit of dust in the lens too. I'd hoped to buy a new lens this spring but lack of money has put paid to that. I can still use the 100-400 of course but I'm debating whether to send it off to be fixed or not.

Actually I've been a bit frustrated with my photos recently. They seem to be lacking something, sharpness or 'pop' I dunno.

Today's Black Woodpecker was certainly frustrating. A tame male but unfortunately the light was terrible meaning highish ISO, the AF also had trouble locking on to an all black bird in the gloomy lighting.

So spring moves on, the birds are changing, hopefully some waders will start passing through soon. I saw a Common Sandpiper in the park yesterday. I checked the beach at Kamiiso this morning but nothing happening there, next week should be better I think.

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On this day (April 16th)

April 16th 2010.

An Ancient Murrelet in the nearest port to my house 2 years ago today.

This individual hung around Hakodate Bay for a few weeks and on this day came very close to the quayside as it pursued the hordes of tiny fish that were very common in April that year.........

I went to the same place today actually. 2 years ago there were grebes, divers and many seaduck in addition to the murrelet. Today there were only 3 Red Breasted Merganser, 3 Scaup and a single Red Necked Grebe, all way too far off for any possibility of a photo.

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Spring slowly unrolling #2

A male Blue Rock Thrush in one of the many harbours to the west of Hakodate, we headed out to Kikonai and Shireuchi today in nice bright spring weather.

Lots of stuff on the sea: the usual seaducks plus flocks of Pintail and Wigeon and a few Brent Goose. There were also several Slavonian Grebe and they were coming into full summer plumage.

This individual was close inshore but the beach at Kikonai is steep and narrow and the surf is unpredictable: I got my feet soaked. I though gore-tex boots weer supposed to be waterproof.........they aren't. Also offshore in Kikonai were 2 Black Throated Diver and several Red Necked Grebe.

Ospreys were everywhere, I missed a chance for a great photo as one pitched into the sea and sat in the water for several seconds before emerging with a huge fish............unfortunately it was just a few metres from where I'd been standing earlier and was too far off for a shot.

There was a pair at Kikonai and they were calling to each other as they circled overhead.

Other stuff around today included Great and Little Egret, Gadwall, Common Reed Bunting and Little Ringed Plover. Glaucous Gull and a female Smew were at Kamiiso but not much else.

The day had started up at Akagawa, an upland forest in the northern part of town. It is an area I don't visit often but maybe I should visit more in the future. 4 species of Woodpecker were here including Black Woodpecker, among all the tits and nuthatches there were also several Red Flanked Bluetail and 2 Woodcock (a local tick no less). 2 flocks of Bewicks Swan headed north over the mountains, despite the snow on the ground (it is quite high) theer was a definite air of spring around.

We finished the day at Ono, the Siberian Stonechats were already set up in their summer territory.......

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Spring slowly unrolling

An Osprey at Onuma this afternoon. A heavy crop and a not very good photo but my first Osprey shot of 2012..................

In Onuma the snow and ice had melted quite a lot since last week and the birds weren't as concentrated as a few days ago, they were spread out over the rapidly expanding unfrozen portions of the lake. Large flocks of Pintail and Wigeon were the most noticeable and in the forest were Brambling and thrushes (mostly Dusky and Pale Thrush).

I tried to get better shots of the Great Cormorants, the light was better today but they are a difficult subject, all I could get were flybys and none of them very good.

The tame tits and nuthatches posed nicely in the spring light.

Lots of woodpeckers drumming everywhere: here's a Japanese Pygmy.

Summer visitors have been arriving all week. Barn Swallow, Asian House Martin and Siberian Stonechat in several locales as well as returnees from the south such as Japanese Bush Warbler. Sadly the trees and bushes along the river near my apartment were decimated by Hakodate City at the end of last year so I guess any migrants will just pass over my part of the city now: all that remains are tree stumps and piles of garbage.

Not a great week for photos but at least there were some interesting birds around. In Kamiiso the Gadwall and Falcated Teals from last weekend remained for a few days but defied my attempts of get any decent photos, this was the best of a bad bunch from a few days ago.

We finished off in Kamiiso this afternoon. Most of the ducks have gone now, 7 species of gull were present though as well as this Osprey, another heavy crop.

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17

A Great Cormorant at Onuma today with nesting materials. All the waterbirds were concentrated on one ice free patch of the lake and there were a lot of birds it has to be said.

Not a great picture but this species is quite rare in north Japan and usually occurs only on freshwater. There is a colony at Onuma, it differs from the very similar and much commoner Temincks Cormorant in having a brown sheen to its plumage (the latter has a greenish sheen).

All I could get were BIFs today and not very good ones either.

There were also huge flocks of Pintail and various other ducks around as well as lots of Grey Heron and several Great Egret. The latter were coming into summer plumage.

The Grey Herons were catching large fish in an ice free pond.

The tame Nuthatches were around as were all the common resident species.

I saw 17 species of duck today. The most intersting were Smew and Mandarin at Onuma and pairs of Falcated Duck and Gadwall at Kamiiso. No good shots at all, only a hastily grabbed BIF of a female Mandarin survived the cull.

Other stuff around today included Whooper Swan, Brent Goose, Osprey, Sparrowhawk, Little Grebe, Coot, Grear Crested Grebe and Red Necked Grebe. Here is one of the latter at Sawara, unfortunately it was caught up in some fishing line and was looking in very poor shape.

For some reason the ports at Shikabe and Sawra had very low water levels and were almost birdless, I have no idea why the water levels were so low (I never really notice much in the way of tides here).

So it looks like spring is just round the corner then...........

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On this day (April 8th)

April 8th 2010.

This Black Throated Diver was in the nearest port to my apartment 2 years ago and it hung around a few weeks (I didn't get to see it in summer plumage alas).

A very very quiet week has just passed, nothing around birding wise and it is still pretty cold with high winds and snow flurries. C'mon spring, where the hell are you?

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Glaucous Gulls

After 2 days of sleet and rain we headed up to Yakumo and Oshamanbe for the first time in a while. At Yakumo there wasn't much around: a fishing Osprey, a lone Lapwing and the usual common winter ducks. At Oshamanbe there were 3 Long Tailed Ducks in the port but they didn't come near enough for a decent photo so I turned my attention to the gulls,

The standard 4 large winter gulls of the region were present: Slaty Backed, Vega, Glaucous Winged and Glaucous. The latter is my personal fave and the only worthwhile shots on such a grey day were of this ghostly white species..........

There were 2 adults in a mixed gull flock eating seafood offal in the corner of the port. Not the nicest place to watch birds it has to be said.

It was a bit of a scrum, none of the species seemed dominant. I'd say about 90% were Slaty Backs (the dark ones in the pics below) with smaller numbers of Vega, 3 or 4 Glaucous Winged and 2 Glaucous. There were many more Glaucous Gulls up and down the coast but this was the only place I could get shots of them today.

At Onuma there were lots of Grey Heron and Great Cormorant plus the first Oriental Turtle Dove and Bullheaded Shrike of the year..............but not much else of interest. At Kamiiso there was not a single bird of any species in the harbour (well except a couple of Spotbilled Duck and a few Black tailed Gulls but they don't count).

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