A flycatcher and a moth

A male Narcissus Flycatcher tackling a big moth in Goryokakau Park yesterday.

I was back working from Tuesday and of course as soon I was busy the weather improved............I had a quick look on the river on Tuesday and noticed the Oriental Reed Warblers had returned, 2 males were singing intermittently and swooping around the few remaining trees and bushes. They were probably saying "where the f**k have all the trees gone?"

Yesterday I had a quick look in Goryokaku Park, the cherry blossoms a were open and the park was packed with baying packs of Japanese and Chinese tourists. I found a (relatively) quiet corner of the park and found several interesting birds............3 or 4 Asian Brown Flycatcher, 2 or more Eastern Crowned Warbler, Coal Tit, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and this male Narcissus Flycatcher.

It was difficult to pin down but eventually it caught a big moth and stayed still long enough to get some fairly close shots.

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


人気ブログランキングへ

On this day (May 9th)...........

May 9th 2010. An Intermediate Egret at Onuma a couple of years ago. This is one of the 3 egret species that regularly 'overshoot' during spring migration to south Hokkaido. The others are Little and Cattle Egret: they are about equally regular and all are far less common than Great Egret.

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

Golden Week 2012 #3

A Marsh Sandpiper and 2 Grey Tailed Tattler at Kamiiso this afternoon.

I had 4 out of the last 5 days off and early May is one of the best (if not the best) times of the year for local birding. Unfortunately the weather for the whole 5 days was absolutely f*****g terrible. Very heavy rain led to landslides and floods..........the amount of debris washed down the rivers and out into the sea was unbelievable. The local river (usually so small I'm embarrassed to call it a river) turned from its usual trickle to a brown swirling deluge..........

And when it wasn't raining it was too dark for any photos. Yesterday at Ono there were 10 or so Pacific Golden Plover in the gloom and this Cattle Egret, at least you can just about see a white bird in such poor light.........

I had given up on any birding on my days off until the rain stopped this morning and we headed out to a park in the east of town. It was full of birds, thank god. Too dark for any decent shots but I had a very pleasant couple of hours chasing the birds around the bushes.

There were lots of migrants including 3 Eye Browed Thrush.

And a pair of Blue and White Flycatcher too.

Also around were Asian Brown and Narcissus Flycatcher,  Japanese Grosbeak, Japanese White-eye, Varied and Coal Tit. Goldcrest, Grey Headed and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and this drake Mandarin Duck.

Not tame at all but at least it didn't fly off like the ones in Onuma always do.

We then headed east to Menagawa in sunshine and blue skies but there were no interesting birds at all except my first Grey Wagtail of the year and a Peregrine high in the sky.

We ended up at Kamiiso in the late afternoon and in the fading light on the beach was a Marsh Sandpiper.

A local tick (#216 I think): I've seen them in various nearby locales but never locally..............

As it was getting really dark I noticed a half dozen or so Grey Tailed Tattler, the commonest spring wader. It's pretty common in autumn too but it looks much nicer at this time of year even in the twilight.

So the end of the footy season is going to be pretty exciting: interesting games everywhere. The local Sky channels can only show 3 games at once. Shame Liverpool stopped trying 2 or 3 months ago, whatever game they have (I haven't even bothered checking who they're playing) is utterly meaningless.................

So let's hope the rain stops, as (bad) luck would have it I now have 3 busy days...........so let's say let's hope for sunshine from Friday then.

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


人気ブログランキングへ

Golden Week 2012 #2

A Red Cheeked Starling in Goryokaku Park this morning.

I'd got up early to watch the Man C/Man U game and as it was such a nice morning I ent out for a walk before returning to bed.

Not much around but a few migrants were flitting around............

A Sakhalin Leaf Warbler. Other stuff included Asian Brown Flycatcher, Japanese Bush Warbler and Japanese White-eye.

There were lots of Red Cheeked Starlings in the pak, they must have arrived in the last couple of days.............

As you can see the cherry blossoms are starting to emerge and they should open in the next 2 or 3 days. In Hakodate this will co-incide with the upcoming 4 day holiday weekend which will drive the locals and tourists into a frenzy.

It was very warm today but cooler rainy weather will hit Hakodate from Thursday, looks like the cherry blossom viewing hordes will get wet.

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


人気ブログランキングへ

Golden Week 2012 #1

Asian House Martins at Kikonai yesterday.

A cluster of national holidays known as Golden Week kicked off yesterday and spring well and truly arrived, it has been warm and sunny, indeed I got sunburned today and consumed not 1 but 2 ice creams...............

Yesterday morning started at Akagawa, lots of activity in the forest before the dirt bikers showed up to scare everything off. Lots of Narcissus Flycatcher and Eastern Crowned Warbler were singing, other stuff included Japanese Thrush, Whites Thrush and Long Tailed Rosefinch. In Kikonai and Shireuchi there wasn't so much around.............a lone Bewicks Swan, a couple of Great Egret, a Greenshank, several Little Ringed Plover, Lathams Snipe, Osprey and a few Brent Geese, Wigeon and Red Breasted Merganser offshore.

Lots of Asian House Martin everywhere now...........

At Kamiiso yesterday there were no waders but lots of summer plumage Black Headed Gulls...........these look very exotic here (we usually only see them in winter plumage and there are no other common hooded gulls in Japan). Shame I grew up in England where they are so common birders probably don't even look at them..............

Today I walked the long walk down the beach in Kamiiso to look for waders: all I could find was 1 very flighty Whimbrel. We headed over to Asabu, there were some good birds here but nothing posing for the camera. Pacific Swift, Wryneck, more Osprey and lots of Siberian Stonechat and Chestnut Eared Bunting were singing...........here's one of the latter, a shy bird that flies off as soon as eye contact is established even through a car window.

Back at Kamiiso I waited in vain for the Ospreys to come close and eventually gave up and concentrated on the local Black Tailed Gulls which were courting. Like the Black Headed Gull this is a beautiful bird I maybe take for granted.............the second one here is a Slaty Backed Gull, the common resident large gull.

I don't know if I'm being paranoid but I'm sure I used to take better quality photos of more interesting species than I have been doing lately.

Roy Hodgson? I'm underwhelmed to say the least but he's done well using scant playing resources with mid ranking teams..........maybe he won't be a total disaster with England then.

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


人気ブログランキングへ

Mugged

We spent a long day in Onuma today, it was the first warm day of the year. Not many summer visitors yet but they are arriving every day, Eastern Crowned Warbler and Russet Sparrow made their first appearances of 2012 and there were lots of Japanese Thrush singing. All the common stuff was around including this female Black Woodpecker.

I really wanted to get photos of 2 species this spring: Mandarin Duck and Japanese Grosbeak. They are both so wary I may have to rethink my strategy, I even looked online at portable blinds.............maybe next year.

The tame Nuthtaches stalked me through the forest begging for food, they practically mugged me. At least I could get some different poses in different locations.

In Kamiiso this morning I saw the first Red Cheeked Starlings of the year as well as the first Wryneck, not much else around though. The last week in Hakodate was pretty quiet although yesterday a flock of Bewicks Swan was wheeling over the neighbourhood on their way north.

The felling of the trees last winter along the river means not many places for migrants to rest, all I could find this week were lots of Japanese Bush Warbler. A small copse remains in a private Go-Karting track and there were 2 Red Flanked Bluetails there, very hard to get a photo of (plus I looked like a pedophile shooting over the fence with my biggish white lens). This female was the best I could manage.

A big holiday week starts tomorrow, I have a few days day off coming up from Sunday so hopefully the migrants will continue arriving.

I didn't watch the Barcelona/Chelsea game but I'll probably get up to watch the Manc derby...................I haven't even thought about Euro 2012, I can't remember being so indifferent about an international tournament before...................so maybe England will surprise me.

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


人気ブログランキングへ