Er, more Narcissus Flycatchers

A Narcissus Flycatcher at Onuma yesterday morning. This is the 4th consecutive posting with this species.............apologies for the repetition.

This individual was very tame..............these pics are barely cropped at all.

There were lots of birds in the forest but nothing else was posing for the camera. I heard a Siberian Blue Robin but couldn't see it, other stuff included several species of thrush including Eye Browed, Asian Brown and Blue and White Flycatchers, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Russet Sparrow, Black Crowned Night Heron, Japanese White-eye, Oriental Cuckoo, the usual common tits, nuthatches and woodpeckers, Mandarin Duck and lots of this species...........

A Japanese Grosbeak. A lousy heavily cropped pic but actually it's the first time i've posted a photo of this bird. Very hard to photograph in fact (they are very shy and rarely seem to leave the treetops when I'm around) and despite being pretty common in summer they had eluded my camera up to this point.

We had a frustrating day yesterday after Onuma. We headed up to Yakumo but the traffic was so heavy (!) we turned around and went to Asabu where there was nothing around at all so we headed to Kikonai only to find the road was closed due to a landslide............this resulted in a long drive back the way we had come as it was the only road in the mountains.

We managed a quick look at the ricefields in Ono-1 Wood Sandpiper and a briefly seen fly over falcon (Merlin I think though it could have been a Hobby I suppose). The day before there were lots of Grey Tailed Tattler and 2 Red Necked Stint. Today there were still lots of Tattlers and the Pacific Golden Plovers were still around but in the middle of a large muddy field.

The ricefields should be flooded next week, hopefully we'll get some decent waders coming through........

I watched the climax of the Premier League last night. I fell asleep at half time when Man City were 1-0 up. I'd been up since before 5am and had drunk several beers before kick off (11pm here in Japan). I woke up to find there were only 10 minutes left and QPR were winning 2-1 (plus I had missed the Joey Barton meltdown). Thank god I woke up before the end...............

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A third day in the sakura..........

I went back to Goryokau Park for the 3rd consecutive day on Friday morning and the Narcissus Flycatchers were still around. Unlike Wednesday I had plenty of time and unlike Thursday the light was great...................

I could get a little closer this time..............

There were at least 2 males singing.

There was less variety than the previous day, perhaps the clear weather meant many of the passage visitors had left, I'm sure the Narcissus will leave in a day or 2 as well. There were still quite a few Eastern Crowned Warbler, Japanese White-eye and Asian Brown Flycatcher though.......

And the Red Cheeked Starlings will stay all summer...........

In the afternoon we went to Onuma. Lots of Narcissus Flycatchers here too as well as my first Oriental Cuckoo and Japanese Green Pigeon of the year. Other stuff included Mandarin, Japanese Thrush, Japanese Grosbeak and the usual common summer visitors and residents like this very scruffy Nuthatch.......

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Mugimaki

A female Mugimaki Fycatcher and another male Narcissus Flycatcher in Goryokaku Park yesterday morning.

I had got up at 5am and was in the park before 6am looking for yesterday's Narcissus Flycatcher, there were actually 2 or 3 of them around today and they were setting up temporary territories and singing.

The weather was grey and dull and with a slow lens it was hard to get any sharp shots of such an active little bird................

This female Mugimaki Flycatcher was a nice find and was probably the tamest least active bird on show...................

Shame it wasn't a male but the female is pretty cute too...........

There were lots of other small birds whizzing about the cherry blossoms too. Several Eastern Crowned Warbler, lots of other small brownish birds that were mostly Asian Brown Flycatcher. These were very active and difficult to get a shot of..............

There were also some female Narcissus Flycatcher but I couldn't find any Sootys. I also had a brief view of this male Blue and White Flycatcher.

I had an even briefer view of a Siberian Blue Robin which I could hear singing in the middle of the park. The Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker from the previous day was still present as was this Great Spotted Woodpecker.

This is one of 2 female Russet Sparrows, another passage visitor.........

And of course there were lots of Red Cheeked Starlings everywhere..........

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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.

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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.

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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.

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