Bears up a tree

I've been going to the mountains and forests in southwest Hokkaido for the last 12 or so years and was wondering when I'd get to see my first local wild Brown Bear. Today was that day.

We got up early to have another go at the eagles. The light was terrible early on but again there were lots of eagles close up.

Only BIFs again, I really wanted to photograph them standing in the river squabbling over salmon but they fly off before you even notice them.

As you can see both species were present but there only appeared to be adult Stellers Sea Eagles............

They all flew off and I didn't get any more shots despite spending the whole day in Yakumo. The light then improved, it was mild and sunny. I noticed 2 brown things moving high up in a tree where the eagles had been................

A heavily cropped shot of 2 Brown Bear cubs. I didn't try to get any closer as I had no desire to have a race across a snowy field with an angry mother bear...................

We never saw the mother and eventually the 2 cubs came down and disappeared up the hill and into the forest....................

On the coast the flock of Asian Rosy Finch was still present but very difficult to photograph..............

And there were lots of Glaucous Gull on the coast...................

Here is a view north across the bay from Yakumo to Mt Yotei just before the sun went down................

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Blizzards

There were lots of eagles at close quarters up at Yakumo today but there was one problem. There was a blizzard up in the hills where the eagles gather..................thick wet sleety snow and it made photography almost impossible. A shame, there must have been 50 or so eagles of both species all bunched up on the same small stretch of river which is still accessible at this time of year as there is little snow on the ground.

The snow wasn't sticking, hopefully I can go back in a couple of days with blue skies. Not much else around at Yakumo, some flocks of Hawfinches and a flock of 30 or so Asian Rosy Finch on the coast.

At Onuma the common stuff was around including Smew and Black Woodpecker. It was too dark for any decent photos here too (but no snow). Here is a tame Nuthatch and some kind of marten/weasel/polecat.

I gave up with my big camera, this was taken with my smartphone.

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Winter Returnees

A Brent Goose in Hakodate today, they must have arrived in the last week or so. There were about 20 of them in the usual spot as well as half a dozen Harlequin Duck. The ducks were too far away for photographs and the geese a little wary (by spring they will be very tame).

Other winter stuff on the sea included Wigeon, a lone Slavonian Grebe and these 4 Black Necked Grebes.

Great Egret, Nuthatch and Varied Tit were the only other species of note. Yesterday saw us at Onuma and Kamiiso. There were more Black Necked Grebes at Onuma as well as a female Smew and several Goldeneye but the forest was very quiet...................not even any tame Nuthatches.

It is a little cold now, yesterday saw the first snow flurries of the winter in town.....................

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Before the snow.....................

Well it hasn't started snowing yet but it can't be far off...........................a light dusting on the hills the other morning and snow forecast for the weekend.

Lots of birds near my place this week, in Goryokaku Park there were at least half a dozen Nuthatches (a bird I don't normally see in town), Varied, Coal, Marsh and Great Tits, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (see above), the first Wren and Dusky Thrush of the season, Pochard and Tufted Duck, Coot, Little Grebe and best of all 4 Crossbill briefly seen in the tops of the pine trees .

So here is a non tame Nuthatch.

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Some more signs of winter

The tame flock of tits and Nuthatches were around at Onuma, shame it was so dark I had to use a flash. The feeding log has rotted away over the summer but the birds returned to the same place and devoured the sunflower seeds we left out for them. The flock of Whooper Swans in one quiet corner of the lake is growing and there is snow on distant mountain tops....................winter is coming.

Up at Yakumo I searched for the Snow Buntings from last week but couldn't find them, I did see a couple of small birds bolting off that may have been Pine Bunting but they could have been pretty much any small passerine. There were Whooper Swans here as well as Great Egret, lots of ducks, Great Crested Grebe, Goshawk and Crested Kingfisher. 8 species of gull were present including a few Kittiwake hanging on from last week.

And quite a few Glaucous Gull too................

Upstream we looked for eagles.....................and found about 10-15 of them. Mainly White Tailed but there were 3 adult Stellers. All of them were way too far off for a decent photograph. Here is a photo just to show you I'm not making the eagles up.

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A big bird with a small fish

I took a short walk on the small river near my apartment yesterday and there were 3 Great Egrets. 2 were rather shy but one individual was very active.

Those fish it was catching look absolutely tiny....................they must taste good to a Great Egret I suppose.

4 species of tit and the usual common stuff was around.................but the egrets were the main attraction.

I hear this species in breeding in the UK now and has been seen regularly in the northwest of England................what an exotic bird this would have been to see back in the 1980's.

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More signs of winter..............

A Black Legged Kittiwake shaking itself dry at Yakumo this afternoon. There were 8 species of gull at the mouth of the river and they included 50 or so Kittiwake...........................and unfortunately they all appeared to have black legs.

We were in Yakumo to check if any eagles had arrived. There were small numbers of salmon spawning and the Yurappu Valley was aflame with autumn colors (what a cliche that is but I don't know how else to describe it) and we found the grand total of ONE adult White Tailed Eagle (and that was too far away for a photo). The only raptor apart from the abundant Black Kite was this Common Buzzard.

We did see a Crested Kingfisher, I managed to get this record shot as it flew at great speed over my head...........................

This is one bird I hope to finally get a decent photograph of this winter.

There were some interesting birds at the mouth of the river too. Goshawk, the first Goldeneye of the winter and another species I hope to get a good photo of this winter. This was the best I could manage today. 2 Snow Bunting. It looked like they had literally just arrived (they came in off the sea). They flew over my head and landed on the beach, stayed 10 seconds and then disappeared to the opposite side of the river.

When I walked back to the car I disturbed another 2 buntings....................I snapped a record shot and when I reviewed the image back in the car I was surprised to find it was a male and female Pine Bunting.

Back at Onuma there weren't many birds in the forest but the lake was looking very autumnal..............

I watched The Hunger Games a couple of days ago. Very silly.
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Birds in the park

A Great Egret in a pine tree in the small park near my apartment this afternoon.

The park and the adjacent riverside bushes were full of birds actually. A male Red Flanked Bluetail and a female Daurian Redstart were much too active to get a shot of. There was a mixed roving tit flock in the park with several Coal Tit, Great Tit and Varied Tit as well as 2 Marsh (or Willow?) Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Treecreeper and 1 Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker. The first 3 species on the list are common in town but the latter 4 aren't, indeed it was my first ever local urban Treecreeper in Hakodate. A flock of a dozen or so Siskin was another indication of the passing seasons.

Very autumnal now...............just a matter of days before the first snow on the hills and maybe only a couple of weeks before the first flurries in town. Can't believe it was too hot to sleep only 6 or so weeks ago...................

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