Sunday eagles and grebes

Some birds from my day out today...............

I went up to Yakumo in the morning (thanks Tomohiro) and there were still good numbers of eagles but most of them have moved downstream.............we discovered this after searching in vain upstream and then not having enough time to do them justice later.

Only distant views of Stellers today.............

This male White Tailed was right next to the road.

The main action was on the bridges near the coast, hopefully I can get back there next weekend.

Not much else around, a pair of Long Billed Plovers being the most interesting.

In the afternoon I was in Kamiiso, there were 3 species of grebe in the harbour again. Half a dozen each of Black Necked and Great Crested (above) and the lone Slavonian from a few days ago was still around.

I wish it popped up close by in good light like the Black Neckeds do.

I tried to get both species together but fialed, apart from this lame effort.

 My wife says they all look the same anyway.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

On this day (January 25th).............

January 25th 2011.

2 Lapland Bunting on the beach at Nanaehama 2 years ago today, they spent several weeks there in fact. These are an occasional visitor to the local beaches in winter, I've also seen them at Yakumo and up at Mukawa too.

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Slav

A Slavonian Grebe in the harbour at Kamiiso yesterday.

I spent the last couple of afternoons in Kamiiso, not a lot about but just enough to keep me occupied. The weather was good yesterday at least and the sea was calm.

Today was milder but darker and somewhat windy.

This species isn't as easy to photograph as the Black Neckeds.............for a start they are much less numerous and they seem a little more wary too. They also dive longer and pop up further away than the Black Neckeds too. And finally they seem to stay out in the middle of the harbour so I have to crop quite a bit which always knackers IQ.

There were several Great Crested Grebe and 1 Black Necked Grebe in the same place as well as both species of cormorant. Other stuff in Kamiiso over the last couple of days included White Tailed Eagle, 10 species of duck, Whooper Swan, Coot, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Jaapnese Pygmy Woodpecker and 6 species of gull. Surprisngly there are still a few live salmon swimming in the river, the end of January seems very very late to be seeing that.

Not much nearer to home, a female Bullfinch was the only noteworthy bird over the last few days.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

A drive in the sunshine

A Red Squirrel in a park in east Hakodate this morning. There are several feeders which attract lots of tits and nuthatches................there must have been 20 or more Varied Tits.

It was a sunny (even mild..........maybe even above zero for the first time in ages) day and we drove around the coast to Onuma.  A very nice drive in crisp clear light.

Lots of common stuff on the sea and in the harbours................such as Scaup and Glaucous Gull.

The eastern side of the peninsula has lots of hills coming down to the sea meaning it is ion the shade most of the day: on some of the cliffs huge icicles form and it was distinctly chilly out of the sun.

Back at Onuma the Ural Owl was in its hole.

There were several White Tailed Eagle in various spots, a flock of Brambling in the park at Hakodate, some Black Necked Grebe at Esan and the usual gulls and wildfowl on the sea.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

One of those days

A Glaucous Winged Gull in a blizzard in Oshamanbe.

It was one of those days when nothing goes right. I went to Yakumo with a Japanese acquaintance (thanks for the ride Toshio)  but although there were still plenty of eagles around we couldn't get any decent shots. We decided to go to Oshamanbe but the blizzards hit, we headed back to Yakumo where it was still sunny and narrowly missed a great photo opp of several low flying eagles over a bridge..................

And apart from the eagles nothing of much interest anywhere either.

Time for a cold beer and a night in front of the footy.
Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

2 days in a harbour

A Black Necked Grebe in Kamiiso today and yesterday.

I spent yesterday afternoon in Kamiiso and though there weren't many birds in the port there was enough to keep me busy. This lone Black Necked Grebe was pretty tame.

It seemed to be eating some kind of shrimp...............

I've seen them eating shrimp, worms and fish.................they are mot fussy eaters.

I tried to get pictures of them diving. Tried not very successfully.

Also in the port were a few Goldeneye and Scaup as well as several Great Crested Grebe.

On the sea there was more of the same plus several flocks of Black Scoter. White Tailed Eagle and Kentish Plover were contrasting flyovers. Also around were Whooper Swan and Goosander and some Waxwings spotted from the train.

Earlier in the week the flock of Japanese Waxwings near my apartment had relocated to the trees in front of the local Police HQ...................a bad place for photographs. Not only is it a busy street with potential waxwing feeding sites on both sides the police actually asked me to move on last year when I was photographing Dusky Thrush from the same spot. Go catch some real criminals why don't you................

Great Egret, 2 female Goosander, a lone Brambling and the flock of Long Tailed Rosefinch were also knocking about.

I had a brief visit to the same harbour this afternoon in much better light.

Still couldn't get a good diving shot though.................

It hasn't snowed much for a few days but it's still really cold, hope the clear weather returns on Sunday..............................
Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Scoters and Dunlins

A Dunlin and Black Scoter at Oshamanbe today.

A bit of an weird day today birdwise. Again there were plenty of eagles at Yakumo but almost no photo chances..................they were all very actively feeding and squabbling on inaccessible stretches of the river. This immature White Tailed Eagle was the best shot I could muster.....................

I walked around a lot, flushing Crested Kingfisher, Bullfinch and lots of tits and nuthatches but nothing posing for the camera. We then headed up to Oshamanbe to see if there was anything interesting in the harbour there. I was hoping for Long Tailed Duck but they weren't anywhere to be seen. There were lots of Black Scoter however.

And in one corner of the port was a group of 5 Dunlin. Strange to think this species is probably scarcer than Stellers Sea Eagle in Hokkaido in winter..................

On getting back to the flat we received some sad news. One of the people I teach died of a heart attack yesterday. She had been coming for over 10 years and I had taught her before in my old job too. She was very kind to me and my wife and also to my parents when they visited. We'll miss you Keiko.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

A quiet Sunday in January

A White Tailed Eagle at Yakumo today. A bit of a quiet day birdwise. We arrived a little later than usual and there weren't so may eagles around. Annoyingly some hunters upstream disturbed them (they seemed to be shooting at the ducks, Goosander and Teal, WTF?) and even further downstream there didn't seem so many......................

It was only slightly below zero today so a lot of the snow turned into powder on the roads, Hakodate was especially nasty. The City Hall here has no money so the snow clearing isn't as efficient as in other areas of Hokkiado. Yakumo was much better than Hakodate at least.

Not much else around. A Long Billed Plover was the most noteworthy non eagle species in Yakumo and at Onuma there was a very noisy active male Black Woodpecker (unfortunately out of camera  range). I fired off some pics of the tame tits and nuthatches before the sun went down..............

So I hope Liverpool can get a result against Man U tonight. Ideally a controversial Suarez winner celebrated in provocative style right in front of Fergie....................

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ