A quiet Sunday in May

A Blue and White Flycatcher in Kamiiso this morning. There were about 5 of them in a small copse along with lots of other migrants; Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, Rustic Bunting, Japanese White-eye and Olive Backed Pipit. My first Lathams Snipe of the year was overhead but there were no waders in the padis (or none that I could see).

On the coast there were a few Gray Tailed Tattler, a few ducks including Black Scoter and Harlequin Duck as well as a flock of Crossbill in the pine trees next to the river.

There wasn't much at Onuma.........my first Narcissus Flycatcher and Oriental Cuckoo of the year but no photos worth posting. Yakumo was quiet too.............another Black Winged Stilt, 4 Wood Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Wryneck, Great Egret, Gadwall and a few other ducks. Other stuff today on the way to Yakumo included Glaucous Winged Gull, more Blue and White Flycatchers,  Brown Dipper and Grey Wagtail.

Here's a Black Kite on the beach at Yakumo.

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Another day in the park

A Great Spotted Woodpecker looking out of its front door in Goryokaku Park. I saw them copulating several times (not as interesting as it sounds).................

Lots of migrants around but nothing especially interesting. Several Asian Brown Flycatcher (one of which may have been a female Narcissus but I was paying attention to the woodpeckers), 2 Red flanked Bluetail, 3 or 4 Eastern Crowned Warbler and 1 male Blue and White Flycatcher...................which would have been a nice shot but for the branch.

Lots of Red Cheeked Starling including some trying to take over the woodpecker hole.

The Black Winged Stilt was still there. I took lts and lots and lots of photos of it the last couple of days which I''ll sort through later and post in the upcoming fallow summer months. Here are some purely random ones of the hundreds and hundreds on my hard drive............

It let me approach it to within a couple of metres and I could lie down on the (dry) grass and get some low angle ones................

It was attracting some attention from the hordes of people in the park looking at the cherry blossoms. The weekend is coming and the park will be heaving.................I suspect this was the last time for me to see it.

Here is a short jerky video I made and uploaded to youtube with no editing.

Another spring day...............

It was a beautiful spring day, the first real warmish weather since the back end of October. I got up early and walked to Goryokaku park and there were Japanese White-eyes everywhere.

Today was a good day for migrants. In the park I saw Pale and Brown Thrush (and lots of Duskys), 4 Rustic Bunting with 2 males in summer plumage, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Red Flanked Bluetail, Asian Brown Flycatcher and this male Blue and White Flycatcher.

This is a Japanese Bush Warbler, a very common summer visitor but usually very skulking. This one wasn't............

There were lots of Red Cheeked Starling around.............

Some were even trying to muscle in on this Great Spotted Woodpecker's new spring/summer residence............

The Black Winged Stilt was still around in the morning..............

Why wasn't the weather like this on my 2 days off last week????

At least I had some free time today (and tomorrow). I was hoping for some Narcissus Flycatchers.................maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow................
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A surprise visitor in the park..........

A Black Winged Stilt in Goryokaku park this afternoon. I finally got some OK shots of them up close in good light but in the most unexpected of places..................

What the hell was it doing in the park? There was no water suitable to wade in plus the park was pretty busy as the cherry blossoms are finally starting to open (slightly).

It was pretty tame though.

There must ahve been a real influx of them into south Hokkaido this last couple of weeks............

Not much else around. Lots of Red Flanked Bluetails, Dusky Thrush and Black Faced Bunting on the move. A singing Japanese Thrush and another Eastern crowned warbler near my apartment.

Thatcher gone and now Fergie retiring. The shadows are lifting......................


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Blue and Green

A male Blue and White Flycatcher and an Eastern Crowned Warbler near my apartment this afternoon.

I had an hour or so to spare this afternoon and I was pleased to see lots of migrants in the few remaining trees and bushes next top the river.

There were 2 male Blue and White Flycatchers, one of the most stunning summer visitors to Hokkaido.

 I was looking down on them so the angles weren't so good, also most of the time they were in the shade. When they reach their breeding grounds they tend to stay high up in the canopy though..............

There were also quite a few Eastern Crowned Warblers knocking about............

Other stuff included lots of Black Faced Bunting and Dusky Thrush, a female Red Flanked Bluetail, a lone flash by Red Rumped Swallow, Hawfinch and Japanese Bush Warbler. In Goryokaku Park I tried to locate more warblers and flycatchers but all I could fund was a lone Olive Backed Pipit and a flock of Japanese White-eye.

The last few days were a washout and it was a long holiday weekend too. On Sunday I spent the afternoon at Kamiiso under leaden skies. There were quite a few divers offshore, mainly Red Throated (some coming into summer plumage) and at least one Pacific Diver. Huge rafts of Scaup were also on the sea but there were only a few other common ducks around. There was also a lone Glaucous Gull, several Osprey, 2 Whimbrel and 1 Bar Tailed Godwit. Yesterday saw very heavy rain. We had a quick look at the ricefields in Ono hoping to see some waders but couldn't find any. Flocks of Brambling, Dusky Thrush and Black Faced Bunting were passing through and I saw my first Reed Bunting of the year.


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Linked to Wild Bird Wednesday.