Spring

A pair of Slaty Backed Gulls in the harbour at Kamiiso this afternoon. They are paired up and in breeding plumage...............it must be spring.

Quietish mid March

Great Egret and Crossbills in Hakodate yesterday afternoon................

A bit of a quiet time birdingwise.............I'm busy with work being the main reason.

Crossbills in the slush and drifts

Amazingly it wasn't snowing AND I had a spare 2 or 3 hours so I went down the river to see if the crossbill flock was still around. It was.

East Hokkaido 2014 #5

After the eaglefest at Rausu I didn't do so much birding...................

East Hokkaido 2014 #4

Some more eagle shots from Rausu after I swapped my lens, these are all with the 100-400.

The 100-400 isn't as sharp as the 500 f4 but was more useful for these subjects at this range............

An invasion...................

There are loads of Crossbills in town at the moment, these shots are all from yesterday..............

Back down south

A break from my East Hokkaido posts...............

The Gyrflacon was still at Sawara yesterday...........

It has been fairly mild since we got back but the strong wind at Sawara yesterday made it brutally cold (especially as I wasn't well wrapped up).

After some very long posts recently I've started inserting these 'jump breaks'..............so please click if you want to see more pictures and read my pearls of wisdom.

East Hokkaido 2014 #3

I did the boat trip out to the sea ice at Rausu last week and it was fantastic.

I had been on the same boat trip five years ago nut the sea ice was way offshore and the weather was too rough to stop the boats alongside the ice. There were no such worries this time. The light was great and the eagles were very close. All the pics in this post were taken with my 500mml lens.

East Hokkaido 2014 #2

A Japanese Crane at Akan last week.

I have to admit I was there for the eagles really, although they are beautiful and elegant I find the cranes a little dull in their winter feeding areas, it is almost like a zoo.

It was also a little dark when we were there.

East Hokkaido 2014 #1

A White Tailed Eagle at Akan a few days ago.................

We just got back from a weeklong trip to east Hokkaido and back. I was with 3 non birders so it was a birding trip as such...............but I managed to get some in of course.

Eagles everywhere #2

Stellers Sea Eagles at Rausu a couple of days ago. Processed on my tablet. The highlights may be a little overblown.

Eagles everywhere

White Tailed Eagles at Rausu yesterday.  Processed on my tablet again.

Harlequins

Harlequin Duck in Rausu yesterday. Processed on my tablet.........

Japanese Crane

At Akan yesterday. Processed on my tablet again. God knows what it looks like.........

Eagle among the Cranes

White Tailed Eagle at Akan today. Processed on my tablet tethered to my phone.

Gyr and painful fingers............

Surprisingly my relatives expressed interest in seeing the Gyrfalcon and we spent an hour in Sawara. The Gyrfalcon was very obliging, sitting on various pieces of driftwood on the beach striking nice poses.

The lull before a trip.................

I had time for a short walk this afternoon and the waxwings were around again. They were extremely restless, they were still feeding on the long busy road and it was really icy and slippery underfoot.

Most of the flock were Bohemians but there were a few Japanese Waxwings among them..........

Waxwings

I had a couple of free hours this afternoon so I took a short walk to check if any waxwings were around. There were. Loads of them.

Some Gyr BIFs, BOTs and BOPs

The Gyrfalcon in flight, on a post and on a tetrapod.

Scratched pine

A Gyrflacon and a male Pine Bunting at Swara this afternoon.

I had a free afternoon and in glorious light we headed out to Sawara.