Early spring Parklife

I took a short walk in Goryokaku Park this afternoon.................

The shy ones.............

A Mandarin at Onuma this afternoon. This species is one of the 3 most attractive local ducks and they are all extremely shy. Smew ( a pair of which flew away literally as soon as I looked at them today) and Falcated Duck (small numbers of which will pass through soon) are the other two...............

Osprey high above on the river near my apartment for th last 2 days, the first Swallows of the year (yesterday), another osprey and the usual common stuff at Onuma today.....................otherwise not much around.

A bit quiet on the coast.........

Some pics from Sawara/Shikabe yesterday...............

Siberian Meadow Bunting

A male Siberian Meadow Bunting just outside Hakodate this morning.............

A difficult one

Is there any other common bird as difficult to photograph as a Treecreeper?

Crossbills taking a morning drink

My 1000th post

Well it's taken exactly 8 years and 3 months to reach my 1000th post on this blog..................

The prodigal Owl

A Ural Owl at Onuma this afternoon, the first one I'd seen in this hole for over a year............

A long day with almost no birds..............

Redpolls up close

There were yet more Redpolls in Oshamanbe................

Siskins and Redpolls......................

The last breath of winter......................

Some late blizzards hit Hakodate today, probably the last this winter......................

Geese etc

A very springlike day in south Hokkaido this Sunday.................

Surprise in the park.............

A Red Necked Grebe in the local park.................

Not really happening

On Monday afternoon we were in Onuma and Sawara................

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

A friend very kindly lent me his new 100-400 MK2 this morning....................

Red and Blue

2 red and blue species that commonly occur on the local coasts...............Harlequin Duck and Blue Rock Thrush.

On this day (March 15th)..........................

March 15th 2011

A Bohemian Waxwing near my apartment 4 years ago today........................part of a large flock of them as it turned out.

Usually Waxwings are at the tops of trees in harsh light but these came to the ground..............

A week of blizzards.............

It's been snowing all week.....................

A lot of tame small birds..............

There were lots of small birds at Onuma on Monday morning.............