A pair of (snowy) Owls

Well............Ural Owls covered with snow.

Snowshoeing

We were in Yakumo briefly yesterday morning....................

First lifer of 2016

A couple of crappy record shots of a female Ring Necked Duck at Onuma this morning. A lifer though (thanks to Osamu for the info)..............

It was very dark and it didn't come close, just sitting on the distant ice with the Mallards. It did come closer when we went back in the afternoon but it was in the middle of a raging blizzard and photos were out of the question. Hopefully it'll stick around for the winter and it performs well in sunnier weather.............

Also around were 3 Smew, a lone White Tailed Eagle, 50 or so Whooper Swan, 3 Pintail, 10 or so Coot...............

A Sunday morning date with a redhead

A rather cold Sunday morning saw us in Onuma................

A break in the blizzards..............

Slavonian Grebe this afternoon................

A brief break in the snow saw us in Kamiiso for an hour or so.............

2 old pals............

Great Egret and Ural Owl at Onuma a few days ago...............

Eagles and blizzards #2

Some more shots from Monday in Yakumo.............

There were quite a few White Tailed Eagles flying up and down the river.............

On this day (January 13th)...................

January 13th 2014.

The young Gyrfalcon at Sawara 2 years ago today. It was quite a fixture in the winter of 2013/14.

Everyone was hoping it would return the following winter in full adult white but sadly it never showed in winter 2014/15. There was a precedent for such hope: in the predigital age (the late 90's/early 00's) a pair came back faithfully for about 10 years. This was the first one since.....................

Actually there was a flurry of exceitement in December when a non birder photographed an adult white morph Gyrfalcon fighting with a Goshawk over disputed prey in a snow covered field. This was quite a way to the north and east of where we are but the hope was it was our bird on its way south and returning to Sawara as an adult in all its snowy white glory.

Of course nothing came, as we all knew would be the case..............but what is life without some kind of hope, even if we know it's futile? That's why we watch England in the World Cup after all.

Eagles and blizzards #1

The eagles were very active yesterday in Yakumo but unfortunately the weather was pretty nasty..........................

Siskins

There was a large flock of Siskin in Onuma yesterday......................

Grebes in the blizzards.............

There were 4 species of grebe in Kamiiso today......................

Laid low

White Tailed Eagle and Long Billed Plover at Yakumo a couple of days ago.............

A roadside surprise

A Mountain Hawk Eagle in Yakumo today.............

New Year in Yakumo #2

A Stellers Sea Eagle in Yakumo yesterday morning.

New Year in Yakumo #1

A Mountain Hawk Eagle in Yakumo yesterday...............

2015 ended

There were 2 Ural Owls at Onuma yesterday. This was in a hole that I thought had been abandoned.............

2015 ending slowly............

The weather relented a bit and we ended up at Onuma in brilliant winter sunshine.............

Fox and Owl

On the way back from Yakumo we stopped at Onuma just before sunset. It was dark and snowing. A pair of Black Woodpecker were around as were 2 staples, Red Fox and Ural Owl.

Christmas in Yakumo

We spent the 25/26 in and around Yakumo.............

On this day (December 26th).....................

December 26th 2011.

A Solitary Snipe at Yakumo 4 years ago today. This is a scarce winter visitor that inhabits frigid winter streams in the hills. I've seen the species several times at Yakumo but this was the only time I ever managed a photo................and even then it was a hastily taken massively underexposed heavy crop too.