A quiet week in mid March..............

An out of foocus immature Goshawk on the edge of town today................

It's been a quiet few days.

First signs of spring

2 Glaucous Winged Gulls near Oshamanbe yesterday. In summer plumage too................

Lapwing

Not a bird to get the pulse racing, at least to someone born and raised in NW England. A (Northern) Lapwing, a bit of a scarce bird in Hokkaido. I see about one a year and this individual seems to be the one from 2016.

We just got back from a night at Lake Toya, this was one the way home. It was being harried by crows, not sure why they'd do that but anyway they wouldn't leave it alone and I hurriedly took a burst of BIF shots as it flew by before it disppaered into the snowy fields. About a 50% crop, this rather poor effort is pretty much the only time I've ever photographed a Lapwing.

I can remember them vividly from my youth as they displayed in the fields near where we lived, of course they are much rarer now but I did see a few when I visited the UK last spring. Indeed they were the first real lifer I remember, ID'ed from the 'Observer Book of Birds' on a family holiday to the Lake District circa 1977...............

Black Woodpecker

A male Black Woodpecker to the east of Onuma this afternoon.

It was right next to the road but difficult to photograph as it was in the shade and/or behind twigs. The female was also nearby. They were househunting...............it must be spring.

The coast was pretty birdless except for a few common species in the harbours. At Onuma there were White Tailed Eagle and Smew but both too far off for any pictures.

Winter fizzling out.............

We took a drive out west today, a pretty quiet late winter Sunday................

There were quite a few White Tailed Eagles around, the one above was very close but as is often the case my settings remained the same as the last time I had used the camera and weren't appropriate for today's weather and light. Lightroom rescued them a little but they aren't sharp at all......................

Also around were 3 Pacific or Black Throated Diver (too far off to ID), Bullfinch, Brent Goose, Black Necked Grebe, Great Egret, Whooper Swan as well as the usual common winter ducks and gulls..............

A Monday in a harbour #2

Some more photos from Monday afternoon...............

The stragglers............

Most of the eagles seem to  have left Yakumo..................and only a few stragglers remain.

A Monday in a harbour #1

Most of Monday was spent in a couple of ports north of Yakumo..............

Out east

Sunday afternoon, we ended up in a small port on the southeastern point of the peninsula where we live................

More Peregrines............

The Peregrine was back.......................

Grey Friday

I had a couple of spare hours this afternoon and I could check the port at Kamiiso.................

Egrets in the slush

A Great Egret on the river near my flat this afternoon.....................

Blizzards on a Monday. Again.

Winter has returned, it's freezing.

We went up to Yakumo today but although some eagles of both species weere still present the blizzards made pictures out of the question. Sawara was as bitterly cold as I can ever recall it being and there were no birds at all (except a briefly seen medium sized raptor, probably a Goshawk).

The Ural Owl and Marsh Tit above were in Onuma. the owl has been cordoned off believe it or not. There is yellow tape (the kind at crime incidents) tied between the trees in fromt of it as well as 2 notices in Japanese asking people not to go near. When we drove past there were three retired Japanese men taking photos with their cellphones and one of them was right near the owl tree, he had totally ignored all the (obvious) warnings not to go near. There were also footprints in the snow right up to the tree. They sheepishly left as I glared at them. WTF? People can be so stupid sometimes.

Actually I'd heard that someone had scared it off a couple of weeks ago, this was the first time I'd seen it in a while.

Also around of note were Smew, White Tailed Eagle and White Backed Woodpecker............

Rain and fog...........

Well after several bright sunny days when I was too busy to go out of the house my weekend started with rain (!) and fog. The rainwater is sitting on top of the ice..................this will get nasty in a day or two.

Very windy too, the above Glaucous Winged Gull was sheltering in a harbour to the east of town. Only common stuff about and no photos at all; White Tailed Eagle, Harlequin Duck, Pelagic Cormorant, Black Necked Grebe, Brent Goose and Great Egret...............

Stupid mild weather, ruining my weekend!

On this day (February 11th)...................

February 11th 2014.

The overwintering Gyrfalcon from 2013/14 2 years ago today.

In the morning that day (as you can see) the light was fantastic but it didn't do anything. On the afternoon when the light had become very poor ir sudenly became very active.................

A real shame it looks like the individual that appeared this year in the same place only stayed very briefly and AFAIK only one person was lucky enought to see it. Still, it may return, you never know.

At least I saw this one 2 years ago.What a bird.

A sunny Monday in February #5

2 rare winter Butings from earlier in the week.................

A sunny Monday in February #4

The Peregrine continued to pose for the camera on Monday.....................

A sunny Monday in February #3

More shots from Monday.............

It became so bright I had to put some sunscreen on my face................

A sunny Monday in February #2

Whilst we waited in vain for the Gyr to appear yesterday a lone Snow Bunting kept us entertained.................

A sunny Monday in February #1

It was a sunny even mildish winter day in south Hokkaido..................