Autumn 2016

It felt very autumnal today...................

Pika

This odd looking animal is a Northern Pika near Furano last week...............

On this day (September 29th)..................

September 29th 2013.

Not a great picture by any stretch but I was quite excited by this scene 3 years ago today. A Long-tailed Skua mugging a Common Tern offshore at Yakumo. This is usually something that happens way offshore and I never witness, the Skua was a lifer too.

A couple of weeks later I saw large numbers of Pomarine Skua migrating close inshore at the same place. The last 2 years I checked at the same place/time but got nothing at all................

Some late waders............

A Bar-tailed Godwit and a Grey Plover near town this afternoon................

48

A Pacific Diver near Yakumo this afternoon..............

The seasons are changing.

Another batch of common waders...........

There were quite a few waders on the beach near Yakumo on Monday..................

Kingfishers in the morning

There is a local spot to photograph Kingfishers.....................

'Winter' visitor

It's a crap picture, a scruffy gull on a garbage strewn beach.............but it's the first 'winter' visitor to arrive in 2016/17. An adult Glaucous Winged Gull.

A beautiful clear late summer day day but not much around birdwise. Red-necked Stints, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Japanese Green Pigeons, that's about it and nothing posing for the camera.

Some more common waders..........

Sunday and Monday were dark overcast days, not good for photography but there were quite a few waders around...........

2016 wader season continues............

The weather was dull the last couple of days but at least there were waders on some of the beaches.................

Local specialities

Hakodate is famous for seafood and in particular crab...................the Black Tailed Gull above fits in nicely then.

Not much else around, here's some Red Necked Stint, part of a small flock at Kamiiso this morning.

Back through the typhoon #2

The typhoon earlier this week grounded lots of Whimbrel. Hundreds and hundreds of them...............

Back through the typhoon #1

We headed home through the typhoon...............

Ubiquitous

Red Necked Stints are ubiquitous at this time of year....................

Waders arrive at last

Some waders on the local beaches................

Waderless

Typhoons, workload and various minor health ailments have kept me off the beaches this August more than I would have liked.................

Not what I was expecting

Another typhoon hit Hokkaido meaning grey skies and rain.................and we had several (small) earthquakes last night too.

Wader season again

Another hot humid day........................

Moulting

A family of scruffy moulting Goosander are on the river at Kamiiso every summer. They can't fly at the moment and if they need to move quickly they thrash and paddle away in a flurry of stubby wings and splashes........it seems to be effective in a desperate kind of way and they just about get the job done. Probably some metaphor in there somewhere.

The heat/humidity seems to have receded slightly...........hopefully not just a temporary respite.

Summer Pigeons

It's been a quiet hot hot couple of weeks.....................