On this day (April 7th)......................

April 7th 2014.

Bohemian (top) and Japanese (bottom) Waxwings in town 3 years ago today.

There was a mixed flock of them in the trees next to the river near my place. Early 2014 saw several big invasions of both species into Hakodate.

Strange to see them not eating red berries on a cols winter day.

Some more ones still around

Just like the nearby White-billed Diver, the 2 Black-throated Divers were still around on Sunday after we'd seen them a couple of days before............

Still around...............

On Sunday we were back at the same place we'd seen the White-billed Diver 2 days previously. It was still around................

On this day (April 4th)..........................

April 4th 2013.

Some Bewicks Swan on one of the local rivers 4 years ago today.

This is a regular passage visitor but it took me a long time to see one (or more accurately to ID them) as they are usually flying high in the sky on their way north or south. There don't appear to be any wintering flocks in Hokkaido so it was nice to see some on the ground for a change.............

Brent Geese in the afternoon

We were out west again on Sunday......................

Another tired waterbird

There were some Black-throated Divers at Esashi last Friday.....................

Miscellaneous late March birds............

Some more shots from Friday...........................

Another one out of the water

We found another Long-tailed Duck out of the water last Wednesday...................

White-billed Diver

My first lifer of 2017.....................

A lot of ducks

On Wednesday there were a lot of ducks around...................

Survivor

The sick looking Black Scoter we saw over a week ago was still there...............

Teleconverter déjà vu

One of my (many) faults is that I appear destined to constantly repeat the same mistakes over and over again...........

Quiet period

Late March is sometimes a prime birding time around Hakodate. Crossbills are in the parks or maybe Grebes and Divers are in the ports. Sometimes however it can be rather quiet and 2017 is one of those quiet slow late Marches. The above Black-tailed Gull was one of many individuals pairing off at the moment.

Grey Wagtail, Great Egret and Siskin the only notable local birds the last 2 or 3 days..............hopefully that'll all change in a couple of weeks or so.

Some spring Woodpeckers

There were a lot of woodpeckers at Onuma today................

The Replacements

No more eagles anymore but they have been replaced in my sights by other raptors...............

March winding down...........

March is winding down. Not much about locally, just a few Dusky Thrush, Common Teal and a small flock of Hawfinch (one above) of any interest.................

Note the grey sky. After a week or more of sunshine looks like some dull weather is coming............just as I have a few days off coming up.

The interim

It's the interim period, not winter anymore but not really spring yet either...................

Another fine spring day...........

Monday was another beautiful cloudless spring day in south Hokkaido..............

Some more port birds...........

An Asian Rosy Finch from Sunday afternoon..............

A visitor from Russia

There were still a few White-tailed Eagles scattered around north of town.................