2017: not a vintage spring migration season

It's been rather a quiet spring migration in Hakodate this year...................

Lords of the flies

Red-cheeked Starlings were feasting on flies earlier this week.....................

On this day (May 10th).................

May 10th 2013..................

A Black-winged Stilt in a local park 4 years ago today.

Not a rare bird as such in Hokkaido, I see them most springs these days but it was unusually tame and also very odd to see it in the park...........no water to speak of (or none shallow enough to wade in) and full of people looking at the cherry blossoms. It stayed about a week though................

On this day (May 9th)..................

May 9th 2012.

A Narcissus Flycatcher in one of the local parks 5 years ago today.

This is one of the most attractive of the local summer visitors and on this day I got it doing something interesting and with a nice background to boot..........................

They haven't visited the local parks much the last 2 or 3 springs (or maybe I just missed them), I haven't seen any in town this year at all.

Another lifer.................

It's a crap heavily cropped record shot but it shows a new bird for me: a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper this morning near Yakumo.

This species had evaded me for a long time, it's not especially rare in Japan but suitable habitat for this and several other freshwater waders is not so easy to find near Hakodate.

It was with a Black-winged Stilt, 2 Greenshank and a Wood Sandpiper. Before I could get closer they were scared off  by a Hobby.

Also around were Japanese Sparrowhawk, Great, Little and Intermediate Egrets, Grey-tailed Tattler, Asian Brown Flycatcher, White-fronted Goose, Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Shoveler and the usual common stuff............

A quiet end to Golden Week

Golden Week 2017 has come to a quiet end..................

A Tattler

A Grey Tailed Tattler this afternoon...................but not much else of note at Kamiiso.

Still a bit slow migration-wise. 1 Eastern Crowned Warbler and 1 Wryneck only on the river.

Probably lots of migrants will pass through en masse next week when my work schedule is busy again.

On this day (May 5th).............................

May 5th 2011.

A Red-rumped Swallow near my place 6 years ago today.

This is the rarest of the 4 hirundine species to be found in Hokkaido and that morning I was surprised to see several of them over the local river. I've seen them a couple of times since but they remain a bit of a local rarity....................

Another failed early rise

I was up at 5am again this morning. Surely there would be some interesting migrants in the park?

Nope.

There was only a single Eastern Crowned Warbler on the river and a lone Japanese Bush Warbler in the park, an Osprey flew overhead briefly and there were still a few Dusky Thrush about. The wrynecks were still calling in the park but were high up in the trees, the one near my apartment was also calling but I couldn't see it.

Red-cheeked Starlings were everywhere though............and it was another beautiful warm spring day. Maybe we need some nasty weather to bring some new birds.............

Sakura

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom.............

Mayday

We were out west in beautiful spring weather yesterday...............

Caspian Tern

I had a very nice surprise the other day. A Caspian Tern showed up......................

Kingfisher and other stuff

A Kingfisher near Yakumo this afternoon.................

Spring 2017..........it begins.

The start of a holiday week in Japan saw more summer visitors arrive......................

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

29th April 2013.

3 Common Redshank near Yakumo 3 years ago today. Not a great photo and, to someone from the UK, not an especially exciting bird but it is not common at all in Japan and this is the only time I've ever seen them in south Hokkaido...................

And again

The Wrynecks were still in the park today..................

Wrynecks

There were 2 or 3 Wrynecks in one of the local parks this morning................

Another long and fruitless day

We were up bright and early for another long day in the spring sunshine...............

Spring arrives in full

A crap heavily cropped pic of an Eastern Marsh Harrier, I saw them in several places today.

After some pretty prolific posting in 2017 (100 posts by mid-April, it's true I have no life) the bird photos and hence the posts dried up this week. I saw some pretty good birds today but nothing posed for the camera despite me walking for 12km with my big lens (I know how far because my iphone tells me).

At Yakumo there were Bar-tailed Godwit, Terek Sandpiper, Long-tailed Rosefinch, Osprey, Goshawk, a flock of White-fronted Goose, Little Egret, Great Egret, Black Scoter, huge numbers of Pintail and Teal, a few Shoveler and Wryneck.

Siberian Stonechat, Red-cheeked Starling, Black-faced Bunting and Asian House Martin are everywhere...........spring is in full swing at least.

A quiet Sunday again

 The Ospreys in various sites were nowhere near as co-operative as last week but yesterday there were at least things to see offshore like the above Slavonian Grebe which was looking nice in almost full summer plumage.

Other stuff included Great-crested and Red-necked Grebes (also in SP), Rhinoceros Auklet, Black-throated Diver, the usual common ducks, Brent Goose and a lone White-fronted Goose, The first Stonechats of the year have arrived and the spring migration season should get moving really soon.................