Another Weekend Away #1

An Eastern Curlew near Yakumo a couple of days ago..................

On this day (August 30th)...................

August 30th 2011.

A Long-toed Stint on one of the local beaches 6 years ago today.

This very tame individual (the above picture is uncropped) stuck around for several days, I took lots of shots of what is usually a very shy species..............

World War 3

A Red-necked Stint in town yesterday.............

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

April 26th 2011.

A Red Knot in town 6 years ago today.

This is one of only 3 I've seen in Japan (Great Knot is much more common, in fact this was with 2 of its larger relative). I think it is an adult moulting into winter plumage (you can just about see some red on its bell).

A night away

We went camping a few days ago.................

On this day (August 24th)...........................

August 24th 2014.

A Red-necked Pharalope near Tomakomai 3 years ago today. This is a bird that can occur locally in very large numbers offshore (usually in spring) but I've only ever seen them away from the open ocean 2 or 3 times..................

Shame it wasn't in summer plumage.

Sun shines

This August's weather has been awful..................

On this day (August 21st)....................

August 21st 2013.

A Black-faced Spoonbill near Hakodate 4 years ago today. An east Asian specialty and pretty rare up in Hokkaido, this individual was only the second I'd ever seen (I've seen another one subsequently).

This young bird had been around for about 10 days or so before it headed south.

An Ancient Murrelet

I was surprised to find an Ancient Murrelet in one of the ports to the north of town today...............

Winter visitors

I had a couple of surprises at Oshamanbe the yesterday................

Some more shorebirds..........

Very overcast again, not good for photos. There were a few more shorebirds about at least..............

That time of year again

It's wader season again..............

A dreary week

A very quiet week.................

August begins

A not very good heavily cropped record shot of a Striated Heron to the west of town this afternoon. This is, as far as I know, an overshoot visitor only to Hokkaido and I've only ever seen half a dozen or so in the last 10 years.

Ospreys and Japanese Green Pigeons were plentiful but no photo opps. A female Black Scoter at Kamiiso was the first 'winter' visitor of the season...............

A bit of needle

A heavy crop of an Osprey carrying a needlefish this afternoon. An odd looking fish............must be tricky to swallow whole I'd imagine.

Not much else around. Grey Wagtails have appeared on the river near my flat. Nothing in Kamiiso except a few moulting Goosander. The heatwave is mercifully over and now it's normal summer weather. Pretty hot and humid as opposed to very hot and extremely humid.

North Hokkaido Summer 2017 #15

The last few photos from my trip at the end of last month...............

If at first you don't succeed............

 2 or 3 weeks ago we witnessed a pair of Little Grebes having a bit of a nesting disaster.............

A surprise on a Monday

We were in Yakumo this afternoon.............

Another hot humid Sunday

The weather is still hot and humid.........................

North Hokkaido Summer 2017 #14

Almost at the end of this huge batch of photos from the end of June............