Some Christmas Eagles

We spent Christmas Eve daytime up in Yakumo.............

2018 Best Of #9

A final batch of photos from the last year.................

Almost over............

The year is almost over.............

A Slav

A Slavonian Grebe just west of town this afternoon. Not much else about: a few Whooper Swans, the usual wildfowl including Black Scoter, Black-necked Grebe, Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls and Great Egret............

Mild weather returns

After a lot of snow last week it was mild again today.............

An early winter Friday afternoon........

There were 2 Great Egrets on the river today................

2018 winding down...........

Freezing temperatures and a big dump of snow in town this week. Not many birds though. The above Great Egret was still on the river but not much else.

An icy Monday

A Marsh Tit at Onuma this afternoon. Another cold snowy day added to a hospital visit in the morning meant not much birding. Other stuff at Onuma included Smew and the usual wildfowl, White-tailed Eagle, Great Egret and a male Black Woodpecker..........

After a very mild few weeks winter arrived with a flourish this weekend.

Winter 2018 finally arrives...........

Freezing temperatures, icy roads and blizzards hit Hakodate as winter belatedly showed its face..................

The above Whooper Swan was at Onuma. Not many birds around at all today: the most interesting were a couple of Yellow-throated Buntings. No rare ducks at Onuma: just lots of Mallard with a few Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Coot and Little Grebe. A couple of Great Egret were still around but the forest was very quiet.

Before the snow............

One of the Great Egrets near my apartment yesterday. Not many birds about at all. A female Goosander and the usual sparrows and crows................

It has turned cold finally and snow flurries were in the air today. Snow  and freezing temperatures are forecast this weekend. Hopefully the birds will start moving............

Some Eagle BIFs

The eagles are slowly getting more approachable. Though of course they still generally fly off..........

A roadside Eagle

It was very mild on Monday, warm in fact and we were up in Yakumo..........

Another Black Woodpecker post............

On Sunday we were in Onuma again................

Quiet Ports

The mild weather continued Sunday............

Birds in the litter..........

Some more pics from Onuma last Friday.........

All Five

All 5 local Woodpecker species were present in Onuma yesterday............

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

November 29th 2015.

A Ural Owl 3 years ago today in Onuma.

This was taken with a full frame camera and I think it looks rather nice.............

An afternoon Egret

A Great Egret on the river near my apartment yesterday afternoon. There are several at this time of year..............

I can remember being excited by seeing egrets of any kind. The first one I  ever saw was this species: in California in 1981. My first in the UK was a Little Egret in 1987. I've seen loads around the world since then of course (and this species seems well established in the UK now) but they still seem exotic to me even now.

Not much else around. A lone female Goosander and 7 Black Kite. the latter is a very common bird in Japan but over the last few years they seem to have become much scarcer in the skies above town. These birds looked like they were heading south in what must surely be the last real mild weather of the season............

Autumnal Eagles

The Eagles at Yakumo are still skittish and mostly distant but at least they looked nice in the autumnal light............

Peregrine on a mild late late autumn day

After freezing temperatures and snow a couple of days ago the weather became mild again............