Frozen on a Bridge #2

I was on the bridge at Yakumo trying to photograph the last of the winter's eagles but the star of the day was probably this immature Peregrine which flew very very close...........

As you can see it was right in the middle of town.........

It was accompanied by a group of crows, the Peregrine didn't seem to mind, in fact it seemed to enjoy their attention and was teasing them with its acrobatics.

Indeed it was the one doing most of the chasing.........

It was very fast and tricky to fit in the frame sometimes........

The drama played out over the bridge for 5 or 10 minutes..........

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#3 and #4 to follow soon.........

Frozen on a Bridge #1

From Hakodate Birding

I spent several hours on the bridge at Yakumo on Sunday, 3 separate visits in fact (it was so cold I had to go back to the car to warm up). The weather wasn't that cold (well it was snowing) but the fact I was so exposed made it a real test of endurance (plus in the morning I was getting soaked by the slushy spray from the speeding trucks going over the bridge). But it was worth it...........

The day started at Onuma in brilliant sunshine. The Smew from last week were still around..........

Here's a snapshot from my cellphone........

I heard both Grey Headed and Black Woodpecker but there wasn't much around, a few Hawfinch, Goosander, Goldeneye etc. We headed up to Yakumo and it was snowing by the time we got up there.

My first stint on the bridge produced the obligatory eagle in a tree pic. There were some on the ground too but they were a little too far off. A young White Tailed Eagle flew right over my head.........

There were several Grey Heron and a couple of Great Egret flapping around too..........

Not much in Hakodate last week. A lone Bohemian Waxwing and Great Egret near my flat, White Tailed Eagle and the usual common wildfowl over at Kamiiso but nothing posing for the camera.

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Like I say I went to the bridge 3 times in all, I took an early lunch break after the above photos (scallop curry in case you're curious). 

#2, #3 and maybe even a #4 to follow soon, I filled a 32GB CF card (I blame the BIFs for that).

On this day (February 20th)....................

February 20th 2009.

Common Crossbill in Hakodate.

This female was in the small park near my flat, this is only a very small crop as it was very tame. ISO 800 too, usually a no-no on my old 400D but this one turned out OK.

None of this species in Hakodate so far this year (and none in 2010 either) although I did see a small flock in Onuma last weekend.........

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On this day (February 18th)....................

February 18th 2009.

Ural Owl at Onuma, poking its head around...............

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Brents and Harlequins

The construction work started early this morning, they were digging up the road right outside my window. There was nothing wrong with the road before but hey public money has to be spent on meaningless crap, this is Japan after all with the biggest national debt in the developed world.

The weather was nice so I decided to escape the deafening noise and went down to my fave spot for Brent Geese and Harlequin Ducks, they were both present although the harsh bright midday light made photography a little hard, after I tweaked these photos on the computer they do look a tad artificial.

There were about 25 or so Brent Geese in 2 lose flocks...........

And there were 6 or 7 Harlequin Duck too........

Not much else around....................I'm waiting for the Crossbills in the local parks and the Grebes/Divers in the local ports...............fingers crossed some or all will arrive shortly.

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An odd one in the pine trees

I went to the small local park this morning to check for Crossbills. There weren't any there but I was surprised to find this Great Egret sitting in the pine trees..........

A nice sunny morning, this and the white plumage made it one of those very rare days when I use ISO100 on my camera.............

Also around were Daurian Redstart, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Hawfinch, a lone male Wigeon, Dusky Thrush, Coal Tit whilst in Goryokaku Park there was a flock of 15-20 Brambling and the male Grey Headed Woodpecker, no shots from there alas.

Yesterday a friend tried to drive me to Yakumo but we had to turn back because he got his car keys mixed up with another set (his wife's car) and we thought we had been locked out of the car after a stop at a convenience store..............mechanics and a locksmith came before the mistake was discovered...............it's funny now at least..........

At Onuma we fed the Nuthatches.

Among the tame Whooper Swans and Mallards there were a few Goldeneye but the main point of interest was a violently bubbling hot spring that seems to have emerged.............it means an ice free bit of lake at least............

Well out of range for a decent shot were 4 Smew, 3 males and one female.

Like I say they were well out of range........

We were able to sneak a quick look at Nanaehama, the Lapland Buntings were still there..........

I've tried not to mention it but the road construction outside my apartment has been going on since that day I got back from England (so about 6 weeks), my god I'm getting sick of it.

I've been watching 'Peep Show' on youtube, this completely passed me by here in Japan and I have to say it's pretty funny.

I watched the Manc derby, great goal by Rooney but please not another Man U title, christ I'd rather Arsenal won it.

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Views from a bridge

A real rarity today: blue skies and sunny weather in Yakumo.............

The eagles are still around, they have moved downstream and are now squabbling over the remaining food supplies, I fired off this sequence of shots of one swooping down...........

See that delicious looking salmon head in the bottom right hand corner?

I should have maybe used a faster shutter speed for these shots but I was glad I persevered over an hour on the bridge, waiting for one of them to actually do something.......

The above sequence was taken from the bridge on Route 5, usually the birds are a long way away like this.

But I got slightly luckier with this Stellers Sea Eagle........

You can see another 3 eagles in the background of this one.................

In east Hokkaido of course it is possible to get much closer to the eagles, in Yakumo with a 400mm lens and cropped pics this is the best it gets really. These BIF shots further upstream were all pretty close however and didn't need much cropping at all...........

And here's the obligatory one in a tree..........

We stopped briefly in Onuma in the morning, there seemed to be more birds around than before...........the most interesting birds being a small flock of Crossbills. They stayed high in the trees before flying off so no photos. This species was very common near my apartment in late winter/spring in both 2008 and 2009 and I took lots of photos of them. Hopefully some will arrive in Hakodate later in the week..........

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