On this day (March 14th)

March 14th 2010.

2 years ago the harbour in Kamiiso was teeming with birds: grebes, divers and ducks. There were loads of Black Necked Grebes: over 100 individuals...........and many in summer plumage.

Not many around this spring, in fact not many around of anything in Hakodate. Hopefully that will change in the next few days

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A grey windy Sunday in March

2 male Black Scoter at Sawara this afternoon, the fishing ports had the usual birds: Scaup, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser, Black Necked and Great Crested Grebe, the usual winter gulls and several Harlequin Duck.

It was sunny but very windy and my fingers were frozen after 10 minutes outside, we headed back to Onuma. The weather was pretty poor here, grey and snowy but the thaw has started, slightly. 2 White Tailed Eagle were sitting on the ice next to an open area in the middle of the lake, the first Great Cormorant of the year had arrived and was swimming around in another area of unfrozen water. The Pintail and Smew were still present as were Goosander, Goldeneye, Whooper Swan and Great Egret.

Most of the common woodland stuff was around including Grey Headed Woodpecker and lots of Jay. The poor light didn't help with the photos, it was very dark. They were foraging on a bank which amazingly................was snow free.

By the time we got back to town it was very overcast, the port in Kamiiso had several Red Breasted Merganser eating rather large flatfish.

So Liverpool appeared to have totally given up and have stopped trying to even win games in the 2011/12 Premier League season. Nice.

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What a sh***y day that was

We spent the afternoon with the tame wildlife at Onuma.

It was one of those mornings, it happens to us all. I won't bore you with the details but I went to City Hall to do a simple procedure, I knew it would cost me but when they said I have to pay the best part of $5000 it ruined my day. Christ it has ruined the whole damn year. New lens? No chance whatsoever. New Mac to replace my creaky old one? Not much chance of that either. F**k it.

This fox struck some nice poses.

The tame forest birds were around.............

Other stuff in Onuma included Great Egret, Smew and White Tailed Eagle. I checked Kamiiso but yesterday's Red Throated Diver wasn't around, hope it is still OK. Or alive even.

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A slushy day in a harbour

A Red Throated Diver in the harbour at Kamiiso this afternoon.

The thaw has begun and deep lush lies everywhere. Cars get stuck in it and I found out my 'waterproof' winter sneakers are not in fact waterproof.

The Diver had a broken wing.

It was very tame and swam right towards me.

This is a species usually seen well offshore and is nice to see up close, I hope its wing mends soon.

Actually do bird wings repair themselves? I have no idea.

I got lucky with the diver, I had given up on the harbour and decided to go back for one last check and the diver had appeared as well as this similarly tame Great Crested Grebe.

None of the other 3 winter grebe species were around but both species of cormorant were, here's a Temincks in breeding plumage.

All the common duck species were around including several groups of Black Scoter.

6 species of Gull, Whooper Swan and Great Egret were the other noteworthy species.

So this winter saw the heaviest snow since records began in Hakodate and now it is melting little by little....................I can't wait for spring.

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Glaucous Winged Gulls and other stuff

A Glaucous Winged Gull this afternoon. Not much around today, I took a lot of gull shots.

We went up to Oshamanbe today, it looks like winter has ended. Still freezing but no fresh snow for several days.

I was hoping to see Long Tailed Ducks in the harbour at Oshamanbe. And see them we did. 5 or 6 of them but they didn't come close enough for any decent photos, this heavy crop was the best I could manage.

Aside form the usual common ducks there wasn't much around. I counted 8 or so White Tailed Eagles at various locales but none were close enough to photograph. The Stellers all appear to have left........

Do whilst I was waiting in vain for the Long Tailed Ducks to come closer I checked out the gulls. Usually there are 4 large white headed gull species present in winter. The resident Slaty Backed and the winter visitor Vega Gull are the commonest and they are joined by Glaucous and Glaucous Winged in winter.

My fave is the Glaucous but there weren't so many around today, this rather small dainty individual was the only one close enough to get a shot of.

 I always thought Glaucous Gulls (lets call them GWGs) were the biggest most agressive gull species but not in Hokkaido. I'd say the GWG is the Alpha Seagull in south Hokkaido. This is one with a Slaty Backed on the right.

I snapped a few BIFs of various GWGs.

And a few non BIFS..........

It does seem to be dominant over the Slatybacks. I hardly saw any Vega Gulls today (where are they?) and not many Glaucous either but the GWGs looked like they were in total control of the seafood offal areas in the various harbours we visited. This brute was bullying the Slatybacks for sure........

Liverpool last night? What a nightmare of frustration. We dominated the game but couldn't score in a brothel. If Van Persie played for us we'd be talking about the title instead of the Carling Cup and 6th place at best.

I just watched the Tyne/Tees derby, can I stay up and watch Man U v Spurs? Hmmmmmmm.........maybe not I think especially after that 3rd beer on top of a 5am start this morning.

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So this is March

A Red Breasted Merganser and some Scaup on the sea this morning. I walked/waded through the slush down to the nearest fishing port, not much around. In addition to the above there were Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye and Wigeon. I could have walked down to Irifune to check out the Brent Geese and Harlequins but couldn't face the inevitable trudge through the deep snow, they'll still be around in a week or 2 when hopefully the thaw will have set in.

There were also 2 or 3 Red Breasted Merganser on the river near my apartment.

I don't really know why they are hanging around so far upstream. Not much else around: Wren, several Daurian Redstart, a handful of Dusky Thrush, a single Long Tailed Rosefinch. Very quiet. No Waxwings. No Crossbills or other winter finches.

The Grey Heron and Great Egret were still around yesterday.

Here's one of the commonest local birds, a Brown Eared Bulbul. It seems to be missing a tail.

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