Another Christmas in Hokkaido

A Ural Owl in one of the regular roosting holes in Onuma. Nice of it to strike a pose too..........usually it just sits still like this.

Also around at Onuma were Black Woodpecker plus a flock of hundreds of Hawfinches being relentlessly harassed by a pair of Sparrowhawks.......

We spent a large part of the day looking for a Common Crane up at Yakumo, unfortunately we couldn't locate it. The only bird in the area (except crows) was a Buff Bellied Pipit.

Inland the eagles were very active, I missed some potential great shots because of my general cackhandedness and the weather was very very erratic with blizzards one minute and blue skies the next. I really wanted some shots of them in the river eating salmon but they were always too far away or they flew off as soon as they noticed me. This was the best I could manage.

I took the same shots of the same bird in the same tree 2 weeks ago.........

A female Harlequin Duck was well upstraem and there were also various common small birds around including Bullfinch.

BIFs are a good fallback.

The forecast for Christmas Day is heavy blizzards and minus 13 on Boxing Day..........I may not even make it out of the house.............

I could go and see The Hobbit but after having found out it will be over 3 parts I might wait for the DVD. 3 movies with a total running time of 9 hours? I reckon I could probably read the book in that time.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Quiet week in December

A Nuthatch at Onuma earlier in the week. It is one of the tame ones.

If I'm posting Nuthatch pics then you know it's been a slow week.

Here's a Grey Heron taking a dump over Hakodate.

At Onuma there were White Tailed Eagle,Smew, Whooper Swan, Hawfinch, Grey Headed Woodpecker and a lone Pintail among the Mallards. It was very dark as you can see.

Ar Sawara there were lots of birds in the harbours including a large group of Black Scoter. The light was terrible though.

There were also more eagles here was well as Harlequin Duck, Black Necked Grebe and a lone female White Winged Scoter...................too far away for anything but a crappy heavily cropped record shot (and my first photo of one on this blog).

The usual Gull species were sheltering in the ports from the nasty weather. Here is a miserable looking Glaucous Winged Gull.

In Hakodate in the last week I've seen the usual common winter stuff including Common Buzzard, Great Egret and Brown Dipper.

I seem to have been getting loads of spam comments recently so I'm sorry to say I switched word verification back on........................it's a real pain in the a** I know but I was getting a little tired of deleting comments from people with names like Faizal Mahmood telling me how to earn money online.

Very cold now and a big big dump of snow in Hakodate the last couple of days, I'm hoping to get up to Yakumo over the weekend as the eagle activity starts to enter its 4 or 5 week peak around Christmas time.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

A morning in the park

A Coal Tit, Varied Tit and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park this morning. There was a mixed species flock containing the above 3 plus Great Tit and Nuthatch. Not much else although a passing Sparrowhawk flushed a few small birds including several Crossbill that quickly disappeared again.

There were also Coal tit and Nuthatches in the park near my flat.....................this shot was taken low down and my knees are still hurting.

This Great Egret was also on the river.

Yesterday I was in Kamiiso but no photos survived the cull. There were the usual common ducks and the regular wintering flock of 20 or so Whooper Swans has arrived. There were large numbers of Common Gull on the sea and 1 Great Crested Grebe and 3 Black Necked Grebe in the harbour.


Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

A gap in the blizzards

White Tailed and Stellers Sea Eagles at Yakumo this afternoon. A bit of a strange day, mostly blizzards but with a few bright interludes. There were lots of eagles at Yakumo, we were showing them to my wife's friends. Lots of missed opps of birds standing in the river and upstream the weather was too nasty for any decent photos.

The Stellers was a fairly big crop, I really have to find a way to afford a longer lens.

We picked up my wife's friends at the ferry terminal in the morning and there was a big flock of Rooks there with at least 5 Daurian Jackdaw. The same 2 species were also present in Mori. A large flock of several hundred Hawfinch was in Yakumo and a smaller flock in Onuma. Other interesting stuff included Black Woodpecker and a late Red Flanked Bluetail at Onuma. Goshawk, Merlin and Buzzard from the car, all the usual ducks including Harlequin at Yakumo.

Last week in Hakodate was pretty unevenful (except a big storm followed by blizzards and then a biggish earthquake)..............a flock of Long Tailed Tits next to the river near my apartment was my most noteworthy bird sighting.

Thanks to Osamu and Yumiko for shouting us lunch and Starbucks..................

A very hot bath followed by a cold beer or 2 in front of the footy beckons.

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

On this day (December 8th)................

December 8th 2010.

A Japanese Waxwing, part of a small flock in the park near my apartment 2 years ago today. This is usually the scarcer of the 2 waxwing species found in Japan but 2 winters ago there were lots of both species in town. They generally arrive in mid to late January so this group was rather early...............

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Grey Monday

It was a grey start to the week, I took a walk down to the Brent Geese spot ans was surprised to find only 4 of them...............

There were a few Harlequin Duck out of range for a shot as well as Glaucous Winged Gull and Pelagic Cormorant but not much else. It was sleeting and drizzling but not so cold. Back in town were the usual species including Rustic Bunting, Pintail, Marsh Tit, Nuthatch and 4 Great Egret on the river near my apartment.

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

A Vomiting Gull

A Glaucous Gull struggling (and failing) to keep a starfish down.

Bit of a crappy week, we had a puncture this morning and ended up having to replace all 4 tires (the others were also really worn down), that's over 40000 yen that we don't really have plus over 2 hours of waiting around in gas stations.

At Kamiiso there were 7 species of gull, the usual common wildfowl including Whooper Swan and Black Scoter and some Great Crested Grebe on the sea. At Onuma there wasn't much either, here's a Nuthatch............

No eagles near Hakodate so far but we did see several Buzzard and a couple of Goshawk.

No footy on TV tonight, a bit of a dull end to a bit of a dull week.....................

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ

Bears up a tree

I've been going to the mountains and forests in southwest Hokkaido for the last 12 or so years and was wondering when I'd get to see my first local wild Brown Bear. Today was that day.

We got up early to have another go at the eagles. The light was terrible early on but again there were lots of eagles close up.

Only BIFs again, I really wanted to photograph them standing in the river squabbling over salmon but they fly off before you even notice them.

As you can see both species were present but there only appeared to be adult Stellers Sea Eagles............

They all flew off and I didn't get any more shots despite spending the whole day in Yakumo. The light then improved, it was mild and sunny. I noticed 2 brown things moving high up in a tree where the eagles had been................

A heavily cropped shot of 2 Brown Bear cubs. I didn't try to get any closer as I had no desire to have a race across a snowy field with an angry mother bear...................

We never saw the mother and eventually the 2 cubs came down and disappeared up the hill and into the forest....................

On the coast the flock of Asian Rosy Finch was still present but very difficult to photograph..............

And there were lots of Glaucous Gull on the coast...................

Here is a view north across the bay from Yakumo to Mt Yotei just before the sun went down................

Thanks for clicking this link.......
人気ブログランキングへ