A Siberian Blue Robin

A male Siberian Blue Robin (SBR) in Goryokaku park yesterday morning.

I was already up very early (watching the Wigan v Arsenal game) and got to the park about 6am in the morning gloom...................but there were absolutely loads of birds around.

The SBR was skulking around in the undergrowth for the most part but occasionally showed itself. This was the first time for me to photograph this species. The light was very poor and I was at ISO 800 but I got some OK (ish) shots, not great but better than record shots.

They are quite common in the forest on Mt Hakodate but very difficult to see. This one was more obliging than most......................

It was still there today in much better light but I was very short of time and couldn't take any pictures of it. Yesterday I was wishing for a f2.8 lens instead of an f5.6 one that still needs to be stopped down to get sharp.

A LOT of migrants have been passing through Hakodate this week.......................more updates soon.

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A different day, a different Stilt

In between a couple of spells with the Crossbills at Kamiiso 2 days ago I checked the beaches for waders.

There was yet another Black Winged Stilt, this one was actually in the harbour just where the fishermen bring their boats up..................

It was very nervous.

There were some cats eyeing it hungrily so I didn't mind making it skittish..............I may have saved its life as it eventually flew off in the direction of the river.

I could get some more natural looking Stilt shots than the tame one in Goryokaku Park (that one seems to have left now).

As I said before there must have been a big influx of this species into south Hokkaido this year, this is the 5th individual I found this spring. Forgive the deluge, I probably won't see another one for 3 or 4 years.............

There were a few other waders around including 2 Ruddy Turnstone, one of rhich was coming into summer plumage.

The commonest spring wader is always Grey Tailed tattler and there were 7 or 8 of them around.............

One of them was tagged................I suppose I should report this somewhere. A green tag with 'ABD'? I wonder where that could be?

***EDITED TO ADD: according to this link it was banded in Queensland Australia. Ironically I saw my first ever Grey Tailed Tattler in Cooktown QLD in November 1994......maybe this is one of its descendants.......

Still not sure what "ABD" means though.......

I saw a colour tagged Red Necked Stint 2 or 3 years ago but was disappointed to discover it had been tagged somewhere else in Hokkaido!

I saw 2 Red Neked Stint in summer plumage at the end of the day but the light was fading and I had to catch the train home..........................

Most of the gulls/ducks have left but there were still Black Headed and Common Gulls around, all in summer plumage. Here's the latter.............

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Crossbills

Yesterday I found a small flock of Crossbills in Kamiiso.

They were feeding in some small pine trees near the beach, about 7 or 8 of them.

Crossbills are without doubt my favourite bird. I have seen them a few times this year but they were always too far off for photos. The last big invasion was in 2009 when they were everywhere and tame as well. This year hasn't seen such a big invasion but this was still my best chance in the last 4 years.

Some were looking a little raggedy............

There was also a flock of Siskin on the beach. I was looking for waders but got Crossbill and Siskin instead! The Siskin were very skittish but the Crossbills were pretty tame.

Most of the tamest ones were females..............

I spent a couple of hours watching then clambering around the pine trees like mini parrots............

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Linked to Wild Bird Wednesday.