2 male Red Cheeked Starlings in Hakodate this afternoon.
2 weeks have just gone by, now we are in the second half of 2013. I was pretty busy in the second half of June and did little birding despite the great weather. Nothing around anyway, only the common stuff feeding youngsters far away from prying lenses. Last week I was watching an Osprey nest on an offshore stack. 2 chicks were present but it was too far away for a photo (I even tried digiscoping for the first time in ages but the results were terrible). A Kentish Plover south of Esashi was the only bird of any interest anywhere.
I heard secondhand of a Ruddy Kingfisher nest in Onuma. I have a vague idea of where it is and may pay a visit in the next couple of weeks. Notice I only said 'may'. It isn't only the prospect of standing around in the forest getting eaten alive by mosquitoes whilst realizing the birds are too far away for my lens and it is too dark anyway. Last time there were 30 or more photographers sporting 500 or 600mm lenses and the atmosphere wasn't always friendly. I often bump into several of the local bird photographers now and those ones are nice enough but there are some real selfish unfriendly characters around too who regard the kingfishers as 'their' birds. What the hell, I'll probably go. It may give me a chance to practice sarcastic one liners in Japanese. (Oh I see, are they your f**ing pets then?).
A bit lazy and unmotivated to do anything at the minute. I'm waiting for the start of the Ashes. I've been following the England cricket team since around 1984 and this is probably the first time in my cricket following life that England go into an Ashes series as clear favourites. I'm not 100% sure if that is a good thing though...............
I'm not really much of a rugby fan (not at all actually) but the Lions games are on TV here and the first 2 were pretty tense and exciting even for someone like me. Unlike the cricket (or footy) I don't really care if 'we' lose. That simple fact makes watching sport much more enjoyable sometimes.................
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