A grey hungry Monday

A grey early winter day saw us pop out for a couple of hours.............

The day before...............

Today is the day before 2/3 days of general unpleasantness...................

2015 Best Of #3

Some more of my fave shots from the last year...............

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

A bit of a surprise as we headed west today...................

More eagles have arrived.............

More eagles arriving at Yakumo but none of them doing anything interesting.

The river full of salmon, some first snow flurries, a pair of Goshawk at the rivermouth plus a few common winter birds at Yakumo but sweet FA at Sawara and in Hakodate................

I won't be in Yakumo for at least 2 weeks, next time it will be probably be all white and hopefully full of eagles on the ground or at least in a tree.

Mild November continues..............

It was about 18 degrees today, short sleeve weather, literally well rolled up sleeves maybe.................dragonflies are still buzzing around and I even got an insect bite. Weird weather we're having..................

A rainy Sunday..............

A very grey misty wet November day in south Hokkaido today...................

On this day (November 13th).....................

November 13th 2013.

A Red-breasted Flycatcher 2 years ago today in Hakodate. A female or immature I guess...............

This is a scarce but probably regular passage visitor and was my second individual after one a few years earlier.

I've also seen the very closely related Taiga Flycatcher in Hakodate but females/immatures are very similar. This was originally identified by me as a Taiga Flycatcher................nut I was wrong.

2015 Best of #2

Some more shots from the early part of 2015.......................

Birds on a wire

In late autumn the resident Carrion and Large Billed Crows are joined by 2 other species............Daurian Jackdaw and (Eastern) Rook. These are winter vistors from the Asian mainland and are much shyer than the resident species.

There seem to be lot of the Jackdaws this year. About a dozen or so mixed in with the Rooks. The above crappy photo shows a grey phase adult with a Rook underneath.

They perch on high wires against grey skies and fly off as soon as you look at them, not ideal photo subjects. I guess I could be more patient but after growing up in the UK it's a little hard to get excited by rooks and jackdaws.............................

Another grey Sunday

A Black Necked Grebe in Kamiiso this afternoon..............

2015 Best Of #1

Well it's approaching the end of another year....................

An afternoon off..............

A rarity these days.............yesterday afternoon I had no classes so I could take a walk down the river for a coupls of hours.

A grey Monday morning..............

A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in Hakodate this morning...............

And some squabbling gulls in Yakumo this afternoon.............

Some strays...................

We were out in Sawara and Shikabe this afternoon........................

Yet more autumn staples

A Black Necked Grebe at Toya yesterday and a Black Legged Kittiwake at Yakumo this afternoon..............

On this day (October 28th)..........................

October 28th 2013.

A juvenile Hooded Crane at Yakumo 2 years ago today. Another birder kindly shared this info with us and it was on the same beach where I had missed a Common Crane the year before............

I saw another young Hooded Crane, presunmably the same individual, in Oshamanbe the next spring......................

Some more signs of winter

Groups of Whooper Swans have started to arrive......it's getting very close to the start of winter..............

Autumn staples

Varied Tit at Onuma and Great Egret at Kamiiso, 2 common autumn birds.

Not much around, the weather was awful most of the day (and the mountain tops were draped with my first view of snow this winter). Buff Bellied Pipit at Sawara was the most noteworthy..................

October Harlequins

Every October the Harlequin Ducks return to the coast..............