Blizzards on a Monday. Again.

Winter has returned, it's freezing.

We went up to Yakumo today but although some eagles of both species weere still present the blizzards made pictures out of the question. Sawara was as bitterly cold as I can ever recall it being and there were no birds at all (except a briefly seen medium sized raptor, probably a Goshawk).

The Ural Owl and Marsh Tit above were in Onuma. the owl has been cordoned off believe it or not. There is yellow tape (the kind at crime incidents) tied between the trees in fromt of it as well as 2 notices in Japanese asking people not to go near. When we drove past there were three retired Japanese men taking photos with their cellphones and one of them was right near the owl tree, he had totally ignored all the (obvious) warnings not to go near. There were also footprints in the snow right up to the tree. They sheepishly left as I glared at them. WTF? People can be so stupid sometimes.

Actually I'd heard that someone had scared it off a couple of weeks ago, this was the first time I'd seen it in a while.

Also around of note were Smew, White Tailed Eagle and White Backed Woodpecker............

Rain and fog...........

Well after several bright sunny days when I was too busy to go out of the house my weekend started with rain (!) and fog. The rainwater is sitting on top of the ice..................this will get nasty in a day or two.

Very windy too, the above Glaucous Winged Gull was sheltering in a harbour to the east of town. Only common stuff about and no photos at all; White Tailed Eagle, Harlequin Duck, Pelagic Cormorant, Black Necked Grebe, Brent Goose and Great Egret...............

Stupid mild weather, ruining my weekend!

On this day (February 11th)...................

February 11th 2014.

The overwintering Gyrfalcon from 2013/14 2 years ago today.

In the morning that day (as you can see) the light was fantastic but it didn't do anything. On the afternoon when the light had become very poor ir sudenly became very active.................

A real shame it looks like the individual that appeared this year in the same place only stayed very briefly and AFAIK only one person was lucky enought to see it. Still, it may return, you never know.

At least I saw this one 2 years ago.What a bird.

A sunny Monday in February #5

2 rare winter Butings from earlier in the week.................

A sunny Monday in February #4

The Peregrine continued to pose for the camera on Monday.....................

A sunny Monday in February #3

More shots from Monday.............

It became so bright I had to put some sunscreen on my face................

A sunny Monday in February #2

Whilst we waited in vain for the Gyr to appear yesterday a lone Snow Bunting kept us entertained.................

A sunny Monday in February #1

It was a sunny even mildish winter day in south Hokkaido..................

Harlequins

A quiet Sunday saw us east of Hakodate............

More blizzards

Just 2 grebes in the harbour at Kamiiso today, this Slavonian and another Black Necked. 2 or 3 Scaup and a couple of Pochard were the only other birds present..................

A quiet coastal drive...............

A first year Peregrine just to the east of town on Monday afternoon.....................

Another Winter morning in Onuma

A Long Tailed Tit and a Eurasian Jay...............

Monday morning was spent in Onuma again..............

A winter morning in Onuma.............

Onuma was pretty cold on Sunday morning....................

Eagle season past its peak...........

I think the eagle season is starting to slowly fizzle out.................

A weekend away...............

We spent a weekend at an inn in the mountains south of Yakumo....................

Grebes still around..............

The grebes were still at Kamiiso this afternoon. The top one is a Slavonian Grebe and the bottom one a Black Necked Grebe.

Both the above shots are uncropped as are many below: they were pretty tame..............

Some more crappy photos of ducks

I had an hour in Omuma this afternoon trying to relocate the Ring Necked Duck. I had only taken crappy record shots last Monday and the sun was out so I had high hopes as we set off.............

Hakodate under the snow

With an unusually light workload I took a 90 minute or so walk around the neighbourhood this morning...............and the snow was pretty deep. I was hoping for some waxwings but the only birds around were a few Dusky Thrush and Hawfinch (above).................

Almost no snow until christmas and then lots after, winters are getting shorter.

A pair of (snowy) Owls

Well............Ural Owls covered with snow.

Snowshoeing

We were in Yakumo briefly yesterday morning....................

First lifer of 2016

A couple of crappy record shots of a female Ring Necked Duck at Onuma this morning. A lifer though (thanks to Osamu for the info)..............

It was very dark and it didn't come close, just sitting on the distant ice with the Mallards. It did come closer when we went back in the afternoon but it was in the middle of a raging blizzard and photos were out of the question. Hopefully it'll stick around for the winter and it performs well in sunnier weather.............

Also around were 3 Smew, a lone White Tailed Eagle, 50 or so Whooper Swan, 3 Pintail, 10 or so Coot...............

A Sunday morning date with a redhead

A rather cold Sunday morning saw us in Onuma................

A break in the blizzards..............

Slavonian Grebe this afternoon................

A brief break in the snow saw us in Kamiiso for an hour or so.............

2 old pals............

Great Egret and Ural Owl at Onuma a few days ago...............

Eagles and blizzards #2

Some more shots from Monday in Yakumo.............

There were quite a few White Tailed Eagles flying up and down the river.............

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

January 13th 2014.

The young Gyrfalcon at Sawara 2 years ago today. It was quite a fixture in the winter of 2013/14.

Everyone was hoping it would return the following winter in full adult white but sadly it never showed in winter 2014/15. There was a precedent for such hope: in the predigital age (the late 90's/early 00's) a pair came back faithfully for about 10 years. This was the first one since.....................

Actually there was a flurry of exceitement in December when a non birder photographed an adult white morph Gyrfalcon fighting with a Goshawk over disputed prey in a snow covered field. This was quite a way to the north and east of where we are but the hope was it was our bird on its way south and returning to Sawara as an adult in all its snowy white glory.

Of course nothing came, as we all knew would be the case..............but what is life without some kind of hope, even if we know it's futile? That's why we watch England in the World Cup after all.

Eagles and blizzards #1

The eagles were very active yesterday in Yakumo but unfortunately the weather was pretty nasty..........................

Siskins

There was a large flock of Siskin in Onuma yesterday......................

Grebes in the blizzards.............

There were 4 species of grebe in Kamiiso today......................

Laid low

White Tailed Eagle and Long Billed Plover at Yakumo a couple of days ago.............

A roadside surprise

A Mountain Hawk Eagle in Yakumo today.............