Black Woodpecker

A bit under the weather today. My first cold in over 2 years. And it was snowing too!

At Onuma this afternoon we pulled in to the lay-by where the Nuthatches and Tits feed. On the log where all the birds feed there was a male Black Woodpecker!

Of course it flew off straight away. It would have been an amazing photo if it had waited around a few more seconds. But it came back a few minutes later. Not in an obliging position though. I had to use manual focus (lots of branches in the way) and it was very dark and overcast so the ISO level was at its' maximum. And not exactly close either. But here it is.



With Stellers Sea Eagle this is one of the star birds of this region of Japan. The woods seemed more alive today despite the lousy weather. Varied Tits were eating out of my wife's hands again, lots of the commoner residents were around including Long Tailed Tit, Japanese Pygmy and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. A male Yellow Throated Bunting was the second most interesting bird.

Varied Tit and Nuthatch. Again.

I wish the Black Woodpecker had been as confiding.






And not so great but an ok 'record shot' of the Yellow Throated Bunting.



At Kamsiso this morning there were 3 Shoveler on the river and 1 Pacific Diver offshore. I find Divers difficult and this one was bobbing around in rough seas. I think it was a Pacific anyway. Lots of Wigeon, Scaup and Gulls (6 species) too. Not so much over at Shikabe. Lots of Glaucous Gulls but none close enough for a photo.

I'm going back for the Woodpeckers on Wednesday hopefully.



Damn this cold.