Hoopoes!!!

A bit of luck today. We were checking out some land near Onuma (with a view to buying some maybe) and when we eventually found the plot of land there were not one but two Hoopoes on the grass. A pretty rare bird in Japan. I saw 1 in Hakodate a couple of years ago and 1 on the vagrant hotspot Tobishima in 2004. I think it may have been split from the Hoopoes found in the Med. Anyway what a great bird. A possible omen? Does this mean we should buy the land? Believe it or not I've actually had several dreams about taking pics of Hoopoes recently. Spooky.



The day started at Kamiso. Not so much here. A few Ducks, the first Common Sandpipers of the spring. A second year Glaucous Gull.

Up at Yakumo we checked out the Heronry (about 20 or so Grey Herons and 1 Night Heron). Also around were Osprey, lots of Reed Buntings, my first Black Faced Bunting of the spring (a singing male), my first singing Japanese Bush Warblers of the season, the usual common Ducks plus a female Smew, a northbound Eurasian Hobby and lots of Glaucous Gulls.

We stopped at Onuma on the way back but there were no Black Woodpeckers. The usual common stuff included a party of 10 or so Whooper Swan resting on their way north, another Osprey and the first singing Brown Thrush this year.

Here's a pic of a female Bullheaded Shrike checking out nest sites near my house last week.




And yet another Nuthatch.



These are 2 pretty crappy pics. 6 species of Gull at Kamiso this morning and a Common Kingfisher near my flat a couple of days ago.



Second year Glaucous Gulls are common at this time of the year and extremely conspicious.



It seems that when birders start taking photographs Kingfishers become their favourite subjects. I still have lots to learn quite clearly.

Exciting end to the footy season with some big games coming up. Are Man U going to end up with nothing? Injuries are exposing the fact their squad is a bit thin. Much as I dislike Man U though I'd rather they win the League than Chelsea (but it'd be nice if they sweat a bit). Liverpool will stop Chelsea winnning the quadruple at least.

The elections are over. Thank god.