20 May 2007

Looking for waders



A Grey Tailed Tattler at Kamiso this morning. There were also around 20-30 Common Sandpiper, a male Scaup (see below), 2 male Shoveler and a few Teal.



We then headed up to Yakumo to check for waders. A flock of 20 or so Turnstone were the highlight, as well as more Common Sandpiper, Tattlers and a pair of Little Ringed Plover. Not much else though and certainly no interesting waders whatsoever. A few Ducks were still around. Wigeon, Shoveler and Scaup mainly. 2 Great White Egret were amongst the 30 or so Grey Heron. No smaller birds of note except for a male Reed Bunting and lots of singing Oriental Great Reed Warbler. Passerines tend to get more interesting towards the end of May. Several fishing Osprey were fun to watch. Here's distant one getting mugged by Black Tailed Gulls. It later lost its fish to a Black Kite......



We finished the day at Onuma. The usual commoner species were around but no real photo opps. Most interesting birds here were a group of Pacific White-rumped Swift and a (heard only again) Black Woodpecker.



The previous 72 hours saw almost non stop rain. On Friday we got out to Yunokawa and saw some small groups of Red Necked Pharalope about 500 metres offshore. Not the great spectacle of other recent years when calm clear weather allowed us to see tens or even hundreds of thousands close inshore. There were also some dark shearwaters too far out to ID. Sort Tailed Shearwaters probably.

Got drunk last night watching the dire FA cup final at the new Wembley. I was actually hoping for penalties when Drogba scored as it would have more exciting than anything in the turgid 120 minutes beforehand.

One word of advice for those traveling in Japan. If you ever stop at Hokka Hokka Bento and are tempted by the tasty looking picture on the menu showing the sirlon steak donburi don't be fooled. It's absolutely disgusting.

Around May 20th down the years:

Not much happening around this date..........what was I doing? Revising for exams I suppose (up to 1990 at least). Otherwise pretty quiet.

2005 (May 20th) 3 Little Egret and 2 Intermediate Egret flying over my neighbourhood. Also around were several Asian Brown Flycatcher. A couple of days later several Pacific White Rumped Swift flew over too.

2006 (May 21st) Set off on my first trip to East Hokkaido, visiting Furen-ko, Notsuke and Nemuro amongst other places. Japanese Crane, Blakiston's Fish Owl, Spectacled Guilemot, White tailed Eagle and lots of other goodies. You can read my report here

6 comments:

  1. great shot of the Tattler! it is funny how are lives are somewhat similar don't you think?? Although, I didn't have gout but the doc here always asks me do I think it's gout...why he asks me is beyond me but there you go, he's supposed to be the medic.

    Didn't watch the FA Cup and glad I didn't by all accounts. Nervous about Wed night/Thurs morning. Last year I couldn't bear it so went to bed and got up at the end of the match to listen BBC 5 live and couldn't believe my ears...I think I cried (don't tell anyone). I might do the same thing this year...

    GO ON THE 'POOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. hokkaidostuさん、こんばんは、
    英語が苦手なので、日本語で書きますね!

    北海道は、日本の中でも野生の生き物が豊富なところです。
    たくさんの鳥たちに出会ってくださいね!

    こちらでは、200羽のキアシシギの群れが見られました。
    いまは、ハマシギ、トウネン、キョウジョシギなどと一緒に群れを作っています。

    ReplyDelete
  3. you staying up for the match on Weds/Thurs?

    I assume it's on Japanese telly, if not I'll point the webcam at the portable for you.


    - KP

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi S.C.E.!
    Thank you for viting my blog.
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    ReplyDelete
  5. jayzus fella, I'm getting nervous...is it on JP terrestrial tv? don't have cable...GO ON THE 'POOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I realise this is 48 hours too late............but yes it was on regular Japanese TV. I myself watched it on skyperfect TV with that idiot Clive Tyldesley commentating. Made the loss even worse.

    ReplyDelete

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