We nosed around a corner of Onuma this afternoon. Waterlilies have taken over large portions of the lake and Moorhens poke around with their chicks.
Moorhens are a little scarce in Hokkaido, much more so than in the UK. Lots of small bird activity in the undergrowth at Onuma but no real photo ops. The usual cluster of birders with absurdly expensive wide aperture lenses were waiting for the Ruddy Kingfishers to return to their nesthole. I however couldn't be bothered braving the mosquitoes.
I could have done with an absurdly expensive lens earlier at Yakumo. Bright bright midday sunshine washed out my digiscoped Black Browed Reed Warblers and Stonechats leaving me with a camera full of crap pics. The DSLR shots were better but 300mm is not enough reach for skittish songbirds. The Grays Grasshopper Warblers were as skulking as ever.
An Osprey was fishing in the river. More incompetent camera work here. Not adjusting the settings after the Warblers I didn't have it set at a high enough shutter speed for action shots. Anyway here is a sequence of shots of a distant Osprey diving in the river and catching a fish.
Not much around Hakodate this week, Pacific Swift and Peregrine being the most interesting...........
nice shots again on the blog SCE. All quiet down this end of the archipelago. Went to Ashiyu forest again and saw Jungle Nightjar this time (have seen them already on Mishima Island) and heard plenty of Ruddy kingfishers but not one glimpse of the b'tards!! Still need that. Some nice birds at your end though...'gropper warblers, BB Reed Warbler, Ruddy kingfishers...very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteWhat you think of Torres then? Are we going to buy defenders??
Hi Carmo. Dunno about Torres................could be another Morientesesque flop perhaps? I'm getting a bit disillusioned with all the foreigners dominating the Premier League these days (Irish excepted naturally). Hope Liverpool don't go the way of Arsenal (with no local or even English players).
ReplyDeleteDefenders would be nice but not Man U cast-offs like Heinze. l'd really like them to sign Ledley King but it'll never happen (plus he's always injured even if they could pull it off).