Two individuals in a groups of 20 or so Long tailed Tits last week. I was looking in Ono for the Rough Legged Buzzard (I didn't see it). The white headed one above is the very cute Hokkaido race of Long tailed Tit and the other one must be the mainland (ie Honshu) race or possibly an invader from the continent. Either way they were extremely active and even though they were very close it was difficult to get a good shot.
Not much birding last week, crappy weather again. And no obliging Kingfishers either. Just common stuff at Kamiso, the usual common 10 or 11 species of Duck including these Greater Scaup.
Nearer home not much else about.........all 3 species of Wagtail on the river yesterday (including the endemic Japanese Wagtail), the Brown Dipper still buzzing around and this Great Spotted Woodpecker. I still haven't got a good shot of this species.
2 other species I haven't really nailed in the good picture stakes are Daurian Redstart and Red Flanked Bluetail. The male Redstart is a flighty nervous thing and was harassing the poor Bluetail meaning I couldn't get a nice shot of either. The Bluetail posed close by momentarily for what would have been a perfect shot except its' forehead and beak were behind a branch. That photo stays on my hard drive. These 2 were with the smaller lens.
The football was painful last night. Actually 2007 has been a pretty grim year for the various sporting teams I follow......England and Liverpool, and the English cricket team too. The year kicked in with England meekly handing back the Ashes before another shocking World Cup. Liverpool made the Champions League final I suppose but as 2007 draws to a close they look no nearer the Premier League title yet again. And Steve McLaren and the useless overhyped England 'stars' have already spoiled my June next year.
I suppose it'll only get better in 2008..............and if it doesn't it'll at least give me something else to moan about other than Japanese construction practices.
One of my students amazed me the other day when he mentioned the Magna Carta. Wow..............I thought. He didn't know much about it (actually neither do I to be frank) so I tried to tell him that old joke about it. You know the one.
Q. Where was the Magna Carta signed?
A. At the bottom.
Crap joke but I still think it's funny.
haha...that's a good joke to be honest, it made me laugh. Don't diss the photos. The shots of the tits (wahey!!) are excellent as are the 'pecker and redstart.
ReplyDeleteLet's not talk about the 'pool...choking again against Man U. if it was a Champo's league game, they probably would have beaten them 4-0