Flycatchers and other stuff

A male Narcissus Flycatcher at Onuma this afternoon, one of the most beautiful of the local avifauna. Quite a few of these around today I also got a male Blue and White Flycatcher and a lone Asian Brown Flycatcher near my flat this morning. My wife spent most of the day sleeping off a hangover but we made it out to Onuma in the late afternoon and the forest was full of birds and the views of the mountain were fantastic.





As well as all the common resident Tits and Woodpeckers there were also Mandarin Duck, 5 species of Thrush including several Eye Browed (see the crappy pic below), a Fox munching on a carp (too dark for a picture of this alas), more Blue and White Flycatchers and loads and loads of Russet Sparrow (again see crappy photo later on), parties of White Rumped Swift.......and (I think but I'm not 100% sure) some Ruddy Kingfishers calling deep in the forest........

Closer to home the migration season continues.





Japanese White-eye on my early morning trip to Mt Hakodate last week. Lots of Blue and White Flycatchers here too (please see yet another crappy pic below) as well as loads of Eastern Crowned warblers and this lone Sakhalin Leaf Warbler.



Red Cheeked Starlings continue to frustrate my attempts to photograph them, as did the first arriving Oriental Reed Warblers which didn't even pose long enough for any record shots........





We went to Onuma last Wednesday too but not so many bird around though of course the mountain was still looking as nice as ever. This Oriental Turtle Dove was the only bird shot worth uploading from that afternoon.





Here are some of the crappy record shots mentioned above.







I'm just getting ready to watch the last round of Premier League games. I hope Man U don't score early on or the whole evening will be an anticlimax. Now that Mr Mclaren has left my footy watching schedule empty next month I hope that either tonight's games or the Champion's League final (which I can't watch live) are memorable.

I watched '10,000 BC' last night. Oh my god it was bad. An absolute stinker of a movie. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't taken itself so so seriously.It was kind of Clan of the Cave Bear meets Stargate with all the utter utter crapness that entails. At least "1,000,000 years BC" had Raquel Welch in a bikini. I've started watching 'Wonderland' which looks like a pretty good movie anyway.