Under the weather.....

A male Crossbill a couple of days ago near my flat. Just when I think they've finally left, a few individuals pop up to surprise me. They ignored the pine trees (I think all the seeds have been eaten anyway) and looked a bit unsure tackling whatever blossoms these were..........



As you can see it was beautiful weather. Unfortunately for most of the week I had a cold and was stuck in bed or trying to work. On Monday we headed over to Esan, not much about except for a few lingering winter birds. Here are 2 common residents, a Japanese Wagtail and Blue Rock Thrush.





We went up Mt Hakodate at dawn on Tuesday just as my cold was kicking in. It was a bit quiet to be honest, not many birds around at all. I think the clear weather has meant migrants just passing straight through. On the river near my place I saw Eastern Crowned Warbler and Asian Brown Flycatcher. The first Oriental Reed Warblers appeared today and the numbers of Red Cheeked Starlings has been increasing every day........





We went to Onuma this afternoon very briefly. Lots of stuff around, plenty of singing Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush and Eastern Crowned Warbler but nothing posung for the camera.

A very slow week for pictures, here's a crappy one of Mt Esan to the east of Hakodate....



Man U have just gone 2-0 up against City as I type this, looking like it'll all be over before Liverpool even play again. Man City look especially toothless, can't believe they're the richest club in the world. The commentator on Sky's international feed is an annoyingly biased fawning pro Man U moron too. I just switched it off.

I taped the Champions League semi-finals, on Tuesday I just left the tape running before I went to bed but unfortunately I miscalculated the point at which the game started and when I pressed 'play' Man U were already 2-0 up against Arsenal. The Chelsea game was more entertaining, I wish Ballack had actually punched the ref at the end. Not that Chelsea especially deserved to go through or anything. It would just have been funny to see.

Another busy week coming up, looks like the prime birding month of the year (May) is going to pass me by slightly.