7 March 2010

Scratching and red eyes...........






One of many Black Necked Grebes at Shikabe and the Ural Owl at Onuma.

We had a long drive today, first we headed east towards Esan. Brent Geese, Harlequin Duck, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser and Scaup were on the sea but nothing close enough for a decent shot. This adult Glaucous Winged Gull at Menagawa was one one of many.........




The coast was looking nice in bright spring-like sunshine, we headed north up to Shikabe to check out the harbour there. the Black Necked Grebes were present and some were well on the way to breeding plumage.










Most were still in winter colours however...........










My poor wife hates this kind of birding: hanging around fishing harbours full of birdsh*t and grumpy old fisherfolk. We headed over to Onuma where the weather turned wintry. The Ural Owl was there, I even took a video. In the second half of the video it actually does something...........


Shame about the sound of people talking. There were 2 other photographers there quietly doing their thing when an old oyaji came talking loudly and blowing cigarette smoke in my face.

It's a well-known Owl and I'm sure lots of folk have identical pics to these.







Whilst I was taking these shots I could hear the barking cries of eagles. There were 3 of them on the frozen lake, nearby a fox and lots of crows were eating a dead Whooper Swan. It was very dark, here's a young Stellers Sea Eagle in the distance.............




By now it was snowing and rather cold.............




Not much in Hakodate the last few days. Hawfinches everywhere: usually I can see 1 or 2 on TV aerials from my living room window. Dusky Thrush too............and that's about it.

I walked down to the Brent Goose spot on Friday.




Not many close enough to photograph, ditto the Harlequin Ducks. A Black Throated Diver was the most interesting bird of the day..........

Here's a view from Hakodate looking towards Onuma.




So another quiet week draws to a close. It was nice to see the Owl again though and if I can persuade the wife we can hopefully return to the Black Necked Grebes a couple more times and see them change into their summer plumage...........

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5 comments:

  1. I'm impressed by the owl. Nice little video too, but it still looks too cold for me up there.

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  2. Great owl and grebe photos and love the view looking towards Onuma.

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  3. Very cute video of the owl!
    I still have no idea why there is no Black-necked Grebe in Beppu...

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  4. Simply fantastic.... I'm really so happy I found your blog... The grebe shots are beautiful and the owl ones too... The video is very funny and also shows that it is a nice subject for photography... It just does not move ;-) Gorgeous!

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  5. Wow, that last pic is amazing! It looks almost like a painting, like something taken out from a dream!

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