Black and grey Sunday

An adult Peregrine at Sawara this afternoon. We had intended to go up to Yakumo for one last bash at the eagles but it was a dark grey sleety kind of morning so we gave up on that particular idea and headed over to Shikabe and Sawara instead.

One of the small fishing ports had several interesting species.......

These Black Scoter were outside the port and seemed a bit shy, this is a species I've never really managed to photograph well, these cropped record shots being pretty typical....

There was a flock of Scaup, one or two Goldeneye, 4 harlequin Duck and 2 Black Necked Grebe.

In previous years early March to early April often sees large numbers of this species hitting the local ports, hopefully 2011 will be the same.

I had a look on the beach at Sawara for the Snow Buntings that have apparently been around for most of the winter. I tried a couple of times earlier this winter but was defeated by the snowdrifts. Most of the deep snow has gone now so walking out to the beach was possible. I couldn't find any Snow Bunting  unfortunately, indeed I haven't seen any since a small flock in the mid 1980's in Fleetwood. It was hard work walking around the dunes, my back/leg still isn't right and there was also driving snow. I never seem to see much at Sawara, it always looks like there should be lots of rare and interesting stuff around but whenever I go there I just get tired out traipsing through the black sand dunes.

This location was well-known about 10 years ago for an overwintering Gyrfalcon (which I never saw). No Gyr but there was this adult Peregrine at least...........

On the beach were 000's of Gulls.

There is a foul smelling fish processing factory nearby so there are always loads of Gulls and Black Kites around. I suppose I should have checked the flocks to see if there was anything unusual but it was cold and I was tired and I'm crap at IDing Gulls too.

This Glaucous Gull looked pretty normal but some of the others looked rather small.............

My wife can't understand why anyone could be interested in Gulls.

So that is probably the start of the end of winter.................

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A quiet week in February

A Siskin near my apartment a couple of days ago.

It's been a bit of a quiet week, very mild and sunny for most of the time. The snow has turned to slush finally. Not so many birds around though, I was hoping to find some Crossbills but nothing doing there yet.

The small Siskin flock contained one Redpoll.

There have been several finch species around this week. A flock of Brambling in Goryokaku park, Hawfinch, Oriental Greenfinch and Long Tailed Rosefinch too. But Siskins were the most interesting.....

Not much else to report. Grey Headed and Great Spotted Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park, Sparrowhawk, Wren, Dusky Thrush, Coal and Great Tit.........

This Oriental Turtle Dove near my apartment is a bird I normally don't see in winter, I've seen 1 or 2 on several occasions this year.

5 species of duck on the river including a female Red Breasted Merganser and the Great Egret is still around...........

Only another 4 weeks of construction noise to endure, today they were digging up some of the new road they'd laid last week. Sometimes I think they may as well just bang big drums whilst burning ¥10000 bills: it'd achieve the same results. Lots of noise, lots of money wasted and nothing changes at the end of it.

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Frozen on a Bridge #4

My 3rd visit of the day to the bridge at Yakumo was in the late afternoon. Most of the eagles had gone leaving only 3 or 4 young White Tailed Eagles.

They were a scruffy bunch and unlike the adults they get harassed by the local crows...........

There have only been a few immature Stellers this winter which perhaps indicates a poor breeding season last summer. The White Taileds seem to have had a bumper season however..........

3 of them flapped down onto the ice just near the bridge to squabble over some salmon remains........

They then sat down in the snow and had a bit of a wash, the eagle equivalent of brushing their beaks before bedtime..........

Probably my last time with the eagles this winter, the weather has been very mild the last couple of days and this may well be the spur for them to fly north. But you never know.............

A couple of wintry scenes to finish with............a Red Fox from the bridge at Yakumo and a view of Mt Komagadake on the way back to Hakodate..........

So ended a rather wonderful but cold day on a an exposed bridge in smalltown Hokkaido........

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Frozen on a Bridge #3

This photos (and the Peregrine previously) where on my second visit of the day to the bridge on Route 5 over near the Yurappu river mouth at Yakumo.

This is probably my last chance for eagle pictures this winter, the numbers have dropped in the last 2 or 3 weeks but there were still 15 or so individuals of both species at the river mouth and also about the same number further upstream.

One thing that can spoil the photos is the overhead wires that crisscross the river...........

Although as this individual got closer it wasn't such a problem..........

I was a little too enthusiastic with the continuous shooting at this point and my camera froze for a couple of crucial seconds to empty the buffer and by the time I could shoot again the chance was gone.......

Oh yeah and I forgot to zoom out there too.........

As you can see here they are a common sight for Yakumo residents........

The weather had improved by this stage............

But it was still bitterly cold and exposed. Most of the time not much was happening, this is a typical scene........

99% of the time they are a little too far away.........

These would have been great shots if I'd been nearer, unfortunately it was impossible to get through the snowfields and drifts to the actual mouth of the river where I could see these 2 adult Stellers and White Tailed Eagles squabbling about something..........

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