The weather has relented a little, we could actually leave Hakodate this afternoon. The snow was piled up head high on the sides of the road but we've only had light snow this week, the main roads were clear. It was still overcast though and only common birds were around but it was a relief to get out of town for the first time in ages (actually only just 2 weeks but it felt longer).
The tame tits and nuthatches in Onuma all appeared to have survived the cold spell.
It was nice to get some shots of them in the snow, shame the light wasn't great.
In the group there are 2 Nuthatches and 2 Varied Tits, one individual of each species is very tame and the other is more wary.
There are also at least 2 Eastern Great Tits, these are much shyer.
And there are 4 or so Marsh Tits. Or rather Marsh and Willow Tits. Most of them have glossy caps and short stubby bills, this one doesn't seem to. Is it a Willow Tit? I have to say I never really check. Perhaps I should do.
Not much else in the forest, Great Spotted Woodpecker, lots of Dusky Thrush, a distant Black Woodpecker calling, several Jay, a single Hawfinch.
I've disabled word verification for comments. Recently blogger have introduced that ghastly 2 word verification where one of the words is almost impossible to read, it is a right pain in the arse. I urge you to do the same. It is easy to do, see here for instructions. You can still set it up so you have to approve the comments: your blog will not be full of spam.
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They are all lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteI like the way the vast whiteness of the snow focuses the viewer's attention on the birds; very effective photography. Lovely little birds.
ReplyDeletebeautiful shots Stu, and thanks for the word verification tip - now sorted.
ReplyDeleteMark
Those local birds are obviously toughened up by living with head height snow Stu - rather them and you than me. I switched off word verification thanks, didn't realise it had gone that way for my own blog.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of the nuthatch and tits as usual!
ReplyDeleteWonder if these birds ever migrate?
Hi Stu,
ReplyDeleteMy google account has been disabled for some unknown reason, so I decided to start a new blog. I'm trying to bring back the old one, but I'll move on with the new one in the meantime.
Ayuwat
A very nice serie Stu! Love those funny looking tits!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful selection of pictures, Stuart. The snow adds a lot to the pictures. Interesting how the Great Tit looks so much paler than ours here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments.
ReplyDeleteJeremy-actually it has been split into a new species-Eastern Great Tit, I think the one in the UK is now Northern Great Tit.
Phil, Mark-thanks for that, it makes commenting much less hassle.