Out East

Notsuke: a place with lots of Siberian Rubythroats avoiding my camera.

On this day (May 30th)............

May 30th 2010.

A pair of Falcated Duck at Yakumo. This cropped, distant shot is the only halfway decent one I've managed of the male. I've seen several females/immatures/eclipse males up close but never a drake in breeding plumage. This is only a brief passage visitor in south Hokkaido, it would be nice if a few overwintered.

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Up North.

As the title says.

I'm off for a while

I'm off for 9 days from tomorrow: a round Hokkaido trip going to the north and east. 6 nights in a tent, 2 nights of luxury in nice hotels at the end. The trip is to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

No internet access anywhere and I haven't jumped on the smartphone bandwagon yet (although I expect to next time my phone needs replacing) so my contact with the outside world and any blog updating will be with the crappy i-mode browser on my notsosmartbutalittlebitdumbphone. I may not be able to acknowledge any replies..........

We haven't been this way in spring since 2008 when the above Siberian Rubythroat was showing nicely on the Ohotsk coast, hopefully I'll get some nice photos and see some new birds in the next week and a half. 

Not much in town the last week, I had a look at the ricefields but all I could find were 4 Pacific Golden Plover and a few Great Egret/Night Heron plus more Grey Tailed Tattler on the coast. A distant Osprey was a nice window tick but the only noteworthy birds nearer my apartment now seem to be Reed Cheeked Starling and Oriental Red Warbler......................

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Fox Cubs #2

We went to Onuma to check the fox cubs and they were much more co-operative today.............

There seemed to be 3 of them..............they spent their time play fighting........

One was much bigger than the others and had first go at a huge fish the mother dumped in the undergrowth for them, too dark for a pic of that..........

They did frolic around in the open at least......

The usual birds were around, no photos though..........I also got my first mosquito bites of the season. Only 6 or so weeks ago everything was buried under snow and now the mozzies are back.

Nothing at all on the ricefields.................I was really hoping to get some freshwater waders in summer plumage this spring, I may only get one more chance later this week. There were half a dozen very skittish Whimbrel on the beach at Kamiiso, this was the only shot I could get.

Still a few ducks around: Wigeon, Gadwall and Scaup. This male Stonechat was in someone's garden near the beach.

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Another unproductive day

Another long beautiful spring day................with not many birds to see or photograph. I was in Yakumo and Oshamanbe looking for waders and all I could find was a flock of 30 or so skittish Grey Tailed Tattler (above) with a lone Turnstone and half a dozen Red Necked Stint at Oshamanbe.

I did manage to see my first Eastern Marsh Harrier and Black Browed Reed Warbler of the year as well as all the common stuff to be expected. Much the same at Onuma: lots of common stuff but nothing posing for the camera.

I did find 3 extremely cute baby foxes however.............

A bit too dark for my lens, I may go back tomorrow and try again.............

I'd got up at 3.45am to watch the Champions League Final, I was somewhat surprised by the result. Now I'm struggling to stay awake listening to the cricket: don't tell me the Windies are going to escape with a draw...........


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An unproductive morning

2 out of 6 moulting Harlequin Duck at Kamiiso earlier this afternoon, I'll have to go back soon and try to get a picture of them in decent light. No waders except for 1 Grey Tailed Tattler and nothing else at all except for the inevitable Ospreys fishing offshore.

I'd been in Onuma in the morning, Narcissus Flycatchers were abundant and the Black Woodpeckers were around as well as all the usual stuff but nothing posing for the camera: I think I used all my luck last week with the flycatchers in Hakodate.

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A short walk on the beach

I had a spare afternoon so we checked out the ricefields to see if a) they had been flooded yet and b) if there were any waders there yet. The answers were yes but only a little and no none at all. So I checked out the beach at Kamiiso. There were 2 Whimbrel and half a dozen or so Grey Tailed Tattler.

The Whimbrel were a bit jumpy but I could get closer when they were preening.

One Whimbrel had a normal bill but the other seemed slightly misshapen (it couldn't close it). You can see the comparison between the 2 birds here.

It was nice light late in the afternoon...........

The Tattlers were also pretty jumpy, this was the best shot I could muster.

In the car park next to the beach there was 1 Little Ringed Plover.

Not much else around, a couple of Ospreys flew over carrying wriggling fish. In Hakodate the last few days there hasn't been much, still lots of Asian Brown Flycatchers passing through but nothing else of interest. I spent an hour this morning watching a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers driving off the Red Cheeked Starlings which were trying to pinch their nesthole.........

So Kenny Daglish got sacked, I'm past caring. And I was consumed with apathy when the England squad was announced..................thank the lord Test Match Special is on for the first time this summer...............


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Er, more Narcissus Flycatchers

A Narcissus Flycatcher at Onuma yesterday morning. This is the 4th consecutive posting with this species.............apologies for the repetition.

This individual was very tame..............these pics are barely cropped at all.

There were lots of birds in the forest but nothing else was posing for the camera. I heard a Siberian Blue Robin but couldn't see it, other stuff included several species of thrush including Eye Browed, Asian Brown and Blue and White Flycatchers, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Russet Sparrow, Black Crowned Night Heron, Japanese White-eye, Oriental Cuckoo, the usual common tits, nuthatches and woodpeckers, Mandarin Duck and lots of this species...........

A Japanese Grosbeak. A lousy heavily cropped pic but actually it's the first time i've posted a photo of this bird. Very hard to photograph in fact (they are very shy and rarely seem to leave the treetops when I'm around) and despite being pretty common in summer they had eluded my camera up to this point.

We had a frustrating day yesterday after Onuma. We headed up to Yakumo but the traffic was so heavy (!) we turned around and went to Asabu where there was nothing around at all so we headed to Kikonai only to find the road was closed due to a landslide............this resulted in a long drive back the way we had come as it was the only road in the mountains.

We managed a quick look at the ricefields in Ono-1 Wood Sandpiper and a briefly seen fly over falcon (Merlin I think though it could have been a Hobby I suppose). The day before there were lots of Grey Tailed Tattler and 2 Red Necked Stint. Today there were still lots of Tattlers and the Pacific Golden Plovers were still around but in the middle of a large muddy field.

The ricefields should be flooded next week, hopefully we'll get some decent waders coming through........

I watched the climax of the Premier League last night. I fell asleep at half time when Man City were 1-0 up. I'd been up since before 5am and had drunk several beers before kick off (11pm here in Japan). I woke up to find there were only 10 minutes left and QPR were winning 2-1 (plus I had missed the Joey Barton meltdown). Thank god I woke up before the end...............

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A third day in the sakura..........

I went back to Goryokau Park for the 3rd consecutive day on Friday morning and the Narcissus Flycatchers were still around. Unlike Wednesday I had plenty of time and unlike Thursday the light was great...................

I could get a little closer this time..............

There were at least 2 males singing.

There was less variety than the previous day, perhaps the clear weather meant many of the passage visitors had left, I'm sure the Narcissus will leave in a day or 2 as well. There were still quite a few Eastern Crowned Warbler, Japanese White-eye and Asian Brown Flycatcher though.......

And the Red Cheeked Starlings will stay all summer...........

In the afternoon we went to Onuma. Lots of Narcissus Flycatchers here too as well as my first Oriental Cuckoo and Japanese Green Pigeon of the year. Other stuff included Mandarin, Japanese Thrush, Japanese Grosbeak and the usual common summer visitors and residents like this very scruffy Nuthatch.......

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Mugimaki

A female Mugimaki Fycatcher and another male Narcissus Flycatcher in Goryokaku Park yesterday morning.

I had got up at 5am and was in the park before 6am looking for yesterday's Narcissus Flycatcher, there were actually 2 or 3 of them around today and they were setting up temporary territories and singing.

The weather was grey and dull and with a slow lens it was hard to get any sharp shots of such an active little bird................

This female Mugimaki Flycatcher was a nice find and was probably the tamest least active bird on show...................

Shame it wasn't a male but the female is pretty cute too...........

There were lots of other small birds whizzing about the cherry blossoms too. Several Eastern Crowned Warbler, lots of other small brownish birds that were mostly Asian Brown Flycatcher. These were very active and difficult to get a shot of..............

There were also some female Narcissus Flycatcher but I couldn't find any Sootys. I also had a brief view of this male Blue and White Flycatcher.

I had an even briefer view of a Siberian Blue Robin which I could hear singing in the middle of the park. The Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker from the previous day was still present as was this Great Spotted Woodpecker.

This is one of 2 female Russet Sparrows, another passage visitor.........

And of course there were lots of Red Cheeked Starlings everywhere..........

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