A quiet end to May

A Goosander in Kamiiso last week. A quiet end to May after the deluge mid month. Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Mallard, Sacup and Harlequin Duck were also around in very small numbers, a few Black Headed Gulls remained, the only waders were Grey Tailed tattler and a lone Terek Sandpiper.

The migrants have stopped passing through, a female Narcissus Flycatcher at the start of the week being the only thing of note. There are lots of Oriental Reed Warbler on the river at least.

A drive to Kikonai and Onuma last weekend produced nothing but common birds and nothing posing for the camera.......................my first Common Cuckoo and Japanese Green Pigeon appeared but mostly the week was as dull as an England end of season friendly.

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And then there were (almost) none...................

Well the cherry blossoms have almost disappeared and with them the last of the passage migrants. There were still a few things passing through a couple of days ago (including my first Arctic Warbler of the year, some AB Flycatchers and Crossbill) and yesterday there was a small flock of Siskin and a few Hawfinch. Today there was pretty much nothing except the local summer breeders...............

The Oriental Reed Warblers are all singing and setting up their territories along the river, Black Faced Buntings are singing too, Swallows and Asian House Martins are in the sky above, the Red Cheeked Starlings are everywhere and the Bullheaded Shrikes are hunting.........................summer is coming.

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2 days off so the weather is crap. Again.

4 Harlequin Duck at Kamiiso yesterday. They are in moult and take shelter in the river................

The weather has been crappy the last 2 days..................a bit annoying after the great weather last week when I was busy. At Kamiiso yasterday there wasn&t much about. 10 Grey Tailed Tattler, 1 Dunlin and 3 Common Sandpiper were the only waders. A handful of duck remained. 2 Black Scoter were offshore and there were a few Scaup too.

A Red Throated Diver was offshore and in the ricefields whilst i was looking for waders (nothing doing there) I saw my first Oriental Honey Buzzard of the summer.

Today in Goryokaku Park the weather was very dark and grey but many of the migrant species were still in evidence. Asian Brown, Narcissus and Blue and White Flycatchers, Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warbler Japanese White-eye, Common Crossbill and I even heard an Oriental Cuckoo.............

Not many photos, here's a Blue and White Flycatcher.

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More of the same but less

Yet another male Narcissus Flycatcher near my apartment.........

After Wednesday's fall of migrants the weather improved but I had to return to work (the inconvenience!) so could only spend a little time in Goryokaku Park chasing the migrants around the cherry blossoms.

All the same species were around but on Thursday they were much more active and on Friday the numbers had dropped quite a bit...............

Not so many Blue and White Flycatchers...................

This is a female.......................

Some Eye Browed Thrush remained too..............

And there were still lots of Eastern Crowned Warbler....................

Many of the same species were on the river..........in fact all of the flycatchers amnd warblers. Also passing through was a lone Common Sandpiper, 6 Night Heron and the first Oriental Reed Warblers of the summer arrived on the 15th.................


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Migrants galore on a dark dark day

A male Blue and White Flycatcher and a male Narcissus Flycatcher.

I had a day off on the 14th and spent most of it in Goryokaku Park. There were lots of migrants about. I don't know how many but seriously there were f***ing loads.  Birds were buzzing around everywhere, it was like something out of a Disney movie.

The light was very poor and there was the constant threat of drizzle. I suspect the poor weather was the reason so many migrants were grounded..................the chilliness also meant they were pretty lethargic and easy to approach. The nasty weather also meant the park wasn't so busy...............

Blue and White Flycatchers were still very common................

And Narcissus Flycatchers were even more numerous, loads of them, everywhere.

The males were at various stages of moult, some of them hadn't quite acheived the full summer look yet...............

As you can see they were just sitting around on walls....................

The above 2 (and yesterday's post with The Siberian Blue Robin) were the stars of tha day but there were lots of other migrants around too.

Asian Brown Flycatcher for starters.

I couldn't find any Sooty Flycatchers...................there are a bogey species for me..............

There were 5 species of thrush. Japanese and Dusky plus these 3............

First Pale Thrush...........

And Eye Browed Thrush.................

And finally Brown Thrush...........................

Both Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers were common................

Other stuff included large restless flocks of Japanese White-eye, Siskin, a few Crossbill, Olive Backed Pipit, Japanese Bush Warbler and this drake Shoveler on the moat..............

Of course once I was busy again at work the weather improved dramatically.

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