North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #1

We just got back from a trip up north.................

First up we stopped in Daisetsuzan, a mountainous national park in the middle of Hokkaido.

We hiked up Kurodake (well we hiked from the cable car station to the peak). I haven't done any hiking for ages and it was much tougher than I expected. I was hoping to see various high altitude species and also to photograph them. I did see Spotted Nutcracker and Japanese Accentor (2 species I have no decent photos of at all) but only from a distance. My main target was Pine Grosbeak but I didn't see any.

The forest was full of birds: Red Flanked Bluetail were everywhere and there were also Bullfinch and Winter Wren. The trail was very narrow, rocky and steep and after a while I gave up carrying the camera and pit it in my backpack. I had to concentrate where to put my feet for a start.

Above the treeline theer were lots of singing Siberian Rubythroats. One was right next to the trail and must have had a nest nearby. This (and the top one) were taken with the 100-400, no way could I drag the 500 up a mountain.

Unfortnately it was on very narrow part of the trail that formed a kind of bottleneck, I was lucky to get a handful of shots in between the dozens of hikers passing by. Then it started raining and we headed back down, my knees protesting all the way.

The next 3 days were spent camping on the Ohotsk Coast in the north of Hokkaido. Our campsite was near a small cape and it was pretty good for birds here too. The rubythroats were the star attraction here too...............

These pics were taken just after sunrise.....................

This individual was on a bush right in front of our tent one morning.................

When it skulked it was much harder to photograph. This is at ISO 1600, wide open on the 500 and with a S/S of 1/640 handheld.

Also around the campsite were Grays Grasshopper Warbler (one of which sang all night just a few metres away from our tent), Japanese Green Pigeon, Pacific Swift, White Throated Needletail, Grey Wagtail. Siberian Stonechat, Olive Backed Pipit, Asian Brown Flycatcher and Russet Sparrow.

I took a lot of photos, more to come in the next few days.................