19 July 2014

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #2



There are lots of coastal grasslands on the Ohotsk coast of Hokkaido...................




The most productive one was near our campsite, about 20 minutes drive.

Long Tailed Rosefinch were very common here..............



Here is a new bird for me to photograph: Middendorffs Grasshopper Warbler. Record shots only though.



These were a little shy and difficult to photograph. They stayed hidden in the long grass, occasionally emerging in short song flights.

I was hoping to see Lanceolated Warbler (which would have been a lifer) but I couldn't see (or hear) them anywhere.

Other birds in this particular grassland were Sand Martin, Black Browed Reed Warbler, Common Reed Bunting, Little Ringed Plover, Wryneck (more of those in a later post) and Siberian Rubythroat. These weren't as approachable as the ones near our campsite.


Overhead there were Japanese Green Pigeon, White Tailed Eagle, Peregrine and Kestrel.

There were lots of just fledged Siberian Stonechat, presumably these are earlier breeders than most of the other grassland species.





We explored some other grasslands but none where as good.........more of the same species but not as many or as close. More White Tailed Eagles, a few Ospreys and Eastern Marsh Harriers but nothing posing for the camera.

A little local knowledge would have been helpful. We did see another photographer at the end of the trip who told us places to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Yellow Breasted Bunting (both target species, again both would have been lifers) but alas we had run out of time and had to head back home.................

Some more photos to come over the next few days..............

12 comments:

  1. Lovely portraits of all the birds in this post. Have a great weekend.

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  2. Thanks Margaret.....................I'll do my best!

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  3. The last few photos of the Siberian Stonechat are special, so very lovely, but they are all good. Nice to see birds that may be common to you, like the Longtailed Rosefinch, but are uncommon to me.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, the Rosefinch would be a mega rarity in western Europe...........

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  4. Great trip. A pretty mouth-watering bunch of Eastern lovelies!

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    1. Thanks Stuart, I did miss a few target species though.............

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  5. Looks like a great campsite and some attractive images too. It's hard to imagine it being so green and lovely when we saw all the snow.

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    1. We were up that way in winter and the contrast is remarkable. A few months ago the sea was frozen!

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  6. Looks like a great area, there can't be many shots of Middendorf's anywhere !

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    1. There are John, there are..................and much better than my poor efforts!

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  7. Middendorf's would be a much exciting bird for me than a Lanceolated Warbler!

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    1. Actually I had already seen Middendorffs, but both are interesting for me as they aren't found in southrtn Hokkaido.................

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