Dunlin, the default small wader back in the UK, is not so common in Japan...............
Not that it's rare either..................
There were 2 on the beach at Yakumo yesterday.
Normally the beach is inaccessible in winter due to snow but this late November is unusually mild. They may be there all winter I suppose: there is a flock of them every winter up in Oshamanbe.
They look different, I'm guessing the bottom one is an adult and the top one is a first winter bird? Or maybe not...............anyway they are presumably a different subspecies from the ones I used to see on the Ribble............
This is one of only 3 or 4 wader species I get to see in winter in Hokkaido. Long Billed Plover, the rare Solitary Snipe and the scarce (in Japan) Northern Lapwing are the others.
Not much else around, a few Great Egret, some of the common winter wildfowl and 7 species of gull.
Liverpool!?!? WTF is going on?
yes a lovely le wader back in the UK.. Great shots. I love watching it
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Margaret.............
DeleteGreat find and perfect pictures....so clean and even the the poses are practiced...i keep getting birds looking three-quarters away from me. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThanks Russell, actually they just stood there looking confused for a minute or so and then they flew off..............
DeleteI really like Dunlins after seeing them in Iceland. It's amazing how some birds are so widespread even if patchy. That new 7D certainly seems to live up to expectations. Have you heard about the new Sanyo camera?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Sanyo? Maybe you mean the new Samsung camera? Looks very good...............but absolutely no lenses suitable for our hobby (yet).
DeleteThe east asian races of dunlin must be different to the european ones, but in winter plumage maybe not much different.
ReplyDeleteWe get a flock of Dunlin at Mai Po here in the winter, and the weather is mild here too.
The ones in Hokkaido must be some of the toughest hardiest ones..................
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