A lifer to end the year.................

A heavily cropped and backlit photo but a lifer nevertheless................

End of year eagles.............

We managed a quick trip up to Yakumo.................

Quiet end to Christmas..........

Crappy weather and a wife under the weather meant little birding..................

A rainy day in the ports

It's been raining all day.................

Christmas 2016

A Peregrine to the west of town this afternoon...............

A nice day for christmas, lots of snow in Onuma and clear blue skies. Not much of interest about: a few White-tailed Eagles here and there plus the usual ducks and suchlike on the sea.

Season's greetings to all those who read my blog. Well except for that person who regularly spams the comments with links to watch live sports. I hope that person's turkey gets burned, their wife leaves them and then they get arrested for drink driving.

A night in Yakumo #2

A night in Yakumo #1

We spent Sunday night in Yakumo.......................

A scruffy duck

I had a spare hour or so to kill and the weather was mild and sunny so I took a short walk along the local river........................

A quiet Monday

A very low-key Monday....................

3 eagles

A rather frustrating Sunday afternoon............................

A mild Monday

Still mild in south Hokkaido..........................

Another mild Sunday in Yakumo..................

The mild winter continues, I didn't even need a jacket in Yakumo as the temperature hovered around 12..........................

2016 Best Of #5

A final selection of shots from 2016, all these are form autumn.................

More weekend blizzards

A frustrating afternoon in Yakumo.............

Blizzards strike....................

A chilly Wednesday morning in Yakumo...............

A hungry Monday

I'm in the middle of a couple of rather unpleasant days..................

A mild early winter day

It was a mild late November day in Yakumo...............

2016 Best Of #4

Some photos from a trip we took to north/east Hokkaido in July..................

2016 Best Of #3

Some more shots from earlier in the year, these ones are from summer..........

Some more returnees

Another sure sign of winter is when grebes start appearing in the local fishing ports............

That time of year again..............

We were up in Yakumo this morning and the eagles have well and truly arrived............

2016 Best Of #2

Some more shots from earlier in the year, all these were taken during spring migration from late April to mid May.................

Still there.....................

The flock of Japanese Waxwing was in the same place as yesterday and in much better light...............

Winter visitors

Some real signs of winter today........................

2016 Best Of #1

A selection of shots from last winter............................

On this day (November 4th).......................

November 4th 2014.

An American Wigeon near Hakodate 2 years ago today. A scarce but regular visitor to Japan.

This was only the second one I've ever seen and the only one I've photographed. It was with a flock of Eurasian Wigeon.

This was one of the first batch of photos taken with my then spanking new 7D MK2, can't believe that was 2 years ago....................

Beach Geese

Just outside town there was a group of 6 White-fronted Geese on the beach..............

Frogzilla

A wet day to end October................

Some autumn ducks

A quiet late October Sunday, not much around..................

On this day (October 27th)....................

October 27th 2013.

A Mugimaki Flycatcher in the autumnal glow at Onuma 3 years ago today.

This is a male I think, the species is a scarce but regular passage migrant in Japan, I see one every couple of years or so. This individual was the first bird I photographed with my then brand new 500 f4 lens.............a pretty nice subject.

Some visible migration.............

Flocks of Brown-eared Bulbul heading south across the Tsugaru Straits at the weekend................

Grey birds on a grey day

A very dark grey day on Monday...........with a grey goose and a Grey Heron...............

Odd one out

October is a month for rarities and wanderers...................and generally lousy photos of them............

Autumn 2016

It felt very autumnal today...................

Pika

This odd looking animal is a Northern Pika near Furano last week...............

On this day (September 29th)..................

September 29th 2013.

Not a great picture by any stretch but I was quite excited by this scene 3 years ago today. A Long-tailed Skua mugging a Common Tern offshore at Yakumo. This is usually something that happens way offshore and I never witness, the Skua was a lifer too.

A couple of weeks later I saw large numbers of Pomarine Skua migrating close inshore at the same place. The last 2 years I checked at the same place/time but got nothing at all................

Some late waders............

A Bar-tailed Godwit and a Grey Plover near town this afternoon................