Snowshoeing

We were in Yakumo briefly yesterday morning....................

I was trying to find a flock of Snow Buntings on a bleak windswept beach. It was really windy and there was deep snow so I put on my snowshoes and managed to plough through (or over) the drifts but once I got to the beach the wind was so strong it was practically blowing me over so I gave up..............

Still at least the snow shoes work.

Inland the weather was still terrible and the eagles were not very active (or even visible). The only one we could get close to was this immature White Tailed, these shots were taken out of the car window.............

I wonder if they ever tire of salmon.................

Other stuff included a lone Solitary Snipe (ha! see what I did there?) but not much else,we gave up and returned home around midday as the snow set in. january has been a pretty rotten month weatherwise in south Hokkaido.

I did see a couple of flocks of small passerines in a couple of locales, hopefully that'll be the first signs of some interesting winter visitors which will still be around when the weather eventually improves.