A first year Peregrine just to the east of town on Monday afternoon.....................
After Onuma we headed back to Hakodate the coastal route. It was a nice drive but pretty quiet birdwise.................and not a vintage afternoon for photos by any stretch.
This Glaucous Gull was very scruffy, presumably moulting into breeding plumage.................
This Goldeneye was displaying to a group of bored looking Tufted Ducks in one of the ports................
The Peregrine was just outside Hakodate and the late afternoon light was rather poor. BIFs are tricky for me with this fast flier, a total contrast to the lazy ponderous eagles I usually photograph. This was the best of a bad bunch..............
This is the second most common raptor around Hakodate (Black Kite is the #1 by a distance)....................
Other stuff around included Brent Goose, Crested Kingfisher, Brown Dipper, Black Necked Grebe, Blue Rock Thrush, White Tailed Eagle and Long Tailed Rosefinch...............
Great to hear of the abundance of Peregrine Falcons given their precarious state a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are pretty common residents around here............
DeleteGreat to see the Peregrine apart from anything else. It's ages since I had a good view of one!
ReplyDeleteWeirdly I seem to have had a lot of close encounters with them in the last 12 months or so..................
DeleteYou got nice and close to the peregrine. I'm usually too far away.
ReplyDeleteIt was pure luck as always Russell, it was atop a rock on the side of a busy road...........
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