A Cattle Egret on the outskirts of Hakodate yesterday..................
Egrets are not so common in Hokkaido, only Great Egrets (winter visitors) are regular. the other 3 species common further south in Japan are usually spring overshoots and occur after warm weather with southerly winds.
This one was on small river...............
It was pretty skittish...............
I saw all 4 yesterday. Great Egret at Fukushima, Intermediate Egret near Kikonai and several Little Egret in various locatiosn. Other species around included Brent Goose, Greenshank, an unidentified snipe species, White Winged Scoter (Kikonai), Black Throated Diver and the usual common stuff including lots of Dusky Thrush on the move.
Not many small migrants yet. I saw Black Faced Bunting and Japanese Bush Warbler on the river near my flat as well as a small flock of Crossbill in the small park but not much else...........
I seehe is sporting his breeding plumage now. Lovely shots Stuart.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret, it really is a great looking bird at this time of year...........
Deletelovely bird, especially in breeding
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Dave.............
DeleteI'll be seeing lots of those next week but not around here. Yours look especially dark and colourful around the head and neck. I'm going to look it up on Wiki to see if there's a subspecies.
ReplyDeleteSeems like we now have two species - Western Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis and Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus coromandus.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.galleryofbirds.com/China2011/Eastern%20Cattle%20Egret.htm
Well Phil my life list goes up by one.....or it would do if I actually kept one properly.
DeleteWait a minute, have I actually even seen a Cattle Egret in Europe? I'm not sure.............I've seen them in India and Nepal.