On Tuesday afternoon I was very surprised to find both east Asian Spoonbill species on a beach to the west of town.....................
The top one is a Black Faced Spoonbill and the bottom one is a Eurasian Spoonbill. I've seen both of them in Hokkaido but this was only my 3rd Black Faced and my 2nd Eurasian. Both are pretty rare up here and to see them together was unusual to say the least.
I was hanholding the lens at 700mm and the light wasn't great, by the time Id 'got myself organizesd with a tripod and taken the teleconverter off they had walked away out of sight. these slightly mushy photos were therefore the best I could get.
The Blackfaced was an adult coming into breeding plumage. This is an east Asian endemic and is scarce in Hokkaido.
I think the Eurasian is an immature?
I couldn't get any nice shots of them together sadly................but you can see the Blackfaced is clearly smaller..........
After a few minutes they both flew north........
Great record, Stu ! I think the bill is even paler on imm. Eurasian Spoonbills.
ReplyDeleteSo you think it's an adult?
DeleteNon-breeding adult, I'd say
DeleteThanks John.
DeleteGreat blog - and if you call these pictures mushy - I wonder what you would call pictures clicked by lesser mortals !!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI wonder how many people have the good fortune to see two species of spoonbill in one day? Not many I am willing to bet.
ReplyDeleteThere were 2 types in Australia I recall (but I only saw 1)..........
Delete