East/North Hokkaido Summer 2016 #9

My final batch of photos from last week's trip..........................


Siberian Rubythroats are one of the main draws of the area in summer. They weren't as active or as photogenic as last year, maybe because we were in the area a little later in the year. Still, there were plenty of them about.

And some 'in habitat' shots....................

Long Tailed Rosefinches were also common....................although I couldn't get many shots of the deep red males. The top one and the last two of these may be a very pale male, I'm not sure. #2 is definitely a female.

After uploading these 2 shots I can see they are almost identical............

And here I am in the grasslands................

We stopped off in central Hokkaido for a couple of days on the way back but didn't do too much birding or photography. We were back in civilisation anyway. I learned to never ever ever go camping on a 'family' campsite within driving distance of Sapporo on a busy holiday weekend. Ugh.

Thanks to my wife for all the driving, in Japanese terms the north coast is a long long way away from where we live...................