Ubiquitous

Red Necked Stints are ubiquitous at this time of year....................


We camped near Tomakomai and one afternoon we checked all the local wader sites. There were a lot of pools and other potentially good spots for waders but I just couldn't find any anywhere. Finally I did see some poking around in some tidal pools but they were just the aforementioned ubiquitous Red Necked Stints.

Nice light though.................

Although common they are still as photogenic as any bird and cuter than most................

And there were some nice reflections.

It was hot, clear and very sunny..................

Near the campsite we revisited the forest  birdbath. I'd been here in May and June and it had been excellent, a procession of about 15 or so species providing a lot of photo apps. We came again briefly in July on a cool dark rainy day but it was birdless. This time was better but only slightly. Here's a Japanese Bush Warbler and a juvenile Narcissus Flycatcher..............2 out of 3 species which put in an appearance.

At this point we decided to stay another night at the campsite. We knew a typhoon was coming. The weather forecast said rain was due but it was suitably vague (only 40-50% chance at night and in the morning). We hoped we could avoid the worse of it. And it was sunny with blue skies............I mean c'mon.

It started raining about 7pm and then we discovered the inner zip of the tent door was broken. Hmmmm............we kind of fixed it and went to bed hoping the rain would relent a little in the morning. It didn't relent at all and we spent an unpleasant hour or two packing our stuff back in the car in the mud and heavy rain. Due to the aforementioned zip the tent is a write-off (it was only a cheap one) so at least we didn't have to worry about drying it or cleaning all the mud off...............and it wasn't windy either.

The typhoon really got worse as we headed back to the coast to go home..............