29 March 2017

Teleconverter déjà vu


One of my (many) faults is that I appear destined to constantly repeat the same mistakes over and over again...........


28 March 2017

Quiet period


Late March is sometimes a prime birding time around Hakodate. Crossbills are in the parks or maybe Grebes and Divers are in the ports. Sometimes however it can be rather quiet and 2017 is one of those quiet slow late Marches. The above Black-tailed Gull was one of many individuals pairing off at the moment.

Grey Wagtail, Great Egret and Siskin the only notable local birds the last 2 or 3 days..............hopefully that'll all change in a couple of weeks or so.


26 March 2017

The Replacements


No more eagles anymore but they have been replaced in my sights by other raptors...............


25 March 2017

March winding down...........


March is winding down. Not much about locally, just a few Dusky Thrush, Common Teal and a small flock of Hawfinch (one above) of any interest.................

Note the grey sky. After a week or more of sunshine looks like some dull weather is coming............just as I have a few days off coming up.

24 March 2017

The interim





It's the interim period, not winter anymore but not really spring yet either...................

20 March 2017

A visitor from Russia


There were still a few White-tailed Eagles scattered around north of town.................


15 March 2017

Some more SMIFs



I spent another afternoon with the Smew on Monday.......................


A bit slow.............


Despite a lot of driving around in great weather last weekend the birds were a bit thin on the ground...............


14 March 2017

Another one that hadn't left


I was looking for the Ring-necked Duck again on Sunday and although I couldn't relocate it I did find a Baikal Teal.......................


13 March 2017

The Smifs


Very sunny weather the last couple of days...................


11 March 2017

And a female........


The Bullfinches were more spread out on Friday and not as photogenic as previously..............

Also around were Brambling, Hawfinch and a couple of Redpoll. Still no Crossbills, looks like 2017 may be a crossbill-less year..........

9 March 2017

A couple of common harbour birds


East of Hakodate, Brent Geese and Harlequin Ducks are common winter visitors.............


5 March 2017

Some Redpolls


We went back to the place where we'd seen the Asian Rosy Finches last week but they had long since disappeared.


A Friday morning walk





I had a spare couple of hours on Friday morning............


4 March 2017

On this day (March 4th).....................


March 4th 2014.

A male Crossbill in town 3 years ago today. There were large numbers of this species in March of that year and they already scavenging pinecones on the ground, presumably having eaten most of the ones still on the trees. It allowed for a few nice low angle shooting opportunities........................

1 March 2017

On this day (March 1st)............................


March 1st 2009.

A Blakistons Fish Owl at Rausu 8 years ago today. Not a great photo once you pixel peep, the 400D was not a great low light camera and the 100-400 on it was never sharp wide open. And that yellow ring too..................

Like the cranes and eagles in east Hokkaido which are attracted by free food in winter there is an element of 'cheating' with these Owls (which are attracted by free fish handouts courtesy of a guesthouse next to the stream).

Still, you can't argue with being able to photograph the world's biggest species of Owl. I hope to go back and do it with my wifes's full-frame camera and my 500 f4 one day.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...