A Late Spring Trip #1

We just got back from a 3 day trip.....................

A rainy Sunday

A Peregrine in the driving rain west of town this afternoon.............a crap picture for a crap day.

I guess the farmers need the rain though..............

Not much around. A few straggling wildfowl here and there: 2 Bewicks Swan, a lone Brent Goose, a few Scaup, Wigeon, Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser. A single Grey-tailed Tattler. A lot of Ospreys (non close).

On this day (May 28th)...........

28th May 2015.

An Atlantic Puffin.

2 years ago I was back in England and on a day trip to the Farne Islands. A great (and very easy) place for bird photography, there aren't many places like it in Japan. Teuri Island in Hokkaido may be the nearest offshore island with seabird colonies in Hokkaido but I've never been there. Not yet anyway.

It's over again............

Well the spring migration season for 2017 has just about run its course..............

Just the summer residents showing now on the river near my flat.

A pair of little brown birds.............

A Japanese Bush Warbler on the grasslands near Oshamanbe yesterday.............

A night away in late spring............

We spent Sunday night camping near Oshamanbe................

Some spring waders in the ricefields...........

We managed to find a small number of shorebirds in the padis.............

Some summer plumaged Divers...........

A very warm spring day saw us out west today..................

A Falcated Duck

A drake Falcated Duck was a nice find yesterday near my apartment...........

More Narcissism

Lots of Narcissus Flycatchers again on Monday....................

Another cold misty day in Onuma

Monday's weather was cold and misty again...............

A rainy morning in Onuma

It was raining heavily on Sunday....................

On this day (May 15th)...............

May 15th 2014.

An immature Hooded Crane near Oshamanbe 3 years ago today.

This was a nice find but was not such a big surprise: we'd seen one the previous autumn in Yakumo and presumably this was the same individual. It occurs in large flocks in the deep south of Japan but in Hokkaido it is a bit of a rarity...............

Ashy Minivet

Not a very good photo but it is a bird I've never photographed before. A female Ashy Minivet at Onuma today.............

This is scarce in Hokkaido but a fairly common summer visitor further south in Japan, Only the 3rd time I've seen one and just the 2nd one I've seen in Hokkaido.

After several weeks of very clear weather we had a nasty dark cold windy rainy day, it was bound to happen.

On this day (May 13th)..................

May 13th 2013.

A Grey Bunting in a local park 4 years ago today. This is a passage migrant locally but is generally skulking and confined to dark corners of quiet forests. It was great to see one out in the open and relatively tame too.

In mid May 2013 there was a truly great week or so when migrants were everywhere in town and this was the beginning. I don't know why but whatever the reason it hasn't happened again since.

2017: not a vintage spring migration season

It's been rather a quiet spring migration in Hakodate this year...................

Lords of the flies

Red-cheeked Starlings were feasting on flies earlier this week.....................

On this day (May 10th).................

May 10th 2013..................

A Black-winged Stilt in a local park 4 years ago today.

Not a rare bird as such in Hokkaido, I see them most springs these days but it was unusually tame and also very odd to see it in the park...........no water to speak of (or none shallow enough to wade in) and full of people looking at the cherry blossoms. It stayed about a week though................

On this day (May 9th)..................

May 9th 2012.

A Narcissus Flycatcher in one of the local parks 5 years ago today.

This is one of the most attractive of the local summer visitors and on this day I got it doing something interesting and with a nice background to boot..........................

They haven't visited the local parks much the last 2 or 3 springs (or maybe I just missed them), I haven't seen any in town this year at all.

Another lifer.................

It's a crap heavily cropped record shot but it shows a new bird for me: a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper this morning near Yakumo.

This species had evaded me for a long time, it's not especially rare in Japan but suitable habitat for this and several other freshwater waders is not so easy to find near Hakodate.

It was with a Black-winged Stilt, 2 Greenshank and a Wood Sandpiper. Before I could get closer they were scared off  by a Hobby.

Also around were Japanese Sparrowhawk, Great, Little and Intermediate Egrets, Grey-tailed Tattler, Asian Brown Flycatcher, White-fronted Goose, Narcissus Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Shoveler and the usual common stuff............

A quiet end to Golden Week

Golden Week 2017 has come to a quiet end..................

A Tattler

A Grey Tailed Tattler this afternoon...................but not much else of note at Kamiiso.

Still a bit slow migration-wise. 1 Eastern Crowned Warbler and 1 Wryneck only on the river.

Probably lots of migrants will pass through en masse next week when my work schedule is busy again.

On this day (May 5th).............................

May 5th 2011.

A Red-rumped Swallow near my place 6 years ago today.

This is the rarest of the 4 hirundine species to be found in Hokkaido and that morning I was surprised to see several of them over the local river. I've seen them a couple of times since but they remain a bit of a local rarity....................

Another failed early rise

I was up at 5am again this morning. Surely there would be some interesting migrants in the park?

Nope.

There was only a single Eastern Crowned Warbler on the river and a lone Japanese Bush Warbler in the park, an Osprey flew overhead briefly and there were still a few Dusky Thrush about. The wrynecks were still calling in the park but were high up in the trees, the one near my apartment was also calling but I couldn't see it.

Red-cheeked Starlings were everywhere though............and it was another beautiful warm spring day. Maybe we need some nasty weather to bring some new birds.............

Sakura

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom.............

Mayday

We were out west in beautiful spring weather yesterday...............

Caspian Tern

I had a very nice surprise the other day. A Caspian Tern showed up......................