10 June 2017

A couple of common summer visitors


Summer can be a slightly quiet season birdingwise in south Hokkaido................






When I was waiting in vain for the Ospreys to do something interesting the other day I turned my attention to a pair of Siberian Stonechats who must have had a nest nearby.............

This is the male.



And this is the female.



It's an abundant summer visitor, I can't believe how common they are compared to Stonechats back in the UK.








And here is another common summer visitor, a Bull-headed Shrike:




I hadn't seen many shrikes before I came to Japan. In Europe i've only ever seen 2 individuals:  Woodchat Shrike in Majorca was my first (almost 30 years ago) and a Great Grey Shrike in Rufford a few years later. I saw more in my travels through Asia in my late 20's but I didn't have fieldguides or notebooks so couldn't ID them.

Only 1 common species in Japan.....but they sure are common.

6 comments:

  1. Nice job Stu. Well as you know, shrikes are pretty scarce here but Stonechats are very up and down.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Phil. Actually I can't recall ever seeing any Stonechats near Preston...........

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  2. Bull-headed Shrikes are pretty fine birds to have around - the Stonechats are handsome too. Only winter visitors down here...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They may be the same ones for all we know........

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  3. Shrikes are a wonderful family. I have been fortunate to have seen and identified 20 species throughout the world. We have only two species here in Ontario.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have 3 species in Hokkaido, 2 of them are very scarce though........

      Delete

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