An autumn camping trip

We just got back from a 2 night camping trip..................


It was very autumnal and also pretty cold (minus 2 the first night). We camped at a lake near Tomakomai and once again visited a nearby park which has a small pool in the forest. It was very dark and these photos are a bit noisy and mushy due to high ISO and low shutter speeds.......

We usually come in late spring when there are more birds. There were still quite a few around however. the star of the show was the Japanese Robin (above) which appeared very very briefly.

Other species visiting the pool included Black-faced Bunting, Marsh and Great Tits as well as Red-flanked Bluetail.......................

Japanese White-eye...........

And Japanese Bush Warbler..............

We briefly visited Lake Utonai. There were small numbers of Bewicks Swan, flocks of White-fronted and Bean Geese and a lone White-tailed Eagle but nothing close enough to photograph.

The campsite had plenty of birds too. The most interesting were several Mugimaki Flycatchers............

They stayed high in the trees and it was also still dark...............

Other migrants around included Rustic Bunting, Olive-backed Pipit, a small flock of very scruffy Japanese Waxwing, lots of thrushes which were mainly Pale or Eye-browed (below)............

On the lake were Black-necked and Great-crested Grebes and in the forest there were many resident species around including Long-tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Grey-headed Woodpecker and lots of tits and nuthatches.......

Whooper Swan and growing numbers of Great Egret were at Yakumo and Oshamanbe................winter is coming.