The temperatures rose for a couple of days, the rains came and now we're living a slushy nightmare.................
We were able to visit one of the coastal grasslands to the east of Onuma on the trail of Snow Buntings. We saw those (more posts to follow) and we also saw 2 Lapland Buntings..............
This is a scarce winter visitor to snowbound windswept coasts, in the same habitat as Snow Buntings (and Pine Buntings also, which we didn't see today) . They are much harder to find than the easy to see Snow Buntings though................unlike their whiter relatives they stay hidden in the grass and don't seem to be so active.
At least this one posed for a photo..............
Lapland Longspurs here tend to flock with Horned Larks and Snow Buntings too, but their numbers are always quite low.
ReplyDeleteHorned Larks (Shorelarks) are pretty rare here: only ever seen one and that was 6 or 7 years ago...............
DeleteBeautiful bunting pictures. They really fit with the colours of the the grass and snow in which you photographed them. Also thanks for the advice on the owl at Rausu and for Hokkaido in general. Everything worked out and my friends were happy. I will publish a thank you when I post my eagle pics. Wish I could go there every year. Tired now and much recovering to do.
ReplyDeleteGlad it all worked out Russell and looking forward to seeing your pictures..........
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