Monday saw record breaking temperatures further south in Japan (the hottest day ever in Japan, the hottest day ever in Tokyo) but surprisingly it wasn't so hot near Hakodate...............
I don't know why we were spared (and no doubt the hot weather will hit us soon) but anyway I could go out and do some light birding.
We found a family of 5 Crested Kingfishers..................
This is a very jumpy species and all these are heavy crops (although they did occasionally come close).
The Scoter was still around on Sunday. Its right wing was badly damaged and it didn't look great............
This is usually only a winter visitor to Japan and is usually present well offshore out of camera range. Shane the only time I can get fairly close to one it's injured.
Actually this should probably be called a Stenjegers Scoter (a recent split from White-winged which in turn was split from Velvet Scoter). I checked online for the ID and found this page. I thought one of the photos looked familiar and indeed it was one of mine (not a good one it has to be said). I got paid for it even. Several years ago now and I'd totally forgotten about it.
Most surprising bird of the weekend was a White-tailed Eagle near Kamiiso (the first one I've ever seen in summer near Hakodate). Oher stuff around included Osprey, Red-breasted Merganser, Tufted Duck, Grey Wagtail, Japanese Thrush, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Kentish and Little-ringed Plovers, Common Sandpiper, Blue Rock thrush and Japanese Green Pigeon.
Here's one of the latter.
This may be my last post for a while. On Tuesday I did something to my back and can now barely put my socks on by myself (as well as being unable to do many other menial tasks) and I've also just taken my 500mm lens in to be fixed (it has a problem with autofocus freezing when teleconverters are attached) so i'll be without that for a few weeks probably..................
Crested Kingfisher looks my sort of bird. Your temperatures and pictures are on the news. And vice versa I guess. 35 degrees in Preston on Friday!!!
ReplyDeleteYou can't escape the heat anywhere these days...........
DeleteSorry to hear about your back and lens, Stu. Good Luck with those...
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the Crested KFs - all the shots are the juveniles (I'm guessing) their bills are just not quite the full length yet ?
Well Canon should fix the lens and hopefully a week of not doing much will fix the back.
DeleteI think you're right: the parents were flying back and forth whilst the 3 youngsters sat around and posed for the camera.
Crested Kingfishers are nice birds and quite striking framed by the dark greens of summer. I've found them on the edges in Niigata too, but years ago and I couldn't get much of of shot at them. The warblers have faded away here and other bird families have fledged and departed. I'm not so enthusiastic to go out looking for anything in the heat.
ReplyDeleteNot quite as hot here vut the heat and my knackered back will keep me quiet for a while............
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