There were huge numbers of Bewick’s Swans near Onuma, in addition to the huger numbers of White-fronted Geese.
This is only a passage visitor to Hokkaido. Whooper Swans are common here in winter (and there were plenty of those around too ) but Bewick7s are always worth a second look in Hokkaido.
Some more pics of the North American race of Tundra Swan from the other day at Onuma.
The geese were in the middle of a big field so BIF shots only………..
A few did fly by reasonably close………..
I don’t know why there are so many geese this year. I’ve seen huge numbers in the skies above town the last week or two. And the numbers in Onuma yesterday were unprecedented………..
This is the commonest goose in Japan. I see quite a few very year but 2020 is a bumper year for them.
There were absolutely loads of geese in the ricefields near Onuma on Sunday. Several thousand White-fronted Geese……….
There were a few Bean Geese among them and 4 Cackling Geese too.
Never seen this many geese since the last time I went to Martinmere in winter many years ago.
Oops. I thought I’d found a real rarity today at Onuma. This black-billed Swan was one of many Swans at Onuma today. I thought, wow……………….it’s a Trumpeter Swan. I even told some people there about it. And then I came home and double-checked the ID.
Oh no. It’s the North American race of Bewick’s Swan, sometimes called Whistling Swan. Cygnus columbianus columbianus. In my defence, I have no experience of this subspecies.
So if you are one of those Japanese birders I talked to today about the ナキハクチョウ all I can say is sorry I made a mistake. It is a アメリカコハクチョウ. Still interesting but not as interesting as I’d thought.
Oh the shame.
ナキハクチョウ じゃないです!!!
アメリカコハクチョウです
The ricefields near Onuma had some visitors stopping by on their way north……..
Bean and White-fronted Geese, Bewick’s and Whooper Swans……….
Terrible day for photos but some interesting species around: Smew, Grey-headed Woodpecker, White-tailed and Steller’s Sea Eagles as well as the usual common stuff.
Not good photos but there has been a small flock of about 20 Snow Geese near Onuma the last week or so. I got to see them this morning.
Dodgy light and I only had a short window of time but I managed to find them and fire off a few record shots in the gloomy early morning conditions.
This is a species that occurs on passage further north and east in Hokkaido but is pretty rare down here. It was a welcome addition to my Japanese list although I had seen one before in the UK: in Pilling about 32 years ago………..
Flocks of Whooper Swan were at Yakumo and Onuma and the first Eagles of the season (7 or 8 White-tailed Eagles) were at the former site.
Otherwise rather quiet: Mountain Hawk Eagle and 8 species of gull were at Yakumo and there was a large flock of Black-necked Grebe at Onuma as well as common woodland species such as the above Nuthatch.
Winter is just around the corner…………..
Lots of Varied Tits around today, the above one was at Onuma. They are starting to come down from the hills……………..
A female and male Narcissus Flycatcher this morning at Onuma. Lots of summer visitors around today: Eastern-crowned Warbler, Asian Brown and Blue and white Flycatchers, Oriental Cuckoo, Japanese Thrush, Oriental Reed Warbler etc………
There were lots of Swans at Onuma this last couple of days. Mainly Whoopers but also quite a few Bewick’s too…………
Both species are passing through now although Whoopers are also common winter visitors to Hokkaido.