Not great photos but an interesting scene. These 3 baby Ospreys must have been born very very recently. With the harsh light, strong wind and heat haze it’s almost impossible to get sharp clear shots.
Several pairs of Black-tailed Gull nest on the same rock and things went crazy when a Peregrine swooped in and grabbed a nestling. With my 2X T/C on and everything on a tripod it all happened too quickly to get any photos.
So my 7DM2 has seen better days. The main dial on top has broken and other bits are loose or stiff or falling off: but nothing major I thought. I could just about manage to get by using the dial on the grip and the Q screen for a few months but as July is generally a birding lull I sent it off to Canon expecting them to do some minor repairs for between $100 and $200.
I still have my 7D Mark 1 so these photos and the last post were taken with that 11-year-old antique. For perched birds at 700mm, it’s still OK .
It was lousy for BIFs with the T/C attached but otherwise didn’t seem so bad. This Osprey on the way home was in better light and without the T/C.
When we got back Canon had been in touch. They want about $700 to fix the camera. The shutter count is so high apparently they want to replace the mirror and shutter as well as the other bits and pieces I had sent it in for. $700 to fix for a 6-year-old camera no longer in production? No way. Especially one as idiosyncratic as the 7DM2. We asked them how much it would be to just fix the top dial but they haven’t got back to me yet.
I’m not really in the position to buy a new camera for a while. The New Canon R bodies look very interesting but are way out of my price range at the moment. I guess the unrepaired 7DM2 will come back and I’ll use it until it dies but then what?
The Osprey family on the west coast is doing well. 3 juveniles, all of them flying around a bit. the female (above and below) was getting harassed by the local Black-tailed Gulls.
Every so often the male dropped by with a fish…………..
Midsummer has arrived. Birding is a little slow but the common birds are all still singing at least.
An overcast humid day saw us on the western coast. Among the more interesting stuff around was Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Peregrine, Osprey, Intermediate Egret, Rhinoceros Auklet, Great Crested Grebe, Japanese Green Pigeon and the usual common birds like this Siberian Meadow Bunting.
Both these Bunting species are summer visitors to Hokkaido. They occur in many habitats but both can often be found together on local capes and headlands.
These were on a cape on the west coast today. Other stuff around included Osprey, Peregrine, lots of Rhinoceros Auklet offshore, Blue Rock Thrush, Oriental Reed Warbler and 3 species of Cuckoo calling including several Lesser Cuckoo.
Oriental Reed Warblers are common summer visitors. There used to be 9 or 10 singing males on the river near my aprtment but I’ve only heard 2 this year (and they seem to have disappeared): more victims of the City tree felling policy I assume.
This bird was on the west coast today.
The Ospreys are doing well. We saw them at many sites today…………….
2 youngsters were in the nest on the west coast and there seemed to be a couple of juvenile birds flying near Hakodate.
Other species around today included Wryneck and Lesser Cuckoo. A Black-headed Gull and female Goldeneye were near Hakodate, the last stragglers of winter.