Nice weather but very quiet birdwise…
This Red-necked Grebe was the only bird posing for photos.
Otherwise the ports were very quiet. A few raptors around of course; flyover White-tailed Eagles and a lone Mountain Hawk-Eagle being the pick. The regular Steller’s was around but was being very very lazy.
Dunno if I’ll be out this way for a while, will I see it gain this winter?
Another mild winter day and we spent a morning out east. Very quiet birdwise but the local Steller’s was pretty active…
Usually there are a few other species posing for photos but not today. So here’s a local ‘dirt bird’…
I was happy to see a pair of Mountain Hawk-Eagles in the port east of town. I didn’t see them at all last winter but they were around today. These pics are of the male.
Not a very good shot but this White-tailed Eagle completed the set…
We established the local(ish) Steller’s had cataracts last winter and I didn’t expect it to return this winter. But I was wrong!
You can see the gammy eye here…
In years gone by, my main focus at this time of year would be the eagles at Yakumo. But this the 3rd consecutive year with a very poor salmon run and the eagle numbers have dropped off a cliff…
At a rough guess there were only half a dozen around along the whole coast. Very sad.
Not often I get to use ISO 100 with the RF 600 f/11 but today was one of those rare days.
Crossbills and redpolls were still around but I couldn’t get any decent shots. The few that were around were a bit jumpy…
Reasonable numbers of both species of eagle at Yakumo at the moment but there really isn’t that much to eat for them…
And not opps for decent photos either.
The eagles are back at Yakumo. This one (I think it’s the same one) always occupies the same spot on the river and it’s difficult to get a clear shot of it as it’s usually obscured by twigs. Hence the nickname ‘Twiggy’.
There seemed to be about 20-30 eagles of both species but for the third winter running salmon numbers are very low. As this is their main food supply I don’t think they’ll stick around for long. This juvenile Steller’s was pitifully thin…
Twiggy did take a dump though; this photo is post-dump pose. Twiggy has eaten something recently at least.
Other interesting stuff around included Whooper Swan, Crested Kingfisher and Stejneger’s Scoter.
ISO 6400 for these!
Hakodate had its hottest every day last week but amazingly we had another cool Monday (the high temps will return later this week…again).
The above Kestrel at Yakumo was a nice find; not a bird I often see in Hokkaido.
The storms were pushing the waves right up the beaches so it was tricky to find waders; only 3 species around today. And terrible conditions once again for photos.
We hung around long enough to see the Osprey grab a (small) fish…
We stopped at Yakumo on the way back from our trip…
An Osprey was fishing just offshore.
Not great conditions for BIfs.
