The Night Heron had moved to another section of the river yesterday.
It moved
Tag: Black-crowned Night Heron
A local walk
This Night Heron was a nice find on the river near my apartment today.
I’d only been away for a few days and the amount of new greenery is astonishing.
No passage migrants (apart from a lone Dusky Thrush). Common birds only: Bull-headed Shrike, Asian House Martin, Masked Bunting and other even commoner stuff.
Another walk on the river…
Some more low-key birding around town…
There were 7 species of duck including a small flock of Pintail and a couple of Shoveler…and the long-staying Whooper Swan too.
And 3 species of heron…
This Slaty-backed Gull had found a salmon-like fish to try and eat. I think its’ a salmon but not sure. I think there are 2 or 3 kinds in Hokkaido.
More quiet days…
A pretty quiet time in town…
Autumn begins
A common sight in autumn: Black-crowned Night Herons hiding in the bushes next to the small river near my apartment.
Lots of Stonechat passing through on the same river. Also around recently have been Eurasian Teal, Northern Pintail, Masked Bunting, Grey Wagtail, Common Kingfisher, Hawfinch and Bull-headed Shrike….
Cool enough for a jacket today too.
Return of the Night Herons
The Night Herons are back at their usual late summer spot…………….
But I was concentrating on waders. The only place I could get near this Terek Sandpiper was literally the only shady place on the coast.
A quiet week in town
No car and my ongoing achilles issues meant not much birding this week: just a quick hobble along the river near my apartment. Most of the trees have gone so it isn’t that good for birds anymore. The above Night Heron was the only thing of note………….
Autumn sunshine
Beautiful clear autumn weather the last few days and a clear change in some of the bird species. Harlequin Duck and Glaucous-winged Gulls gave reappeared on the coasts.
A flock of Whooper Swan were flying south yesterday as were lots of Eurasian Jay. Lots of common ducks on the rivers and Great Egrets are becoming more numerous. Northern Goshawk and Daurian Redstart were other noteworthy species near Esan.
Hakodate is pretty quiet: a flock of Rustic Bunting were in one of the local parks today and There are still some Night Herons on the river.
And the Esan area always seems to have a Peregrine…………..
Only 3
I could only find 3 Night Herons on the local river yesterday.
They are quite good at hiding though.
A typical October sight
The river near my apartment is a good place to see Night Herons in autumn.
Usually they just sit still hidden in the long grass but when one flies they all fly………….
This Large-billed Crow took exception to one of the juveniles;
Some late afternoon Night Herons
There was a flock of 30 or so Black-crowned Night Herons at one of the local river mouths. They were all sitting around in a tree and I inadvertently disturbed them.
The more photogenic adults didn’t come as close…………….
Near my place there were a few migrants passing through last week: a Northern Hawk Cuckoo, several Asian Brown Flycatcher and a couple of Siberian Stonechat.
Another quiet week
Another quiet week just gone by.
At Yakumo today there were a couple of interesting waders: a Teminck’s Stint and a Green Sandpiper. I don’t have any decent shots of either and they were both so jumpy I couldn’t get any today either.
On the beach there were a few Sanderlings and the ubiquitous Red-necked Stints.
