A typical early spring local arrival…
And in some years some of these. As you probably noticed.
Arrivals
Tag: Bull-headed Shrike
Golden Week 2023 #5
The neighbourhood has been pretty quiet birdwise in 2022 and 2023 and this Golden Week has been no exception. But some of the coommon species are worth taking time to appreciate…
Shrikes, even a common one like this, are still exotic in my eyes.
Some birds on wires
We were in the Mukawa area checking for geese. There were a few White-fronts around but too far off to photograph. A bit quiet birdwise to be honest. This Bull-headed Shrike is a typical sighting in this part of the world.
And the Tomakomai area is the only place in northern Japan to see Magpies.
Fizzled Out
Yesterday was a grey misty Sunday. The spring migration season has just about fizzled out: a bit of a quiet one this year.
Some muted birds on a somewhat muted day.
Other stuff around included Cattle Egret, Green Sandpiper, lots of Grey-tailed Tattlers, a small flock of Falcated Duck, Eastern Marsh Harrier and newly arrived Black-browed Reed Warblers.
Another one from the roadside
Another very common roadside bird of summer is Bull-headed Shrike.
The one above is a male.
The only other 2 Shrike species likely to be seen in Hokkaido are the rare Brown Shrike (which I’ve only ever seen twice, another summer visitor) and Great Grey Shrike, a rare winter visitor. I haven’t seen the latter although many years ago I did see a Shrike swoop in front of the car one January. Bull-headed Shrikes are almost absent in winter. Wish we’d stopped the car and checked that individual……..