A crappy record shot but only my 3rd ever sighting of Temminck’s Stint (and my first in breeding plumage). There were 2 of them at Yakumo. Other passage waders around the last couple of days included Wood Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Pacific Golden Plover and Whimbrel.
At the same place as the stints were a fishing osprey and a calling Wryneck…
A painful limp has kept me out of action for the last 2 weeks but I hobbled around the rivermouth at Kikonai long enough to snap this Osprey.
Lots of Black-throated Divers offshore, a couple of Slavonian Grebes but otherwise a bit quiet.
Just as the eagles leave the Ospreys arrive…
This one dived for a fish nearby but it was too big and it dropped it. Too far off for a pic sadly.
Quite a few Ospreys around now.
Only a few swans passing through:
I got my first Mandarin Duck of the year and other seasonal arrivals included Bull-headed Shrike, lots of Skylarks and Oriental Turtle Doves, groups of Eastern Buzzard on their way north, flocks of noisy Common Gull…
I just can’t escape geese: this lone straggling White-front was in parkland atop a cape!
The Ospreys have returned…not great pics it has to be said.
And near my apartment all the snow has gone…
Other birds around on Monday in the Esan area were Glaucous-winged Gull, Harlequin Duck, lots of Brent Goose and a lone White-tailed Eagle.
The Osprey was just about to leave Hokkaido for the winter and the Rook had presumably just arrived.
Bar-tailed Godwits are aptly named as you can see when they fly………….
Off the same beach, a couple of Ospreys were fishing……..
Someone has very kindly lent me his old 400 f5.6 lens and I tried it out at the weekend. I’d always wondered about this ‘classic’ old birding lens.
6 species of waders near Yakumo but the 400 wasn’t quite long enough for any decent shots.
But in this hot weather it was a relief not to be carrying one of the big whites.
And this Osprey was close enough at least……………
July is always a quiet month in south Hokkaido and for various reasons July 2021 has been even quieter than usual.
It’s been really really hot too. Last Sunday it was foggy in the morning which provided temporary relief. Not great for photos but juvenile Ospreys were practicing fishing and the first of the ‘autumn’ waders were passing through.
Pretty quiet the last few days. Ospreys are everywhere, I heard the first Lesser Cuckoo and White-bellied Green Pigeons of the summer, lots of Rhinoceros Auklets offshore too.
As we pulled into a beachside car park there were 2 Ospreys fishing inshore very close. I grabbed my camera and didn’t really have time to adjust the settings.
Not too bad but the shutter speed was too slow and I was in crop mode. If I had been waiting for a while in this spot I may have been ready. Next time, next time.
This Osprey really struggled to pluck this fish out of the water. I thought it was going to get dragged under. The action happened too far out for any photos but it flew back inland reasonably close.
