East Hokkaido September Trip #8

Red-legged Kittiwake

A big typhoon hit east Hokkaido last week whilst we were there. It made us change our plans but on the day the typhoon hit I got messages that the typhoon had blown some pretty interesting seabirds into the port at Kiritappu (our original destination) so we braved the typhoon and headed down there…………….

Red-legged Kittiwake

2 birders, Neil and Richard, were already there and there were indeed lots of seabirds around. It was really windy, pretty dark and raining heavily.

Red-legged Kittiwakes are one of the most sought-after east Asian gulls and pretty soon one flew past and I got out of the car to brave the elements and managed to snap a few BIF record shots.

Red-legged Kittiwake