An actual rarity

Richard’s Pipit

A crappy heavily cropped pic but a lifer: a Richard’s Pipit today. A rare passage visitor to Hokkaido and a very nice find. Shame I couldn’t get close as it was so jumpy.

I got up late and was out in the harsh midday sun so terrible light for photos. Apart from the above pipit not much else around anyway…

Osprey
Siberian Meadow Bunting

Camera issues

Siberian Meadow Bunting

So my 7DM2 has seen better days. The main dial on top has broken and other bits are loose or stiff or falling off: but nothing major I thought. I could just about manage to get by using the dial on the grip and the Q screen for a few months but as July is generally a birding lull I sent it off to Canon expecting them to do some minor repairs for between $100 and $200.

I still have my 7D Mark 1 so these photos and the last post were taken with that 11-year-old antique. For perched birds at 700mm, it’s still OK .

It was lousy for BIFs with the T/C attached but otherwise didn’t seem so bad. This Osprey on the way home was in better light and without the T/C.

Osprey

When we got back Canon had been in touch. They want about $700 to fix the camera. The shutter count is so high apparently they want to replace the mirror and shutter as well as the other bits and pieces I had sent it in for. $700 to fix for a 6-year-old camera no longer in production? No way. Especially one as idiosyncratic as the 7DM2. We asked them how much it would be to just fix the top dial but they haven’t got back to me yet.

I’m not really in the position to buy a new camera for a while. The New Canon R bodies look very interesting but are way out of my price range at the moment. I guess the unrepaired 7DM2 will come back and I’ll use it until it dies but then what?

A couple of cape Buntings

Siberian Meadow Bunting

Both these Bunting species are summer visitors to Hokkaido. They occur in many habitats but both can often be found together on local capes and headlands.

Chestnut-eared Bunting

These were on a cape on the west coast today. Other stuff around included Osprey, Peregrine, lots of Rhinoceros Auklet offshore, Blue Rock Thrush, Oriental Reed Warbler and 3 species of Cuckoo calling including several Lesser Cuckoo.