I checked one of the local beaches this afternoon to see if there were any interesting gulls, or perhaps a tern. Nothing doing there but I was very surprised to find this adult Snow Goose among the Slaty-backed and Black-tailed Gulls.
A scarce and local passage visitor to Hokkaido (usually in the east): I saw a small flock in Onuma last year and this was only the second time I’d seen this species in Japan.
Not good photos but there has been a small flock of about 20 Snow Geese near Onuma the last week or so. I got to see them this morning.
Dodgy light and I only had a short window of time but I managed to find them and fire off a few record shots in the gloomy early morning conditions.
This is a species that occurs on passage further north and east in Hokkaido but is pretty rare down here. It was a welcome addition to my Japanese list although I had seen one before in the UK: in Pilling about 32 years ago………..
