Still crazily quiet birdwise. Deep snow everywhere…
I was hoping for some crossbills but all I got in the pinetrees was that big black and white chicken….and even that was not posing for photos yesterday.
Seriously quiet
Tag: Steller’s Sea Eagle
The local Steller’s #4
I wonder how many years this individual has been coming to this spot every winter?
I also wonder which windswept cape in the far northeast of Russia it goes to in summer. Is it half of a pair? If so where is its significant other? So many questions…
The local Steller’s #3
On its good side…
And flying towards me…
The local Steller’s #2
I noticed the Steller’s had dropped behind a sea wall and I snuck up and there it was…
It looks a bit grizzled. How old is it? I think it’s a male (it seems a bit small)…
This winter I’ve noticed its right eye is knacked.
The left eye looks normal enough.
What happened to its eye I wonder? Is the eagle equivalent of a cataract? Is it blind in that eye? Like I say I think this individual is probably quite old.
The local Steller’s #1
We were east of town today. It was snowing but not so cold. There is a spot where the same Steller’s Sea Eagle returns every winter. It was pretty active today, first speeding away in pursuit of something…
A quiet end to January
Not a Rough-legged sadly…
Heavy snow and very low temperatures have restricted my birding the last couple of weeks. Today we headed east where the snowfall is usually much less but even there it was piled high. Not a vintage day for photos.
A bit quiet birding wise. A flock of Japanese Waxwing flew over (with one pixel-peeped Bohemian) and the local Steller’s was around.
Amongst the Carrion and Large-billed Crows in the port I was surprised to see this first winter Rook. This is a winter visitor only here and is usually found in large skittish flocks in agricultural fields. Strange to see a lone one poking around in the fish scraps.
A grey Monday in January
A dark mild sleety day east of town today…
I was waiting for the Steller’s to leave its perch and do something interesting. It didn’t…
There were some other birds around. Lots of Goldeneye, the above Slav and various gulls including this Glaucous-winged.
A flyby
Not a vintage winter for the eagles but there’s still always the chance for a nice BIF or 2…
Bird of the day was a Rough-legged Buzzard (possibly 2 actually) but too far off for any photos. Hopefully there will be a bit of an influx of them…
The eagles will have to do for now.
Too far away…
Well this one wasn’t…
No eagles at all upstream at Yakumo but there were some some near the river mouth. And one of them actually got a salmon…
Just a bit far off for photos though.
First outing of 2023
Very heavy snow kept us indoors for the first 4 days of the year. It was snowing again this morning but we headed east where mysteriously everywhere was almost snowfree…
On this particular cape there were almost no birds except this Peregrine.
The local Steller’s flew by the port but I wasn’t really ready when it did.
Another dark eagle
Sometimes I forget to toggle crop mode on/off…
This individual flew right towards me but for some reason I was in crop mode and most of the really sharp photos cropped off most of its wings…
Very dark again: ISO 3200. Rarely go above 400 for BIFs.
Here it is in a tree a bit later when the light was better.
A noisy eagle BIF
Just after sunrise, ISO 3200…
