There was also a big flock of 60 or so Bohemian Waxwing (no photos)…as well as 6 species of duck, Whooper Swan, 7 Great Egret, a dozen or so Grey Heron, lots of tits and nuthatches…
But no White-wingeds in the flock again today (or at least I couldn’t find it).
There was a big flock of 40 or so redpolls with the crossbills today…
They’re still in town…
The crossbills were too high up but there was also a flock of Hawfinch.
And lots of Nuthatch. These have been unusually common this autumn/early winter. Some are a bit more reddish below, perhaps another subspecies? Who knows…
And on a mild day the ice receded and this Great Egret was fishing for tiddlers.
There was a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the local park yesterday…
These first 2 shots are the male, the bottom one is the female.
A dark day yesterday and a check of some of the local spots…
Some Redpolls around here too…
Occasionally they posed with nice backgrounds…
Reasonable numbers of both species of eagle at Yakumo at the moment but there really isn’t that much to eat for them…
And not opps for decent photos either.
A lot of busy backgrounds in the port…
Or grey skies…
There was a flock of 40 or Redpolls up north yesterday…
Like the crossbills, this is another invader this early winter…
A couple of common woodpecker species near my place this afternoon…
No crossbills near my apartment the last week. Have they gone?
The eagles are back at Yakumo. This one (I think it’s the same one) always occupies the same spot on the river and it’s difficult to get a clear shot of it as it’s usually obscured by twigs. Hence the nickname ‘Twiggy’.
There seemed to be about 20-30 eagles of both species but for the third winter running salmon numbers are very low. As this is their main food supply I don’t think they’ll stick around for long. This juvenile Steller’s was pitifully thin…
Twiggy did take a dump though; this photo is post-dump pose. Twiggy has eaten something recently at least.
Other interesting stuff around included Whooper Swan, Crested Kingfisher and Stejneger’s Scoter.