There were 4 Asian Rosy Finch east of town today………..
One of my favourite winter visitors.
A bit of colour on a grey day
Category: Esan
A grey day out east
We were east of town today under heavy grey skies. Not great for bird photos but there were lots of interesting birds around. 4 species of goose (a record for me in Japan!): in among the many skeins of White-fronted and Bean Goose heading north I found 3 Cackling Goose. There were also Brent Geese flocks feeding along the coast.
Lots of Common Crossbill around as well as White-tailed, Steller’s Sea and Mountain Hawk-Eagles (only singles of the latter 2), Harlequin Duck, Black-necked Grebe, Glaucous-winged Gull, Red-breasted Merganser and Asian Rosy Finch.
Shame about the dark gloomy skies.
While I was waiting
There were quite a few birds in the port whilst I was waiting in vain for the Steller’s Sea Eagle to move…….
Red-breasted Merganser, Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Black-necked Grebe, Pelagic Cormorant and Glaucous-winged Gull to be exact.
Back!
There was a flock of 7 Asian Rosy Finch east of town today but they flew off before I could get a decent picture.
The local Steller’s Sea Eagle has returned there…………….
Annoyingly it stayed high up on the hillside and didn’t do anything all afternoon.
Several White-tailed Eagles and 2 Mountain Hawk-Eagles were around as well.
A break from Waxwings
I headed up to Yakumo yesterday and was amazed to find virtually no Eagles. Only about 6 or so, they’ve eaten all the Salmon they could find and have gone. I was very surprised: in the 19 or so winters I’ve been going up there, this is by far the earliest they’ve dispersed.
Not much else around there either. On the way back one of the ports at least had a few common birds like the above Harlequin and this Great Crested Grebe.
Today we went east of town to the Hawk-Eagle spot and there were 2 of them. This is an immature.
Other stuff around included White-tailed Eagle, Black-legged Kittiwake, Black-necked grebe and Peregrine.
The Waxwings were still in town this morning and I saw some in Yakumo and Esan this weekend too.
2019 Over
Another year almost over.
East of town one of the ports was full of Kittiwakes.
000’s of them but no Red-leggeds sadly.
The same influx happened 2 years ago at the same place.
Not much else around: White-tailed Eagle, Harlequin Duck, Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-necked Grebe……….