A Bullfinch east of town today, one of a group of 4. Also around were lots of Crossbill but I could get nowhere near enough for any shots……………
A female
Category: Esan
Scruffy ones
The local Steller’s Sea Eagle sat in its tree all day out east and the Mountain Hawk-Eagle made a very distant fleeting appearance only.
Several rather scruffy White-tailed Eagles came a bit closer………….
Not much in the port: a few gulls, common ducks and this Black-necked Grebe.
First tick of 2021
Not a great photo but the first addition to my J-list of the year. A Long-eared Owl to the east of town this afternoon. It was very dark and late in the afternoon but the Owl stayed on the wire just about long enough for me to get the tripod out and fire off a few record shots. First time I’d seen this species since the mid 80’s near Preston………….
The local Steller’s Sea Eagle was around as were several White-tailed Eagle and the usual common ducks and gulls…………..
Quiet out east
A quiet Sunday east of town. 2 Steller’s Sea Eagles, 4 or 5 White-tailed Eagles, 1 Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Harlequin Duck, Great Egret, Common Crossbill, Whooper Swan, Buff-bellied Pipit, Brent Goose and a few common species like the above Nuthatch……………
And it was freezing cold again.
A few more of the Rosy Finch
One of my fave species……………
Empty ports
The ports were all very quiet: not much fishing activity so hardly any gulls. A couple of Black-necked Grebes, a few Goldeneye: that was about it.
A winter bird on a wintry day
Still really cold: this Asian Rosy Finch was at least posing for photos east of town.
This is a male and it was all alone. Well, it had about 10 Rustic Buntings for company.
I was wading through snowdrifts to get these photos……….
Bullfinches
A lot of small birds around to the east of town today including half a dozen Bullfinches. Other stuff included Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, Siskin and Crossbill.
Road Buntings
The Rustic Buntings were finding seeds that had blown onto the road………..
I usually see this species on spring/autumn passage only but yesterday in Esan there were several small groups of them…………
Some more Rustics
The Rustic Buntings were in the same spot yesterday………….
Not the most exciting bird in the world but a species I don’t photograph so often.
Some other Eagles
Out east is a good place to see Mountain Hawk-Eagles and there were 3 of them: 2 adults and 1 juvenile (above).
There were also at least 7 White-tailed Eagles around too. Not as tame or as photogenic as Yakumo………….
The road was absolutely horrible: it’s really wintry here at the moment.
A freezing start to 2021
A very cold icy start to the year saw us heading east. A few small birds were around including Asian Rosy Finch and 3 Rustic Bunting.
Usually in this area there are lots of Black-legged Kittiwakes at this time of year but not this winter. Gulls were surprisingly thin on the ground: a few Glaucous-winged and this lone Common Gull being the only vaguely interesting ones.
Other stuff around included Pelagic Cormorant, Brent Goose, Harlequin Duck, Peregrine, Red-breasted Merganser and Eastern Buzzard.