The coast is suddenly full of juvenile Ospreys practising their diving techniques. The light was awful but I had a pleasant couple of hours watching them fail to land any fish……..
At least I got some nice angles…….
Other stuff around included a small flock of Red-necked Pharalope at Shikabe, a stray Pochard and Goldeneye at Kamiiso but not much else of any interest. From mid July birding does tend to grind to a halt.
An Osprey west of town last week. Lots of them around the coast now including many fledged juveniles……….
Not much else around. a couple of Black-crowned Night Herons, a flyover Peregrine and a juvenile Grey Wagtail were on the river near my aprtment last week but otherwise very quiet indeed.
One of the few breeding wader species near Hakodate is Kentish Plover. They nest on some of the local beaches and around now the eggs are hatching.
Not much around last weekend: a couple of stray Goldeneye, Osprey, Goosander. Near my apartment the Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler has stopped singing (I guess a lone male that has given up and moved elsewhere) but a Black-browed Reed Warbler continues trilling away and the bushes are full of the sounds of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings feeding their fledglings.
It’s been a very very dry settled May which has meant lots of nice fine days but it’s been pretty poor for birding.
Migration season is just about over and a very slow one it was too. Today near town there were 2 Grey-tailed Tattler, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 5 Goosander. There were several Ospreys fishing ofshore along the coast and at Kikonai there was a lone Whooper Swan as well as my first Common Cuckoo of the year.
An Osprey at Kikonai yesterday. Not much around: Pacific Swift, Common Sandpiper, Black-throated Diver and Great Egret being the most interesting. Inland the first Eastern-crowned Warbler of the year and a few common species were present but that’s all.
Nearer Hakodate there were a few ducks still around including Pintail, Shoveler, Scaup and Wigeon as well as Great-crested Grebe offshore. 5 species of gull included summer plumaged Black-headed………..
There were also 11 Brent Geese………….
Beautiful spring weather as you can see but when the weather is so clear migrants just pass straight through.
In Yakumo/Oshamanbe yesterday there were 40 or so White-fronted Geese, Great and Little Egret, a dozen or so species of duck including at least 8 Garganey, Eastern Marsh Harrier, osprey, Buff-bellied Pipit, Little-ringed Plover, a lone Whimbrel, and 7 species of gull.