Heard one of these was in Southport recently!
Not quite so rare in Hokkaido but still a pretty uncommon spring overshoot.
Golden Week 2022 #29
Category: Kikonai
Golden Week 2022 #27
The Black-winged Stilt from 2 days ago was still around and today I could get a better angle to shoot with…
Golden Week 2022 #24
An odd-looking bird!
Golden Week 2022 #23
This Black-winged Stilt was west of town yesterday. Not a great angle (I was looking down from a riverbank) but this species is always worth a second look in Hokkaido.
This Grey-tailed Tattler was feeding in the same area…
Gammy leg
A painful limp has kept me out of action for the last 2 weeks but I hobbled around the rivermouth at Kikonai long enough to snap this Osprey.
Lots of Black-throated Divers offshore, a couple of Slavonian Grebes but otherwise a bit quiet.
An arrival and a leaver
The Osprey was just about to leave Hokkaido for the winter and the Rook had presumably just arrived.
Quiet time again
Pretty quiet the last few days. Ospreys are everywhere, I heard the first Lesser Cuckoo and White-bellied Green Pigeons of the summer, lots of Rhinoceros Auklets offshore too.
Too late
As we pulled into a beachside car park there were 2 Ospreys fishing inshore very close. I grabbed my camera and didn’t really have time to adjust the settings.
Not too bad but the shutter speed was too slow and I was in crop mode. If I had been waiting for a while in this spot I may have been ready. Next time, next time.
A big one
This Osprey really struggled to pluck this fish out of the water. I thought it was going to get dragged under. The action happened too far out for any photos but it flew back inland reasonably close.
Locally quiet
Had a quick drive west of town 3 days ago: not much around. A fishing Osprey, thousands of Common Gull and a flock of Rooks were the most noteworthy stuff……………
A grey Friday out west
Very dark yesterday so crap for photos but a few interesting birds around: various grebes including a couple of hundred Great Cresteds, several Black-throated Diver, a lone White-tailed Eagle, lots of Brent Geese and huge numbers of Common Gull.
And my first Osprey of the year too.
#300
A crap photo but quite a scarce bird in north Japan and the 300th species I’ve seen in Hokkaido.
A Chinese Pond Heron west of town today. It flew off and disappeared into the trees before I could get a decent shot.
Not much else around: lots of Osprey fishing off the coast, a couple of stray Great Scaup, flocks of Japanese Green Pigeon etc.
Large numbers of Black-tailed Gulls were hunting flying ants everywhere.
