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.
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…………..
Some White-tailed Eagles from a few miles outside town this morning………………
There were 4 of them on a river west of town.
Also around were Japanese Wagtail, Great Egret, Sparrowhawk, Whooper Swan, Brambling and Long-tailed Rosefinch. On the sea there were hundreds of Great Crested Grebe and thousands of Common Gull………….
A few interesting birds in town today. The above Great Egret was fishing in the river and there were was also a flock of Japanese Waxwing around.
Lots of Dusky Thrush too. All these passerines attracted this male Goshawk.
Hardly any Eagles in Yakumo: this roadside Steller’s was near Oshamanbe.
Other stuff around included Japanese Waxwing, Common Crossbill and Peregrine. A very quiet (and cold) Monday all in all.
Not many Eagles at all at Yakumo today. Barely 20 or so. In recent years the eagle season has been shortening (possibly due to decline in the salmon runs) but we’re not even in the middle of January yet.
This one was a nice flyby but there really weren’t many of them around at all.
Still bitterly cold and loads and loads of snow. Not much else around: Smew and Japanese Waxwing were the most interesting.
Maybe they were hunkered down somewhere waiting for milder weather…………
Snowing again today…………………
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.
Even when the birding is slow there are still the local Steller’s Sea Eagles at Yakumo.
I never get tired of the eagles: this is my 20th winter with them.
Some White-tailed Eagles from Yakumo: the first two are immatures.
And this is an adult:
We stayed in Yakumo one night but the weather wasn’t so good. Not vintage photos………….
The light on Monday was not quite good enough for BIFs………….
