Category: Raptors

Not so much snow on the ground but there were some flurries this afternoon…………..

Other stuff at Yakumo included Goshawk, Eastern Buzzard, Smew, Japanese Wagtail, Bohemian Waxwing and Great Egret.

Today may well be the last time I get up to Yakumo for the 2019/20 Eagle season. I probably won’t be up that way for another 3 or more weeks and judging by the already low numbers of eagles and the low food stocks they’ll all be gone by then.

A few ones will hang on and others will disperse locally of course.

A bit of a dark afternoon to finish with…………

Hardly any snow north of town, especially along the coast, although it was pretty cold. A bit of snow in this background at least.

This one was really close……….

I haven’t taken many shots of feeding Eagles this winter……….

There weren’t so many around at Yakumo but those that were had found a little food at least.

A lot of BIF shots this week, here are some non BIF Eagles.

Might be a week or two before I get back to Yakumo: I wonder how many eagles will be there next time? Not many I’d wager.

Tempers get frayed when there isn’t much food……..

The above Eagle took a fancy to a Grey Heron nest. I’ll probably never see a Steller’s Sea Eagle on a real nest so I’ll have to settle with this.

Looked nice when it landed though………

Upstream there were only a few eagles, the above young Steller’s was one of only about a dozen of what should be one of the hotspots in early January.

These next 2 were taken from another bridge just slightly upstream……..

Also upstream were more Whooper Swan and common ducks and a single Crested Kingfisher.

The Eagles at the river mouth at Yakumo were flying backwards and forwards as they searched for scraps………..

Actually, they have talons and a sharp beak: why don’t they hunt more often? The ones at Onuma hunt ducks. The Yakumo ones seem a tad lazier.