This miserable looking White-fronted Goose was standing in the pouring rain in a car park next to the beach this afternoon.
A wet tired goose
Category: Wildfowl
Very early
A very very dark Sunday with torrential rain but I did notice a flock of 15 White-fronted Geese in the fields outside town. Terrible photo but a bit of a surprise to find them. Very early for this species, a winter visitor, it was 32 degrees just 3 or 4 days ago!
A couple of lake birds
A couple of typical summer birds in Onuma………….
Mandarin Ducks are very wary at Onuma and difficult to approach.
Other stuff at Onuma the last few days included Latham’s Snipe, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Siberian Blue Robin, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Grasshopper Warblers, Japanese and Brown-headed Thrushes, Great Crested Grebe and Narcissus Flycatcher.
An unexpected day-off
Coronavirus has decimated my work schedule. This is not a good thing but I have some time off and fuel for the car is very cheap at least.
We were up in Oshamanbe. Not much around: the Dunlin flock hasn’t headed north yet and there was an injured Black Scoter in the same port.
At Yakumo there were still lots of ducks around including Falcated Duck. A flock of 17 Red-necked Stint were at the rivermouth and there were also Kentish Plover and the Eurasian Spoonbill was still present in the morning at least. I think I saw the same individual again later in Oshamanbe, high in the sky. When we passed Yakumo again later in the day it wasn’t there anyway.
Most interesting bird of the day was an Eastern Yellow Wagtail of the macronyx subspecies at Yakumo.
Spring moving
Not a vintage last few days for photos but a few interesting birds around at least: Black-winged Stilt, Green Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Kentish Plover, Shoveler, Gadwall, Great Egret, Pacific Swift, Wryneck, Red-flanked Bluetail, Red-cheeked Starling, Black-throated Diver, White-fronted Goose………..
Most interesting was this briefly seen Eurasian Spoonbill. Only the 5th one I’ve seen in Japan.
Some ducks passing through
Shovelers are a (slightly) scarce but regular passage migrant here so it was nice to find six of them at Onuma this afternoon.
LTD in Golden Light
A Long-tailed Duck from a couple of days ago…………….
Lesser White-fronted Goose
A lifer from this afternoon: 3 Lesser White-fronted Geese to the north of town.
There were lots of geese flying around. They all seemed to be Greater White-fronted Geese. I fired off some shots but got a bit bored (I was waiting in vain for a Lapwing, a scarce bird here, to come close). Then 3 flew right over me against a blue sky and I thought it might make a nice pic. Whilst waiting for the aforementioned Lapwing I checked the day’s photos so far and then I noticed the 3 yellow eye-rings and the 3 cute pink stubby bills.
More Falcated Duck shots
Some more flybys of the Falcated Duck in the local park from a couple of days ago. Is it still there I wonder?
The park had loads of birds that day actually: Crossbills, Hawfinch, Brambling, Japanese Pygmy and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Pochard, Nuthatch………..
A Falcated BIF
The Falcated Duck was a bit skittish………..
Falcated Duck
A drake Falcated Duck in the local park yesterday…….
The other grey goose
The thousands of White-fronted Geese at Onuma were very dramatic but there were also smaller groups of Bean Goose too.