I only saw 1 Bean Goose (Taiga I think) amongst the main flocks in Mukawa. There was a flock of them a few miles east but they were impossible to get close enough to photograph.
There were also quite a few swans. Not photogenic in the harsh spring sunshine. Mainly Whoopers but I found at least 1 Bewick’s.
The nearest I could get to a comparison shot:
I was surprised to see this lone Bean Goose in the same place I’d seen 3 Greater White-fronts last month…
A pretty quiet day, the local Steller’s flew around a bit but up high and it was not especially photogenic today.
Only female Harlequins in camera range again…
(Taiga?) Bean Geese were also common in Urahoro….
On the second say we couldn’t get near the Snow Geese…
They are very easy to pick out among the Grey Geese, as you can see here:
Greater White-fronted Geese are generally the most numerous species near Hakodate but this is not the case in Urahoro. Here are some adults and juveniles together.
We went to east Hokkaido last week but the birding was very very quiet. In Urahoro the first geese had arrived: small groups of (Taiga?) Bean and Cackling Geese mainly…………..with a few Pacific Golden Plover, a lone Ruff and several Japanese Crane keeping them company.
We were a tad early I guess. Lake Furen/Nemuro/Kiritappu were as pleasant as always but there really weren’t many birds around. Summer stuff gone, winter stuff barely arrived yet. Most interesting thing was a family of Sea Otters but they were too far away in the gloom for any decent photos.
(Taiga) Bean Geese were very numerous but seemed to be in random small groups rather than big flocks.
Its plumage matched the autumnal hues well.
As I said the second day with the geese saw much better weather.
The weather was much better the second day in Urahoro. At first the geese were in a different area from the day before. Except for a few Whooper Swan and Bean Geese. The long neck/bill and head shape seem to indicate Taiga Bean Goose.
But presently other species arrived including Cackling Geese. We had seen these flocks newly arrive around 4 weeks previously.
Snow Goose were the main target but there 3 other species including (Taiga) Bean Goose.
White birds are nice when it’s dark though……………
So Bean Goose has been split into 2 species: Taiga and Tundra Bean Goose. And they both appear to have eastern and western subspecies just to confuse matters even further. Until now I’ve just ticked them all as ‘Bean Goose’ and left it at that.
I’d assumed almost all ‘Bean’ Geese passing through Hokkaido were Taiga Bean Goose. They have longer bills. longer necks and a less rounded head than Tundra. I think.
So the top one I’m pretty sure is Taiga and I think these below may be Tundras.
On our way back from east Hokkaido we went through Urahoro and turned off the main road onto a quiet road for a ‘short cut’…………….
We noticed some Japanese Cranes in a field so we stopped to take a look.
Then we noticed lots of geese at the back of the field with more arriving all the time. Just White-fronts and Beans I thought. But no…………………
The thousands of White-fronted Geese at Onuma were very dramatic but there were also smaller groups of Bean Goose too.