It’s the time of year when Grebes appear in the ports. Black-necked Grebes are especially common in late winter/early spring.
The common one
Tag: Black-necked Grebe
Some more Grebes
In addition to the Slavonian Grebe there were also half a dozen Black-Neckeds and several Great Crested Grebes in the same port.
2 Port Birds
I took a quick look in one of the local ports this morning and it was pretty quiet. A lone Black-necked Grebe, a single Black Scoter and a flock of Common Gulls were the only noteworthy species……….
A familiar sight
The ports are beginning to fill up with birds……….
East of town there were 2 or 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe and small flocks of Wigeon and Scaup.
Black-necked Grebes are very common here in winter and most ports seem to have a few in them until early April.
Winter returnees
The first ‘winter’ visitors of the year appeared the last week. The above Black-necked Grebe was near Hakodate and the Glaucous-winged Gull below was at Yakumo.
Other stuff around in the last week included lots of Osprey, a single White-tailed Eagle at Yakumo, Great Egret…………
Waders included Red-necked Stint, Terek Sandpiper, Lesser Sand Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Greenshank and Eastern Curlew. No photos though.
Some spring Grebes
There were 7 Black-necked Grebes in one of the loacl ports this afternoon and some were well into their summer plumage……….
This is a common enough local species that I often photograph and they look great at this time of year. Also around were 2 Great-crested Grebe, 6 species of gull including Glaucous Gull and my first Little-ringed Plover of the year.