Black Scoter

An unexpected day-off

May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Oshamanbe, Shorebirds, Wildfowl

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.

Some ducks in the gloom

February 24, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Oshamanbe, Wildfowl

Oshamanbe is the best place locally to see Long-tailed Ducks. This is quite a scarce bird down here and is worth the drive up there………

Lots of Stenjeger’s Scoter offshore but too far off for photos. Black Scoters do however often visit the ports.

The weather was a bit gloomy in the afternoon………..

2 Port Birds

February 12, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Hokuto, Wildfowl

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 broken dial

January 27, 2020January 28, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Oshamanbe, Raptors, Wildfowl

Not many Eagles at Yakumo anymore but Oshamanbe had a few.

These could have been great photos but this was pretty much the only part of the day when the sun went behind a cloud and my settings were all wrong. Not even my fault: the rubber ring on the top dial of my camera is too loose meaning sometimes it is impossible to quickly change things like ISO and shutter speed. So they were way underexposed and lifting the shadows too much is never good on a photo (especially on cameras with older Canon sensors).

The 7D M2 has 2 dials and I use a grip (where the main dial is fine) but……….still, annoying.

Just before the light was great too………

Some common birds in the harbour

January 13, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Gulls, Oshamanbe, Wildfowl

We were up north today checking one of the ports. The most interesting bird was a Black-throated Diver but it was too far away for a photo. There were the usual common ducks in the harbour though.

And a few gulls too.

March 11, 2019January 3, 2020 by Stuart Price, posted in Oshamanbe, Wildfowl

One of the most noticeable birds in late winter/early spring is Black Scoter. There are loads on the sea at this time of year and their eerie calls are very atmospheric. Sometimes they visit the local ports, like this male above.