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………..
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……….
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………
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.
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.