There’s a reason gulls hang around fishing ports
2021 Late Winter Trip #12
Tag: Glaucous Gull
2021 Late Winter Trip #4
3 of the common winter gull species of Hokkaido, all sitting on the port wall in Mukawa.
Quiet November continues
There was a flock of 9 Snow Goose at Onuma last weekend. There was even a snowy background…………
Otherwise a quiet weekend: Japanese Waxwing and Rook at Onuma and the usual early winter at Yakumo.
Eagle season begins
The first eagle photo of any winter is always nice to have even if the photos in early to mid November are rarely any good. There were about 40 or so eagles of both species upstream at Yakumo but all high in the sky or on inaccessible stretches of the river.
A lot of common stuff around but nothing spectacular. Not a vintage day for photos either.
Milky-whites
Glaucous Gulls are very common at this time of year and often hang around in the ports and on the beaches.
BIF shots are tricky as they only fly off if you get quite close and at that distance 500mm is often too much reach.
Difficult to get a clean background sometimes too.
An angry Gull
Lots of Glaucous Gulls at this time of year. Why do they always look so angry?
Ghosts on the beaches
There are lots of Glaucous Gulls on the beaches at this time of year, the above one was at Oshamanbe last Monday.
Some Gulls
The Scallop boats were busy in the harbours and there were a lot of Gulls waiting for handouts………..
Some common birds in the harbour
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.
Milky White
Thanks to Mike Kilburn for explaining to me the meaning of the word ‘Glaucous’……
The White Gull
In a classic example of calling a spade a spade the Japanese name of Glaucous Gull, シロカモメ, means ‘White Gull’. What the hell does ‘glaucous’ mean anyway?
Glaucous Gull
A Glaucous Gull at Oshamanbe this sfternoon. It was a grey snowy day, not great for birding or bird photography. This species is one of my favourites as it is so evocative of northern latitudes and frozen places.
Other stuff around included Steller’s and White-tailed Eagles, White-winged and Black Scoter, Dunlin, Red-necked Grebe and Black-throated Diver.