A morning on a campsite #1

Great Spotted Woodpecker

We had a night on a campsite last night…

After being serenaded by Jungle Nightjars all night (including a brief glimpse in the twilight) we were up at sunrise and there were lots of birds: a flyover White-tailed Eagle and Osprey, Japanese Green Pigeon, Brown Dipper, Grey Wagtail, several species of thrush…

Brown-headed Thrush

…and several species of woodpecker…

Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker

Breeding season in full swing as you can see.

A rainy end to a week-off

Great Spotted Woodpecker

I’ve just had 8 days off in what is usually the best birding time of the year. The last day, today, was very dark and rainy. All shots are with high ISOs and low shutter speeds.

2020 wasn’t a vintage year birds in for Golden Week: let’s hope things improve as May progresses.

This afternoon we were on one of the capes east of town. As well as the resident woodpeckers there were a few migrants around including this bedraggled looking Siberian Rubythroat. Not a great photo but one of my 2 favourite passerine species.

Siberian Rubythroat

I photograph this species every summer on its breeding grounds in north Hokkaido. Will I be able to get up there this summer with all this Covid19 chaos? This might be the only shot I get in 2020.

My other favourite passerine species is Common Crossbill and there were 3 of them at the cape too. Not often I see both species on the same day in the same place. In fact maybe today was a first in that regard.

Common Crossbill

Again, a lousy photo after the glut of Crossbills I had earlier this year. But this species occurs very erratically so I don’t know when the next shot will be.

Back to normal

Great Spotted Woodpecker

A Great Spotted Woodpecker in the local park earlier this week.

Not much abut in town: Red-flanked Bluetail, a few Dusky Thrush, some Asian House Martin.

Well I say there’s not much about but some people saw 2 Oriental White Storks a few days ago somewhere in town. It was even in the local newspaper. I haven’t had the chance to look for them and no doubt they’ve gone now.