This male Long-tailed Duck was coming into breeding plumage…
This Sanderling isn’t yet:
I was trying my hardest to get photos of this species. Stejneger’s Scoter, but they never seem to come close.
These were on the sea, not in the port and is a very heavy crop.
We went away for a week and just got back. These were some of the regular local winter birds we saw on the way there….
Never really seen them do this down here in SW Hokkaido. I guess they’re really hungry. Or maybe they do this every early morning in this spot and I’m never there to see it..?
On the way back some Sanderlings were in their usual spot too.
Waders are scarce in Hokkaido in winter but one port near Oshamambe has a small overwintering flock of Sanderling and another port has a small flock of Dunlin…
I stood on one of the harbour walls near Oshamanbe and there were lots of birds on the sea: Red-throated Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Black and Stejneger’s Scoters, 3 species of grebe…
And the flock of Sanderling that seems to overwinter in this spot did a nice fly-by.
A very quiet day locally on Sunday. Only Sanderlings to photograph.
The Sanderlings were very tame.
The Sanderlings were in the same place, which we visited right at the end of the trip.
Also around were a few Red-necked Stint, a lone Dunlin and Grey-tailed Tattler, a flock of Kentish Plover, a couple of Mongolian Plover and a Common Ringed Plover which despite its name is a scarce bird in Japan.
Most of the flock seemed to be adults in winter plumage, or already moulted juveniles but the above bird is in full juvenile regalia I think.
Last March, when I was checking a new location for me, I found a flock of Sanderlings, a bird I’d never seen in winter before. I guessed maybe they overwinter every year.
Today in the same place I found a flock of the same species. Have they returned for the winter?
After an extremely hot 3 weeks a typhoon hit south Hokkaido and temperatures dropped dramatically in the space of a couple of days. Weird weather…………
A few common waders were around and the only typhoon-blown birds was this flock of Red-necked Pharalope…………….
