
There were several Siberian Rubythroat singing (shame about the lighting) and as you can see this was one was ringed.
The Brown Shrikes didn’t come close again but the Wrynecks were some compensation.


We spent one night in the car near Tomakomai. The car park, next to a busy-ish road, was adjacent to some grassland. There were lots of birds around in the early morning including several Siberian Rubythroat.
The Tomakomai area must be right on the southern limit of this species range in Japan (they don’t breed near Hakodate).
This one was singing on an old electrical wire next to a railway line.
Not a vintage day for photos but there were plenty of the common summer visitors in the park at least.
The Siberian Rubythroat from last week was surprisingly still around. Assuming it’s the same one of course………
Other stuff around included Eastern Crowned Warbler, Blue-and-white Flycatcher, Japanese, Dusky and Brown-headed Thrushes, Hawfinch, Wryneck and Green Sandpiper.
We went to the west coast later: it was very windy and not many birds around although I got my first Eyebrowed Thrush, Terek Sandpiper and Rhinoceros Auklet of the year.