
We slept in the car Sunday night so as to be in Oshamanbe early in the morning.
High high ISO here…

Helps if birds are white…

This (male?) White-tailed Eagle has been returning to the same spot in Yakumo for many years now…and he’s pretty tame too.
Not much else around in Yakumo on Friday: the most interesting species was harlequin Duck. We don’t normally see them here but there were at least 4 around including this first winter male upstream…
A rare melanistic Red Fox from last week…
Apart from geese there were lots of Japanese Crane and flocks of Buff-bellied Pipit in the fields.
Raptors included distant Merlin and Hen Harrier as well as several White-tailed Eagles (the latter are probably resident in the area).
The resident Slaty-backed and Black-tailed Gulls have been joined by some others. Lots of Vega Gulls last weekend as well as these 2.
There were also Whooper and Bewick’s Swans, various ducks, lots of Great Egret and this lone wader.
Upstream there were a few salmon (but not many: hope this just means they’re late) and the first eagle of the season. Crappy pic but always nice to see the first one.
A wet miserable White-tailed Eagle on a wet miserable Saturday afternoon near Mukawa.
Lathams’s Snipe habitats have been damaged by the absurd number of solar farms spring up all the time and replacing grassland.
Plus they’re difficult to perch on…see how this one slid all the way down.
This perch the next morning was slightly better…