Hakodate Birding

So this is the end: my last ever post on this blog. My new blog is here After almost exactly 12 years I've decided to wind up this blog. There are various reasons for doing this: one of th...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/the-last-post.html

Today was probably my last trip up to Yakumo this calendar year........... We were showing Mike and Carrie the eagles. They are visiting Japan from Hong Kong and Mike is a keen birder ...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/last-eagles-of-2018.html

A Great Egret on the river today, lost in contemplation in the snow......... Not much else around though. the Black-crowned Night Heron was cowering under a bush. No small birds anywhere ex...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/a-christmas-egret.html

December 26th 2010. A Ruff at Martinmere 8 years ago today. I was back in the UK for a christmas visit and arrived to find the whole country frozen. I've only seen this species 3 times in...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/on-this-day-december-26th.html

We spent Christmas Eve daytime up in Yakumo............. It was definitely white. It was a bit dark............. It was snowing most of the time b...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/some-christmas-eagles.html

A final batch of photos from the last year................. These are all from October onwards............ Some forest birds: Some waterbirds: ...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/2018-best-of-9.html

The year is almost over............. I took a quick walk along the river to see if the Great Egrets were still around. They weren't (today at least) but 2 of their relatives were. the above ...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/almost-over.html

A Slavonian Grebe just west of town this afternoon. Not much else about: a few Whooper Swans, the usual wildfowl including Black Scoter, Black-necked Grebe, Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/a-slav.html

After a lot of snow last week it was mild again today............. The eagles were pretty active at Yakumo. There seems to be plenty of food for them this winter................ ...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/mild-weather-returns.html

There were 2 Great Egrets on the river today................ And this immature Black-crowned Night Heron has chosen not to fly south with all the others.............. There have been qu...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/an-early-winter-friday-afternoon.html

Freezing temperatures and a big dump of snow in town this week. Not many birds though. The above Great Egret was still on the river but not much else.

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/2018-winding-down.html

A Marsh Tit at Onuma this afternoon. Another cold snowy day added to a hospital visit in the morning meant not much birding. Other stuff at Onuma included Smew and the usual wildfowl, White-t...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/an-icy-monday.html

Freezing temperatures, icy roads and blizzards hit Hakodate as winter belatedly showed its face.................. The above Whooper Swan was at Onuma. Not many birds around at all today: th...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/winter-2018-finally-arrives.html

One of the Great Egrets near my apartment yesterday. Not many birds about at all. A female Goosander and the usual sparrows and crows................ It has turned cold finally and snow flu...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/before-snow.html

The eagles are slowly getting more approachable. Though of course they still generally fly off.......... The weather was very nice on Monday allowing fast shutter speeds.......... These ar...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/some-eagle-bifs.html

It was very mild on Monday, warm in fact and we were up in Yakumo.......... There were plenty of eagles but a large group of them were tantalizingly out of reach round a curve in the river a...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/a-roadside-eagle.html

On Sunday we were in Onuma again................ The female Black Woodpecker was very active. I missed severak chances of it on the fround or low down but at least I got this sequence..........

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/another-black-woodpecker-post.html

The mild weather continued Sunday............ The ports were pretty quiet. East of Onuma we visited one and the only birds were a handful of Scaup, a lone drake Goldeneye and this Red-necked...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/quiet-ports.html

Some more pics from Onuma last Friday......... There are always lots of Tits and Nuthatches around........ They were foraging in the leaf litter after the overnight snow had mel...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/birds-in-litter.html

All 5 local Woodpecker species were present in Onuma yesterday............ It was a cool sunny morning but the birds were all pretty active although as always it was difficult to get a clear...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/12/all-five.html

November 29th 2015. A Ural Owl 3 years ago today in Onuma. This was taken with a full frame camera and I think it looks rather nice.............

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/11/on-this-day-november-29th.html

A Great Egret on the river near my apartment yesterday afternoon. There are several at this time of year.............. I can remember being excited by seeing egrets of any kind. The first o...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/11/an-afternoon-egret.html

The Eagles at Yakumo are still skittish and mostly distant but at least they looked nice in the autumnal light............ All the snow from the previous day had melted. It was ...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/11/autumnal-eagles.html

After freezing temperatures and snow a couple of days ago the weather became mild again............ This Peregrine was roadside near Oshamanbe............ A Crow chased it off and I was to...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/11/peregrine-on-mild-late-late-autumn-day.html

Up in Yakumo this morning it was very misty................ Although it looked very atmospheric it was difficult to even see eagles let alone photograph them. It was very quiet everywhe...

http://blog.hakodatebirding.com/2018/11/eagles-in-mist.html