Japan 2015 day seven: cranes and eagles on Christmas Day

25 December 2015

An early flight from Tokyo saw us arrive at Kushiro airport by mid-morning and, with a few hours to kill before the daily feed was scheduled to take place at Akan Crane Centre, we decided to make the short journey in to Kushiro to explore the port area for gulls.

Although there wasn't much snow on the ground the skies were grey and the temperature hovering just below freezing, and it was no real surprise when it began to snow a short while after our arrival - my first truly 'white' Christmas!

Kushiro harbour was busy despite the date, with plenty of trawler activity attracting hundreds of gulls. Quickly we found our first Kamchatka Gulls of the trip off the main pier, with birds of all ages performing well for the camera as they came in for our bread and popcorn handouts.

Adult Kamchatka Gull

Rather unlike Kyushu, Slaty-backed Gull was by far the commonest species. Among the hundreds gathered were a few tens of Glaucous-winged Gull and about five Glaucous Gulls, with all three species looking particularly striking and imperious as the snow fell. Over the next hour or two we happily papped away in what was a great session for photography - despite the minor issues with auto focus caused by falling snow!

 Slaty-backed Gull appreciating our offerings

Slaty-backs chasing a dumpster truck out of Kushiro harbour in the snow

A couple of Black Scoter were seen distantly but the commonest duck in the harbour was Greater Scaup though there were a few Harlequin Ducks and Goldeneye present and about 10 Goosanders at the nearby river mouth. Our first Hokkaido eagle - 'just' a White-tailed - landed on the outer breakwater.

Female Greater Scaup

With time pressing we decided to head inland (via a food stop at 7-11; these convenience stores proved staple to our daily diet) to Akan. On arrival around 70 Red-crowned Cranes were showing very well from the viewpoint. By early afternoon the skies had cleared and the cranes looked simply stunning against the blue skies and snowy backdrop, even if the experience did feel a little dudey. Generally peaceful in their antics, scuffles and display would occasionally break out among the gathered birds.

At 14:00 the feed began and a bucket load of fish was thrown out. Within seconds up to five White-tailed Eagles appeared from nowhere, swooping down to grab the offerings and giving absolutely outrageous views as they did so. The cranes acted quite aggressively towards the eagles as a peaceful scene became utter mayhem in the space of seconds. The eagles, evidently wary of the cranes' flying limbs, rarely paused to enjoy their meals and soon flew off to the safety of nearby trees. This spectacle was over in little more than ten minutes, and serenity soon returned.

We enjoyed the delights of Akan for the rest of the afternoon, focusing almost entirely on photographing the cranes as well as we could. The light changed quite frequently as banks of cloud rolled over and mist occasionally began to rise, allowing for photos to be taken in a range of conditions.

I went for a little wander late on and came across a Grey-headed Woodpecker giving excellent views near the captive crane pens - the only individual of the trip. Other birds included Willow Tits, Jay of the race brandtii and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

With darkness falling we made the short drive to our accommodation in Tsurui where I was very quick to head for the onsen to warm up. After that we we treated to a superb Christmas dinner, consisting of several dishes of traditional Japanese cuisine - a fitting end to a fine first day on Japan's northerly island.

Not a bad weekend...

Planning to visit family in South Lincs on Friday night and Saturday, I could resist calling in to Broom Gravel Pits near Biggleswade on my way up. A White-winged Black Tern had been found there earlier in the day and was still present on arrival, showing well over the pit - if a little distantly for photos. the bird was characteristically restless, rapid and unpredictable as it fed over the pit; occasionally it would head down to the south end of the pit and rest on the spit for up to ten minutes before recommencing feeding. I haven't had chance to check yet but I think this may be the first White-winged Black I've seen in Britain since 2006!

It was a pretty grey evening in Bedfordshire and photo opportunities were limited, this being the only half-decent shot I managed. There are a couple more on my Flickr page.

The pits at Gypsy Lane look great and it's no surprise to see that good birds are regularly reported there; best of the rest in the hour I spent on site was a Black-tailed Godwit plus the usual Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, Yellow Wags etc.

Saturday dawned bright and warm, and I was out early shovelling gravel on mum's drive. Needless to say I didn't go back inside and look at my phone until almost half past 8, by which time news of a Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset had been floating around the airwaves for an hour. Twitching never has been a sociable pastime and plans to meet family instantly went out the window. Four hours later and I was looking at this:

This meagre image hardly does the 'Hudwit' (to give its beautiful name an ugly abbreviation) any sort of justice. It really was excellent and although others had great flight views of the bird wheeling around with the Black-tailed Godwits, I was happy enough to see it wake up, walk around for a bit, kindly flap and then wing stretch to reveal the startling black underwings. There are loads of better shots here.

With news that it flew off a few hours later and didn't return, the decision to leave family behind was justified - in the mind of a twitcher, at least. Off to Azerbaijan on Sunday - hoping that's it for spring now, or at least until we return on May 17th.

Black-and-white

Found by Hannu today - a lovely first-winter male in da Ponte. Cracking bird, terrible photo. Otherwise I appear to have hit a mental and physical brick wall. Saw a flock of White-rumps and a Pec bombing around the village. It's still blowing an absolute gale; the novelty is kind of wearing off now. Plane cancelled today, and not looking good for Friday.

Good Corvo times...

Had a really good day today. After toiling around Cantinho and Fojo in the morning and not seeing a lot (no sound of the wood-warbler heard yesterday), I ambled down to the picnic area and had decent views of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak there. By this point, it was mid-afternoon and I joined a team heading to the Lighthouse Valley, including newly-arrived Julien Mazenauer. The Black-and-white Warbler was on show in its usual spot and allowed for some photographs to be taken:

Then it was back to Fojo, where we received word that the Rose-breasted Grosbeak was returning to a large piece of fallen corn to feed. It took about 45 minutes to show and, in the meantime, a mobile Indigo Bunting was seen and heard zipping around, and a couple of showers ensured we were soaked. That said, it was well worth the wait when the grosbeak finally showed. A completely fearless bird, it came down to the corn at a distance of five metres and afforded us some astounding views:

More on the needletail

Yours truly with the needletail, videograb with thanks to Dan Pointon

"There we were on the hard shoulder of the M6, a couple of hundred yards short of Gretna services. The blue lights were still flashing through the back window as Dan continued his futile attempts to start the car. We were due to fly out from Inverness in about 6 hours time. In our minds, though no-one dared speak it, were thoughts of the air fare going down the drain and the chance of a Needletail going with it."

The above is the opening paragraph from John Pegden's fantastic write-up of our day out yesterday. You can read the whole thing here - it's well worth it:
http://talesfromswallowfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/needletail-highs-and-lows-of-twitching.html

I've also co-written an illustrated piece for the BirdGuides webzine that details much of the day from both mine and Alan Tilmouth's experiences of the day. You can read (if a subscriber) by clicking here. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a couple more photographs showing the upperside:

...and the underside:

The trip was rounded off with these dudes - there were loads of them flowering at Stornoway airport, though I can't really decide what they are - Northern Marsh or Early Marsh?

White-throated Needletail

Very brief post from Stornoway airport. What an incredible bird. More pics and context coming soon.