Japan 2015 day eight: cranes at dawn, White's at dusk

26 December 2015

One of the numerous must-see wildlife spectacles of Hokkaido is the early morning roost of Red-crowned Cranes in the river viewed from Otowa bridge, south of Tsurui. We'd heard that the temperature needs to reach around -15c for steam to rise from the river and 'fortunately' Boxing Day morning proved one of those ball-clenchingly cold starts.

Though we all felt that the crane photo opportunities were a little overrated, there was no doubt that the hoar frost provided an impressive sight. Despite all my layers, I was freezing and extremely glad of the car and subsequent breakfast back at the hotel!

After breakfast we headed back to Kushiro harbour for another gulling session. Seven Harlequins showed included a showy drake while additional species to yesterday included a group of eight Black-necked Grebes and a number of Pelagic Cormorants.

Gull numbers were similar to the previous day although three hybrid Glaucous-winged x Glaucous Gulls were new, while the ubiquitous and characterful Large-billed Crows never failed to entertain.

Slaty-backed Gull 

Large-billed Crow

After having had our fill (and chilled to the bone by the biting wind) we decided to head back inland. Roadside fields along Route 240 just south of Tsurui held an impressive minimum of 195 Red-crowned a Cranes as well as half-a-dozen Whooper Swans.

Continuing north we were thoroughly disappointed to find Lake Kussharo entirely ice-free - a testament to the extremely mild winter experienced on Hokkaido up until the previous week. This unfortunately meant that the Whooper Swan opportunities were somewhere between sub-optimal and absolutely rubbish, although the birds themselves were brilliantly tame. Neighbouring woodland was quiet except for Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker and both Willow and Marsh Tits.

A little deflated, we made the short journey to our accommodation that night - the very quaint Gustaf Papilio guesthouse. On getting out the car I was thrilled to see a White's Thrush fly up in to a nearby tree, and soon we had all enjoyed views of the bird perched high up, watching us intently.

Over the next hour we were treated to simply stunning views of the thrush as it fed to within 10 metres of us. As with all thrushes a lack of movement and sound from us seemed to ensure the bird was more trusting and, despite the awful late afternoon light, we all managed some pleasing photos - definitely one of the birds of the trip!

White's Thrush - just stunning!

Japan 2015 day four: Lake Miike and Yatsushiro

22 December 2015

Having stayed just a few kilometres away overnight, we arrived at Lake Miike not long after dawn. The lake itself was littered with common wildfowl including Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, Wigeon and Tufted Ducks, and a drake Spot-billed x Mallard was interesting. There were, however, no Baikal Teal, Mandarin or other more interesting species.

At first the woods seemed quiet although species around the campsite included Olive-backed Pipit, Daurian Redstart and groups of Red-billed Leiothrix as well as the more familiar woodland birds. We found the northern route around the lake to be blocked off, and perhaps just as well - aside a handful of Black-faced Buntings and the faint call of what were probably Grey Buntings emanating from the undergrowth, it seemed quiet.

As such we headed back the other way and soon picked up our first Yellow-throated Buntings - a small group of three. Alas they were quite wary and generally liked to bury themselves in cover, so photo opportunities were limited.

Walking further along this trail produced a couple of flyover White-bellied Green Pigeons while a Ryukyu Minivet disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Up to 15 Yellow-throated Buntings teased us with brief views while the lake margin held Common Kingfishers. A woodpecker quickly transpired to be a namiyei White-backed, the extensive reddish underparts easily the most striking feature. As we turned back for the campsite, Rich and I were treated to fantastic views of a Japanese Weasel as it strutted along the path.

Rich then received a text from Mick telling us to "stop looking and nothing and get back - Forest Wagtail!" Sure enough the wagtail was showing more or less on arrival and gave some great views over the next half an hour as it came to mealworms put out by a Japanese photographer. An unexpected bonus to say the least, but it turns out this is the third winter running that it's been seen here. One of the most characterful passerines I've seen, it was great to watch it moodily swaying from side to side as it crept along branches - that was until it had stuffed itself full of mealworms and just sat there looking slightly embarrassed by its gluttony. Further Ryukyu Minivets flew over and a male Red-flanked Bluetail gave some stunning views.

Forest Wagtail at Lake Miike

By now it was late morning and we decided to begin the drive north to Yatsushiro. I was constantly on the eye out for interesting roadside birds and lucked out with two Japanese Grosbeaks sat in a mistletoe-covered tree in Takaharu - the only ones we saw on Kyushu.

Arriving at Yatsushiro estuary early afternoon, we found the tide almost entirely out. Nevertheless Saunders' Gulls were instantly apparent and two partial counts of 130 and 120 led us to believe that well in excess of 250 birds were strewn across the estuary, some giving great views as they preyed on mudskippers and crabs.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the estuary area, waiting for the tide to come up and generally enjoying the multitude of birds, predominately wildfowl, that were present. At least 20 Falcated Ducks were very welcome and a minimum of eight Black-faced Spoonbills were seen alongside several of their Eurasian congeners. Waders included Long-billed and Kentish Plovers, Dunlin, Lapwing, Greenshank and Redshank.

Immature Black-faced Spoonbill - one of several at Yatsushiro

Wandering inland I soon found the first of many Meadow Buntings frequenting scrubby field edges. Similar habitat produced a fine flock of 50+ Russet Sparrows and a couple of Chestnut-eared Buntings - a species I'd been keen to see - as well as numerous Dusky Thrushes and Siberian Pipits plus one or two Bull-headed Shrikes. I hadn't realised how spectacularly large Japanese Wagtails were until one flew right past me along the channel, repeating its rasping single-note call on several occasions.

Male Russet Sparrow

It had been a thoroughly successful afternoon but I was lacking one thing - nice photos of Saunders' Gull. Mick had already accomplished a series of gripping shots and the birds seemed to be flying off inland. With no more than an hour of light left we set off in the general direction that the birds were heading and, after a few kilometres, found at least 100 Saunders' feeding in roadside rice fields. Here we enjoyed some fantastic views and I finally managed some satisfying shots - not award winning, but a considerable improvement on my earlier efforts.

Saunders' really are fantastic gulls and it was brilliant to watch the flock wheeling round and calling to one another in the golden light of late afternoon before they eventually dispersed, presumably to roost. With the sun sinking behind the horizon we headed south to Izumi where we were staying, although were a little put off on arrival as the entire town seemed to stink of chicken farms. Putrid!

Lake Del Valle

During the morning of 20th we explored the Mines Road area to the south of Livermore. A couple of hours of the early morning were spent around Lake Del Valle, which proved productive for birdlife. Had my first Bald Eagle (terrible views of a distant adult flying away), but more exciting were Red-breasted Sapsucker, Steller's Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch etc. Not sure the same thing could be said for the horrendous gobbling of Wild Turkeys coming from nearby thicket. Talking of turkeys, this has to be one of the world's ugliest birds?

Rancid.

Weekend, 16th-17th

My weekend has actually been reasonably productive. Woke up quite early on Saturday and found out the Little Bittern at Stocker's Lake had been seen again. As the site is only 16 miles from my house, I had no reason not to head over. In short, views were alright (but mainly obscured), though certainly not digiscopable during my visit. Wanting to catch the second half of the Wales rugby match, I headed home for around midday - only to hear the boys lose in injury time. Gutted! Three good performances this weekend from the home nations though; the gap is certainly closing between us and the Southern Hemisphere powerhouses.

For the afternoon, I headed over to east London meet up with Rich. Scored his two Egyptian Geese on Greenland Dock en route to his flat, then we were off to Cross Ness. This hybrid Ruddy x Common Shelduck was one of the first birds seen; it's been around a week or so now but this was the first time it has been seen on the south side of the Thames:

Otherwise the visit was dominated (as is often the case) by gull action. I picked up a first-summer Little Gull daintily picking at the water surface off the incinerator outfall, where there were also three first-summer Mediterranean Gulls floating around, each in different stages of moult.

First-summer Little Gull; just a bit of black speckling around the head.

The best of three 2cy Med Gulls.

Heading back towards the car, we picked up four Yellow-legged Gulls on the mudflats (tide way out). Three gorgeous first-summers are portrayed below; it was nice to get my eye back in with this age class after an enjoyable stint back on Peterborough's rubbish dumps last summer.

Same bird in the two shots above. Note how f*cked the coverts are, although the rest of the bird isn't much better. This individual shows off quite nicely how some 1st-s michs can be look almost reminiscent of Great Black-headed Gull - at least in the face - look at those lovely white eyelids, long bill and mask around the eye etc.

A streaky-headed (and generally mucky) 2cy. Presumably from Portugal (emphasis on presumably).

Another mucky bird with a cleaner head, but rather dark 3rd-generation feathers coming through in the mantle, and dark greater covert bar. Look how much that (and the tertials) contrast with the very clean, very white undertail and rump.

This morning, I headed back to the bittern in the hope of improved views in sunnier conditions. The bird was in view for the majority of the time I was there (07:30-10:30 or so), although almost always obscured by reeds. Saw it in flight a few times too today which was nice; it proved pretty mobile and got hacked off with the local Moorhens more than once. Best of a bad bunch of shots below.