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!

Swainson's Thrush

Swainson's Thrush, Skokholm, 4 June 2015

Not what I expected to be seeing in Pembrokeshire in early June, but I won't complain. Many thanks to Richard Brown and team on Skokholm for a) finding the bird and b) accommodating a twitch.

The autumn that just keeps on giving...

Hermit Thrush, Porthgwarra, 30th October 2013

Two hours after dawn and we were all going through the motions, slowly accepting that the bird had gone. Then, as if by magic, up it popped - and what a cracker it was! Though it could disappear for extended periods, we enjoyed some stunning views, although it was almost always obscured hence the ropey shots. The bottom pic was taken through a load of grasses and twigs hence the slightly hazed look.

Dusky Thrush in Kent

The Dusky Thrush at Margate - a similar pose to the first image I saw on opening Steve Tomlinson's email!

Despite a call on the BirdGuides hotline from Kent birder Steve Tomlinson at around 22:00 on Friday evening describing a strange thrush that he'd seen in Margate cemetery, I must admit that I still had a bit of a shock when he emailed over a bunch of shots apparently depicting female Dusky Thrush - what was worse that it had apparently been present since Wednesday! Following a couple of follow-up phone calls (including to Will at RBA), we decided to run with the news at around 23:00 and the rest is history.

Needless to say, the bird was still present the next morning although I was again working on the news. Alan T kindly agreed to take over at 12:30 and I met Kit Day shortly after at the utterly offensive Lakeside Retail Park in Thurrock. Ninety minutes later, we were watching the thrush and, although it was pretty elusive at times, it eventually showed well late afternoon as the crowds dispersed.

There's been quite a bit of discussion about the purity of this bird, though it's really hard to find any sort of quality literature and photographs of Dusky Thrushes in general (let alone second calendar-year females), but this one has quite a bit of rufous in the flanks while this one is a dead ringer for the Kent bird. The plot is thickened by the fact that at least one Chinese birder seems to think it is an integrade - not with Naumann's, but perhaps with Black-throated Thrush! Must admit I never realised these Asian thrushes couldn't keep the the snake in the basket, so to speak.

Rock Thrush

Probably wasn't worth trying to take photos of a distant bird in appalling light and drizzle while catching hypothermia. Apparently it's not yet safe to wear flip flops and shorts north of the Humber - in stark contrast to sunny London which reached 22°C yesterday! Decent bird though, despite being pretty wet and not a male. If you're interested in numbers, it's the 450th species of bird I've seen in Britain & Ireland. Thanks to Dan for driving and Rob for the fish and chips!

Corvo: days 1 to 2

I'm afraid there's not too much to blog about here; sure there have been some fantastic birds in the first 24 hours of being on the island but no images - not having an SLR essentially renders you useless on Corvo in terms of photos to show off.

After meeting Jens Søgaard Hansen at Lisbon airport early yesterday morning, we spent a few birdless hours on Faial before our plane to Corvo. The best bird was a Wheatear by Horta harbour - amazing to think this boy has just flown 2,000km to get here, and is now about to do the same distance across to Africa for the winter.

Greenland Wheatear at Horta, Faial.

Finally arriving on The Rock at around 15:45, we were in da Ponte by 16:30 where an incredibly similar situation to last year panned out. Within five minutes of arriving at the bottom of the valley, I had relocated Gordon Beck's Magnolia Warbler - no more than a few yards from where we first saw last year's Blue-winged. Incredible start!

Wasting no time, I ran up to Fojo to meet PAC in the hope the Wood Thrush might show. On the way, I had two Cliff Swallows feeding over fields near Poco d'Agua with four House Martins. Nice distraction, but was soon on my way again. To cut a long story short, we didn't see the thrush by 18:45 when we left although, on the walk down, the Indigo Bunting popped in to the usual tree at da Ponte - being a Corvo novice, another new bird for me.

This morning, first stop was Fojo. Within five minutes of arrival, I picked up an obscured bird scrotting around in the leaf litter in the 'usual' spot - sure enough, it moved slightly revealing itself to be the Wood Thrush as suspected, although views were distant and it quickly disappeared. Over the next two hours, I only had flight views of the bird as it zoomed past us down the valley - I'll be back there again tomorrow morning. In the meantime, man-of-the-moment Gordon Beck (along with Ernie Davis) had found a wood-warbler just 50m from where we were standing. Shortly after I heard a couple of contact calls and we scrambled up the slopes and quick were on to the bird. Christian and I enjoyed superb views at just five metres' range and, as Ernie and Gordon suspected, the bird was a crisp-looking Blackpoll Warbler - cracking!

The rest of the day was spent exploring the rest of Fojo, as well as do Vinte and the little wood on the slopes just south of there. I saw a grand total of nothing before heading down to the village late afternoon, where my plan was to explore the fields and perhaps photograph some waders. I popped back to my apartment (I have a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and lounge all to myself! Photos soon) and managed to fall asleep until around 18:30. A quick walk down to the windmills produced nothing of note, and that was my day. With birds at a premium, my best discovery of the day were eight cannabis plants in do Vinte; evidently one of the islander's prized crop and, by the looks of things, several different strains as the buds were different shapes and colours. Sadly it later transpired that David had already found them yesterday, so not one for the self-found list..!

Cannabis close-up

Yank habitat in do Vinte.

I've decided to update the blog every two days; internet is much worse than I remembered here and the connection in my room doesn't work at all. Hopefully have some more arrivals to report back on soon and, all being well, some photographs too.