Ishikawa October 6 Dark-sided Flycatchers

It feels a bit odd posting in reverse chronological order but on my way north to Hegurajima last week I stopped off at Kenmin Kaihin Park in Ishikawa. The same place I already posted Lesser Cuckoo shots from on the return southward drive.

On the way up muscicapa flycatchers were better represented with at least 15 Asian Brown, a Grey-streaked and 2-3 Dark-sided. I was particularly pleased with the latter as they are surprisingly uncommon, bordering on rare, in the Kyoto area. To see fewer Grey-streaked than Dark-sided was a novelty.

Asian Brown is the only one of the trio that breeds locally and it isn't difficult to get reasonable shots of them from spring onwards but I'll post a few of the better images anyway to contrast with the Dark-sided.

Of course I was far more interested in getting shots of the Dark-sided, this may well be the first opportunity I've had in fact.

Unfortunately I couldn't get any shots of the thrushes, an altogether trickier proposition but I did get good views of Japanese, Brown-headed and Pale rather than the usual tail disappearing through the foliage. Equally disappointing was a juvenile Goshawk, presumably a female going by its enormous size, which didn't sit still long enough for me to get the camera on it. My first reaction is still to go for the bins first.

The only other bird I was tempted by was an obliging Japanese Wagtail.

Once at Wajima waiting for the ferry the following morning I had quite good comparative views of paler and darker 1CY Slaty-backed Gulls. The Black Kites were as photogenic as usual.

Species in or near the park:-
Green Pheasant   1
Mandarin Duck   9
Eastern Spot-billed Duck   9
Eurasian Wigeon   3
Mallard   1
Northern Pintail   c100
Common Pochard   1
Tufted Duck   3
Great Crested Grebe   2
Grey Heron   2
Great White Egret   c20
Little Egret   c15
Great Cormorant   1
Eurasian Kestrel   2
Osprey   2
Oriental Honey Buzzard   1
Black Kite   c15
Northern Goshawk   1
Common Coot   2
Black-tailed Gull   c20
Vega Gull   5
Black-headed Gull   several
Rock Dove   c30
Oriental turtle Dove   c15
Lesser Cuckoo   1
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker   c8
Great Spotted Woodpecker   1 heard
Bull-headed Shrike   12
Carrion Crow
Large-billed Crow
Great Tit   common
Varied Tit   1
Sand Martin   c50
Long-tailed Tit   several parties
Skylark   3
Brown-eared Bulbul   common
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler   common
Japanese White-eye   several
Chestnut-eared Starling   1
White-cheeked Starling   c20
Japanese Thrush   2
Pale Thrush   1
Brown-headed Thrush   1
Blue Rock Thrush   3
Grey-streaked Flycatcher   1
Asian Brown Flycatcher   15
Dark-sided Flycatcher   2-3
Narcissus Flycatcher   1 heard
Blue and White Flycatcher   4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow   3-4
Grey Wagtail   1
White Wagtail   c10
Japanese Wagtail   2
Oriental Greenfinch   fairly common
Eurasian Siskin   5 plus a flock heard
Hawfinch   c25
Meadow Bunting   2 heard