A few spring migrants

I arrived in Mie yesterday hopeful of seeing a wide variety of waders; that didn't happen. In part because I spent hours trying to get good views of a couple of snipe, one clearly Swinhoe's but the other less easy to separate from the much less common Pin-tailed, but mainly because there doesn't seem to have been a massive change since my last visit 10 days ago. A few Wood Sandpipers and Whimbrel are the only signs on new arrivals apart from the migrant Swinhoe's Snipe. However the Spotted Redshanks and Long-billed Dowitchers are looking much closer to breeding plumage now.


First up was a Spotted Redshank backlit by the first morning sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two of seven Common Greenshank.

Long-billed Dowitcher with Wood Sandpipers.

The Long-billed Dowitcher relocating to a quieter pile of rocks away from the Wood Sandpipers.

Jousting Wood Sandpipers.

Elsewhere it was business as usual with the Wood Sands.

Spotted Redshanks with Long-billed Dowitchers and Black-winged Stilts.

Very few Sanderling were coming into breeding plumage, this was the most advanced I saw.

Grey-headed Lapwing.

List of species recorded:-

Green Pheasant   4 plus several heard Gadwall   100+
Falacted Duck   17  
Eurasian Wigeon   low 1000s
Mallard   10s
Eastern Spot-billed Duck   fairly common
Northern Shoveler   c60
Northern Pintail   c40
Eurasian Teal   100s
Common Pochard   40-50
Tufted Duck   c200
Greater Scaup   1000+
Red-breasted Merganser   c20
Little Grebe   common
Great Crested Grebe   5
Black-necked Grebe   7
Black-crowned Night Heron   1 heard
Cattle Egret   1
Grey Heron   common
Great White Egret   common, numbers clearly up
Little Egret   c20
Great Cormorant   common
Peregrine   1
Osprey   2
Black Kite   2-3
Ruddy-breasted Crake   1 heard
Common Moorhen   1
Common Coot   c40
Eurasian Oystercatcher   49
Black-winged Stilt   4
Grey-headed Lapwing   c10
Grey Plover   c40
Little Ringed Plover   3-4 plus several heard
Swinhoe's Snipe   2
Common Snipe   8
Long-billed Dowitcher   3
Bar-tailed Godwit   c15
Whimbrel   3
Far Eastern Curlew   2
Far Eastern or Eurasian Curlew   1
Common Greenshank   7
Spotted Redshank   7
Wood Sandpiper   8
Sanderling   60+
Dunlin   100s
Black-tailed Gull   1
Common Gull   4
Vega Gull   c40
Taimyr Gull   6-7  
Black-headed Gull   c400
Rock Dove   c8
Oriental Turtle Dove   several
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker   1 heard on drive to Ishikawa
Bull-headed Shrike   5
Jay   1 on the drive
Carrion Crow   common
Large-billed Crow   a few
Varied Tit   several heard on drive
Long-tailed Tit   several heard on drive
Barn Swallow   only a few passing through
Japanese (Eurasian) Skylark   common
Zitting Cisticola   3 plus 4-5 heard
Japanese Bush Warbler   2-3 heard on drive
Oriental Reed Warbler   2 heard
Japanese White-eye   several on the drive
Wren   1 heard on the drive
Chestnut-cheeked Starling   1
White-cheeked Starling   widespread in low numbers
Dusky Thrush   still common
Blue Rock Thrush   1
Brown Dipper   1 on the drive
Eurasian Tree Sparrow   common
Grey Wagtail   2 on the drive
White Wagtail   c6
Japanese Wagtail   1 on the drive
Oriental Greenfinch   fairly common
Japanese Grosbeak   1 on the drive
Meadow Bunting   several
Chestnut-eard Bunting   several
Common Reed Bunting   4

On the way there:-
racoon dog   1
Sika Deer   2