Yellow-bellied Tit and a few plastics

I've only ever been to Choshi in summer (thank you Least Tern), rather strange considering how much time I spend gulling you might think. Well, yes, but on the other hand it's a fair old hike from Kyoto. An almost eight-hour non-stop drive in fact. However, when I heard about the arrival of Yellow-bellied Tits a while ago I knew I'd have to get up there some time this winter.

Yellow-bellied Tits at Choshi... again? On the 'wrong side' of Japan and in exactly the same spot. How weird is that. How much of Japan did they fly over to get there? To happen once is quite a surpise, but to happen twice is bizarre. Well as I said, I knew they were likely to stay all winter and that I'd have to get up there at some point. The point came last week.

I didn't do the whole eight-hour drive in one irresponsible stretch, I actually stopped twice. Once at a Tokyo park that just happened to have some Rose-ringed Parakeets flying around making a din and another park where there were Masked Laughing Thrushes bouncing around making a din. Some plastics play hard to get but these were the kind I like best, get'm and go. They weren't the only plastic on this trip I might add. This was a veritable tick-fest with three plastics, one armchair, one heard only and of course the Yellow-bellied Tits. 

Masked Laughing Thrushes: the park even has a Starbucks next to the birds' favourite clump of bushes.

The Tits played hard to get. Not that I blame them so much, more my own expectations. When I originally heard they were in a park, even if it were the size of four football fields, I thought how hard can that be?! A park; a park in this area means manicured lawns with a few trees sticking out, I wasn't expecting a jungle. My heart sank just pulling into the car park for the first time... not to mention each subsequent occasion.

On the first attempt locals told us the best spot to look, they also told us they'd seen one briefly at 10am, too briefly to photograph, and hadn't had another sign since. Hardly encouraging. Here I was at the gulling capital of Japan and I'm stuck in a forest looking for a small passerine. I'm not sure which I felt more strongly, frustration at not gulling or fear that I might not see the Tits, and do no gulling. The next day I managed untickable views, my mate saw two birds together, one was nice and yellow the other was drab and doing a Coal Tit impersonation. I didn't see the yellow one. I glimpsed the impersonator... from behind. This was hard, frustration up a couple of notches. And to make matters worse, all the Great Tits and Varied Tits were chattering away like mad, doing a Laughing Thrush you might say, while in contrast the Yellow-bellieds were almost silent. I say almost because I heard a single call, once. So much for morning activity, try again in the (becoming rather chilly, overcast and even showery) afternoon. But, the third time really was lucky, how rare is that? I saw three different birds and I heard them calling on three or four occasions. Success! Just as well because the following day was pouring rain from beginning to end. I also learned the IOC has bestowed specieshood on the Bonin Greenfinch; armchair! A good day, and by coincidence my birthday.

Yellow-bellied Tit, one of three seen (apparently there are four).

The next day was spent gulling. Gulling from the car it has to be said, because as I mentioned the rain never stopped all day. My mate was hoping to see Thayer's today because he had a flight booked to go after the Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrikes on Ishigaki the following day but sadly the Thayer's (sorry thayeri Iceland) was a no-show.

Not-a-Thayer's Reef Egret

Not-a-Thayer's Temminck's Cormorant

After a night in Narita my next port of call was Mito city. Yes, that Mito city, home of Black Swans. I did warn there was more plastic to come. My mate Richard explained there were two car parks at the west side of 'swan lake', one that costs Y500 and one that does not. So on arrival I rolled into the first jam-packed car park I see, jump out, and head towards the lake only to be buttonholed by an attendant politely demanding Y500. What is wrong with the people of Mito? Why are they squeezing into a pay car park when there's a free one 200 metres further along. I can only imagine they were all, like me, out of towners who'd made a special trip to see the Black Swans.

Black Swan

This was another high quality plastic, stroll up, record shot, back in the van and off to Choshi again. 

The following day was a full day of gulling... more to follow.    

Eleven species of bunting on Hegura in October

Hegurajima is always good for buntings in October and this year was no exception with 11 species seen even though the expected Tristram's was missed for possibly the first time ever. Birds seen were Pine (2), Chesnut-eared, Little, Rustic, Elegant, Black-faced (personata and spodocephala), Grey, Pallas's Reed (4+), Japanese Reed (1-2), Common Reed (1) and Lapland (1). 

There were two highlights for me, Lapland which I've only seen here once and Japanese Reed Bunting which was an island tick. Additionally Pine is an October specialty (usually in slightly bigger numbers) and Pallas's, which isn't guaranteed, put up a much better showing than the norm.  

LAPLAND BUNTING

JAPANESE REED BUNTING 

PALLAS'S REED BUNTINGS

PINE

CHESTNUT-EARED

LITTLE

GREY

RUSTIC

ELEGANT

Tree and Red-throated Pipits

 It's been 16 years since I last saw a Tree Pipit in Japan, that also on Hegura, though I did manage to miss one by only seconds on Tsushima in spring. I almost missed this one too!

I came across a pipit in the morning on the open concrete area at the north end of the harbour and dismissed it as a first autumn Red-throated. In my defense it's a favourite spot for Red-throated Pipits, Tree Pipit superficially looks like a first autumn Red-throated and I was chatting at the time. Fortunately I got another chance when I ran into the same bird again in the late afternoon, this time at the opposite end of the harbour. It dropped down from one of the small ornamental pines onto the lawn at the ferry terminal and immediately vigorously pumped its tail. It had to be an Olive-backed Pipit, right? Getting my bins on it, the heavily streaked mantle immediately knocked that idea on the head but there was no thought of Red-throated this time; upgrade to Tree Pipit. What a difference a tail pump makes. Once on the deck I initially picked up a supercillium drop but then it seemed to disappear. It was very subtle and the same 'now you see it, now you don't' occurred in the photographs I took too.

The previous bird I'd found so long ago was instantly recognizable as something different because it was such a pale, almost sandy coloured bird, whereas this individual was much darker and made me  feel a little better about my misidentification earlier in the day.

Brazil's Birds of East Asia treats OBP as the potential confusion species with Tree, which is fair enough it being a common species across Japan as a whole. However the text completely ignores the far more similar first autumn Red-throated. 

I saw several first autumn Red-throated Pipits on Hegura mid-month but the only bird this trip was an unseen fly-over calling. So I'll compare this Tree Pipit with first autumns I've seen in this and previous Octobers.

Tree Pipit. The contrast between heavy breast markings and fine flank dashes are distinctive however Red-throated does have fine streaks low on the flanks but also a bolder line higher on the flanks close to the wing. The very stout, deep-based bill is obvious here, the supercillium drop is far less so. 

Red-throated Pipit. Fine flank dashes low on the flanks but broad, heavy markings above. The bill is very fine compared to Tree, the ear coverts more uniform. This individual shows paler braces.

Tree Pipit. Lack of braces, stout bill and inconspicuous supercillium.

Tree Pipit. Rather plain rump and uppertail coverts.

Red-throated. Heavy flank streaking and plain ear coverts. Note the very dark-centred uppertail coverts and more distinctly marked rump.

Perhaps it's worth posting my old digiscoped image of the Tree Pipit I found 16 years ago to show how different Tree Pipits can appear first glance and more pertinently or how some might easily catch the eye while others could be overlooked. In fact, looking more closely, the markings are actually very similar and it's only a matter of colour saturation that gives the superficial appearance of being rather different.

Tree Pipit. An overall paler individual with unmarked rump and fine flank dashes. 

    

Another four nights on Hegurajima

 Sometimes ferry sailings align perfectly with plans, not so often in autumn it has to be said when the Japan Sea is far more restless than in spring, but last week was just such an occasion. A ferry sailed on Tuesday morning as I'd hoped then there were none until my planned return the following Saturday. That there isn't another expected until next Friday at the earliest means at least 10 days with only one sailing. As if I wasn't lucky enough, the winds that prevented further sailings were constant full-of-promise north westerlies throughout my stay.

There were no spectacular falls of migrants as there had been earlier in the month but there was a sense of expectation and an obvious daily turnover of birds. Ultimately I was very satisfied with 76 species seen at this time of year and though the total recorded by all the birders out there was higher I think Japanese Quail was the only notable bird I missed. Unlike earlier in the month when I managed to miss the Hair-crested Drongo; I'm not going to forget that in a hurry.

Because I have so many interesting images of so many birds I'll post separately for some family groups such as buntings, finches and so on, and I'll deal with some of the oddities and the total species list here.

One of the hardest birds to catch up with was a Northern Shrike which was found at the southern tip of the island one morning. The majority of birders/photographers were keen to see it so naturally the rest of the island wasn't getting much coverage so I decided my time might be better spent trying to find what else might have arrived overnight. 

As luck would have it, I was the next person to see the bird after the finder, it having moved right up to the northern tip of the island. I sent a message to the crowd down south not that I held out much hope of it sitting around waiting for them. Remarkably the bird did stay, in fact it remained as if glued to the perch until the lead birder of the now strung-out pack hove into view. Just as he rounded a bend through the last of the houses the bird took flight not to be seen again that morning. You have to be sympathetic, don't you? Really, we've all been on the receiving end at one time or another, but I confess there was a funny side I needed to suppress as the stragglers continued to trickle in. 

By evening it was back in its original area, it may have been there the whole day as far as anyone knows as it rarely showed itself even when it was definitely in that location. It was still there the following morning too though I don't know whether it was seen subsequently apart from a report that it had been spotted briefly at the northern end again.

Northern Shrike spotted from the corner of my eye while watching Crossbills.

One rarity often leads to another as more pairs of eyes gather in one area. Late afternoon I received a message that a Great Bittern had been found, seemingly tired and going to roost, in a pine tree near the Shrike spot. This was an island tick for me, and my third bittern species on the island.

It's never easy to judge the health of migrant bitterns, they can be so tame and/or in odd settings, but presumably this bird was merely tired after its flight and in need of any place to roost. I believe it wasn't seen the following morning.   

One of the most outstanding memories I'll take away from this trip was Sadogashima! Yes, a different island. In all the years I've been going to Hegurajima I have never seen this 'neighbouring' island which I'd guess to be about 130km to the west, almost double the distance to the Noto Peninsular. After about an hour it had disappeared from the horizon so I'm really glad I took a couple of record shots...

Sadogashima from the northern tip of Hegurajima.

The cropped version, this is definitely an island. 

Apart from the mysteriously appearing island another highlight of the trip was the number of Siberian Accentors. For a long, long time this was a major bogey bird for me. Birders would tell me how vocal they were and that I couldn't possibly miss them. Well that may be but the fact is you can't see or hear something that isn't on the island and for some strange reason our paths simply never crossed, the timing was never right. The classic bogey bird, this went on for years... wait, this went on for (2) decades.

This time I was getting the kind of Accentor experience others must have been familiar with, the kind that led to disbelief that it was possible for a regular visitor never to have seen one. There were about three birds along the north west coastal path when I arrived and another a little further south, these birds duly left during my stay left but on the final day were replaced by about five new arrivals along the same stretch of coastal path. 

I also heard their distinctive call several times, but it was only distinctive because I already knew the Accentors were producing the sound. If I hadn't known there were Accentors present would I have realized that was their call or even that of a bird?! Might I not rather have passed it off as an unfamiliar singing cricket? 

Another bird I'd often unaccountably(?) missed in the past is Eurasian Wren. Not so this time, they were flitting about left and right, quite where they had arrived from, or were heading, I have no idea.

Eurasian Wren, great little birds giving great views for once.

If this post has been a bit of a mixed bag, this Grey-streaked Flycatcher will fit right in. A common enough species on migration but full juvenile plumage is a rare sighting in Japan, and on top of that 29 Oct is getting late for any Grey-streaked.

Juvenile Grey-streaked Flycatcher

A couple more Hegura regulars that I feel I never post images of are Rook and Eurasian Sparrowhawk, so I'll set that right now. Most of the Rooks I see on the island are immatures that are always worth checking for Carrion Crow, a much bigger prize, but this one is an obvious adult. Sparrowhawks are the commonest accipiters out there but I also saw a Japanese Sparrowhawk and a Northern Goshawk was also seen.

 

Rook

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Full list of species:-

Mandarin Duck                                                            Brown-eared Bulbul

Mallard                                                                         Japanese Bush Warbler

Eastern Spot-billed Duck                                             Black-browed Reed Warbler

Eurasian Teal                                                                Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler

Tufted Duck                                                                 Warbling White-eye

Streaked Shearwater                                                    Goldcrest

Little Grebe                                                                  Eurasian Wren

Great Bittern                                                                White-cheeked Starling

Grey Heron                                                                  Common Starling

Great White Egret                                                        Eyebrowed Thrush

Pacific Reef Egret                                                        Pale Thrush

Great Cormorant                                                          Naumann's Thrush

Temminck's Cormorant                                                Dusky Thrush

Merlin                                                                          Red-flanked Bluetail

Peregrine                                                                      Daurian Redstart

Black Kite                                                                    Stejneger's Stonechat

Japanese Sparrowhawk                                                Blue Rock Thrush

Eurasian Sparrowhawk                                                 Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Northern Lapwing                                                        Siberian Accentor 

Common Sandpiper                                                      Grey Wagtail

Black-tailed Gull                                                           White Wagtail

Slaty-backed Gull                                                          Tree Pipit

Black Woodpigeon                                                        Olive-backed Pipit

Oriental Turtle Dove                                                      Red-throated Pipit

Common Kingfisher                                                      Buff-bellied Pipit

Bull-headed Shrike                                                        Brambling

Northern Shrike                                                             Oriental Greenfinch

Rook                                                                               Eurasian Siskin

Large-billed Crow                                                          Common Redpoll

Bohemian Waxwing                                                       Long-tailed Rosefinch

Japanese Waxwing                                                         Common Crossbill

Eastern Great Tit                                                            Hawfinch

Skylark                                                                           Japanese Grosbeak

                                            Chestnut-eared Bunting

                                            Little Bunting

                                            Rustic Bunting

                                            Yellow-throated Bunting

                                            Black-faced Bunting

                                            Grey Bunting

                                            Pallas's Reed Bunting

                                            Japanese Reed Bunting

                                            Common Reed Bunting

                                            Lapland Bunting