Saunder's Gulls and Common Starlings

I arrived in Kyushu this morning for what seems to be becoming an annual winter visit, this is three in a row. I set off from Kyoto at about 01:40 and got to Daijugarami at around 11:30 after a nap along the way.


Looking over the vast mudflats I couldn't help thinking it's a bit like one of the areas I visit in Mie, only much more so, more of everything. More Eurasian Curlews, more Common Greenshanks, definitely more Redshanks and way, way more Common Shelduck. And then there are Saunder's Gulls. It isn't difficult to get good views of them in Mie if you are patient but here you have to push through the constant loop of birds patrolling the edge of the mud to find a Black-headed Gull somewhere out there. There were even two or three flying back and forth over Saga airport airfield.


To me this is a really attractive gull and though I'm anyway keen on gulls surely all but the most hardened lariphobe couldn't help but like this species.

Another aspect of the mudflats that differs to Mie is the scale, this unfortunately means that many birds are too distant to identify let alone get a good look at. Oh and if there are any sea ducks here there you can forget any hope of seeing them as mud stretches as far as the eye can see (into the sun) at low tide. Today was low tide from my arrival until nightfall... quite a feat.


If the mudflats had a familiar, if epic, feel the fields behind them had a different flavour. Rooks, hundreds of them, replaced Carrion Crows and quite a few Daurian Jackdaws added spice. I've seen two Common Starlings in both Mie and Shiga recently as well as a singleton on Hegurajima but today I ran into my largest ever flock in Japan, a good 150 birds. 2016 has become the year of the Common Starling for me.

Jackdaws were easy to find here but views were never close as the Rook flocks were nervous and would carry the Jackdaws off with them whenever a vehicle approached.

How many Common Starlings here?

White-cheeked were less common than Common! But there were a few...

And so ended my first day in Kyushu; a view across the bay.

Species seen:-
Common Shelduck   100s
Mallard   c200
Northern Shovler   1
Northern Pintail   c50
Eurasian Teal   c100
Black-faced Spoonbill   12
Grey Heron   5
Little Egret   4
Great Cormorant   14
Eurasian Kestrel   1
Osprey   1
Black Kite   4
Hen Harrier   1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk   1
Ruddy-breasted Crake   1 possible glimpsed in flight
Common Moorhen   2
Common Coot   4
Northern Lapwing   c45
Grey Plover   c150
Kentish Plover   7
Common Snipe   1
Eurasian Curlew   c8 with maybe 20 other curlews too distant to identify
Common Redshank   3-6
Common Greenshank   13
Common Sandpiper   1
Dunlin   200+
Vega Gull   8
Black-headed Gull   c25
Saunder's Gull   60+
Oriental Turtle Dove   c7-8
Bull-headed Shrike   5-10
Common Magpie   2
Daurian Jackdaw   12 was the largest party within the Rook flocks but total number was difficult to estimate
Rook   300-400
Carrion Crow   c20
Large-billed Crow   1
Asian House Martin   2 near Saga city
Japanese Skylark   c100 was the only flock, singles or twos and threes elsewhere
Brown-eared Bulbul   several
Japanese Bush Warbler   1 heard
White-cheeked Starling   c40
Common Starling   150+
Pale Thrush   1
Dusky Thrush   common on fields near cover
Daurian Redstart   4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow   several flocks but no huge numbers
White Wagtail   common here and there across the fields
Buff-bellied Pipit   c10
Meadow Bunting   c10
Common Reed Bunting   4
  

Saunder's Gulls are in... so are Common Starlings!

I was in Mie yesterday to to have a general look around and check out the gulls on the beach north of Tsu city. It was a pretty good day, duck numbers continue to rise, but the best find was two Common Starlings. They're my second and third of the autumn... and I haven't even been to Kyushu. In the end I had little time for gulling but further south there were several Saunder's Gulls patrolling the estuaries.

I usually check flocks of White-cheeked Starlings for anything rare mixed in with them but today the two Common Starlings I found were on a playing field with Dusky Thrushes. Though when they did fly one went to join a group of White-cheeked on wires while the other went to another playing field. No great images I'm afraid, just record shots.

A day-and-a-bit in Mie

There are always plenty of birds to see in the Tsu / Matsusaka area thanks to the range of habitats. Though I didn't see anything that might be considered rare or even uncommon in Kansai this week I  did have a great time after not having been there since mid-November. And don't you love it when an impromptu search for something difficult to see pays off. In this case I decided to creep along a 400-metre stretch of roadside ditch to look for an Eastern Water Rail...

...success!


Most of the other birds I found, or I should say photographed, are the impossible to miss species. Still, getting half decent shots without putting any time into it is always a matter of luck.

First bird of the morning, immature male Blue Rock Thrush. That light reflecting off the water is from harbour lights not sun, it's amazing what a decent camera and lens can achieve pre-dawn.

Saunder's Gulls weren't being cooperative, they often cruise over the mud at the roadside but today they were way out in the middle of the river. Now that the adults have full breeding hoods they're playing harder to get. It must reflect Saunder's more southerly breeding range that all the adults (about 10) were in full breeding plumage whereas not one single Black-headed Gull (about 2000) was even close.

When I was last here in mid-November I was surprised there were no Common Gulls but there were many today. This first winter is at the light end of the colour spectrum; some birds are hanging on to a lot of juvenile plumage, particularly on the underparts.

Greater Scaup is prbably the most numerous bird around, there must be tens of thousands in the bay. There are usually a few in harbours.

Gadwall are really common here too but it's difficult to get close enough to appreciate their subtle beauty. This pair was on a drainage canal but they were very nervous and flew off onto a larger body of water before I could get any closer than this.

Chestnut-eared Buntings are quite common, far more so than around Kyoto.

Common Reed Buntings.

Eastern Buzzard, easy to see but another species which can be difficult to photograph well. They have clear views on boundaries. 

First winter Mongolian Gull. 

This leucistic Vega has been around for several winters.

Mie, 7th February

This trip to Mie didn't net as wide a range of species as usual. On the bright side I was able to get over there on a Saturday as I don't have to work on Saturdays for the next three months - wonderful. Though the species total may have been lower than hoped for there were still a few birds of interest around.

On the duck front, the Black and Stejneger's Scoters have disappeared but two Red-breasted Mergansers were much easier to photograph then normal. When they aren't miles out to sea they typically move away from the coast pretty quickly when approached, they seem far more nervous than other ducks here.

Another that gave itself up easily was Olive-backed Pipit. They aren't difficult to creep up on but I don't usually spend time trying to get shots of them so this was a bonus.

Neither of the above are what I'd call Mie specialities within Kansai, but Saunder's Gull certainly is and this was one of about 50 seen yesterday.

Adult Saunder's patrolling the emerging mud as the tide dropped.

The first big surprise was a Reed Bunting with a ring. Unfortunately I couldn't get close enough to see any details.

Ringed Reed Bunting. 

Another Reed Bunting.

Back to gulls. This is either a leusistic Vega or a Vega x Glaucous hybrid, the latter seems more likely as the very limited blackish in the outer primaries is perfectly symmetrical. Though on the other hand the saddle colour isn't any paler than I'd expect from Vega. Unfortunately it stayed out on a sand bar so I wasn't able to get better views than these distant digiscoped shots.

Other birds of interest were a Naumann's x Dusky Thrush intergrade and a number of Taimyr Gulls, including a pair of displaying adults. But they'll have to wait for another post as I want to get back into the field.