Canvasback and other ducks

Canvasback isn't a mega in Japan but it's rare enough that you could wait a lifetime to see one unless you were willing to travel. I think there have been about four records dotted around Japan this winter.


I didn't hear about this bird but saw images on a couple of blogs and guessed where it must be, or at least I could narrow it down to one of two river mouths. I'd been chomping at the bit for a chance to try for this bird, a Canvasback in my usual Mie birding area, no extra driving involved. It had to be on either the Komozu gawa or the Ano gawa but which?


I was working in Tokyo last week and got back home Friday night. After a couple of hours sleep I set off with high expectation that the bird would still be there; which ever river there was.


My mental coin toss came up Komuzu gawa. This sounds so much better than I thought very carefully about which river was the more likely; then made the wrong choice. Tides, angle of sun, distance from the ducks, pig-headedness, they all contributed to me spending all day in the wrong place. I did see a party of five Tundra Swans taking a breather on an off-shore sand bar till the incoming tide encouraged them to continue on their way. This was a patch tick. I really must tot up my Matsusaka/Tsu list one day, it must be getting quite respectable by now.


I drove the 15 or so Kilometres into the city after nightfall and prepared to spend the night in the car park right by the Ano gawa. The beauty of this river is that, unlike the wide Komozu estuary, there's a narrow neck between the tidal flats and the sea meaning everything must either fly or swim right under your nose to get further upstream. This is also where I saw the Bonaparte's Gull last year but I don't usually 'do' this river because of time pressure. It's only if I plan to start the day with gulls (depending on tide and weather) that I'll check here first. From this vantage point you can see the whole length of the best gull beach, behind Tsu university, and get an idea of which car park to use.


I hadn't come prepared for an overnighter, no sleeping bag to stretch out in the back, so as I uncurled my creaking legs and rolled into the carpark I first noticed the surrounding frost. Had it been that cold overnight? I hadn't come prepared with gloves either. I don't know about you but once my fingers pass through the pain barrier I'm fine. I wouldn't like to thread a needle but I can manage focus wheels and shutter release which is all that matters.


Even though the sun wasn't up I wasn't the first person onto the embankment. Though only one other car had spent the night there (Osaka registration) the place was filling quickly. This must be the right place! Whereas yesterday had dawned with a buffeting wind, today was calm. Perfect scope weather though I was hoping I wouldn't need it.


Red-breasted Mergansers and Goldeneyes were performing beautifully, more importantly there was a huge number of Common Pochard. The Komozu gawa had been 99% Greater Scaup with just a smattering of Pochard, and it had been the latter which had featured strongly in the blog posts I'd seen.


Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Common Pochards but no Canvasback. Or was I overlooking it? Not unlike gulls the shade of grey can change as the bird swims catching the light from different angles. How much paler is Canvasback and would it stand out? How much bigger is it? Until I knew the answers I was leaning heavily on bill colour. Oh for heaven's sake, turn round will you! A frequent thought as my fingers were passing through the pain barrier.


It wasn't here.


Then the little demon on my shoulder was whispering seductively "coffeeeeee, breaaakfaaaaast" while the little angel on its opposite perch responded "Yesssss!!!" So it was back to the car and off to the nearest convenience store. "Fingers to body control, we are re-entering pain barrier". "Body control to fingers, you don't say?!"


By the time I got back my two shoulder companions, both hands, and I were all feeling much better. The sun was warm, the wind still wasn't blowing but the crowd of birders/photographers were still concentrating on the Red-breasted Mergansers and Goldeneyes. Not a good sign. The tide was dropping and as I scanned through the sleeping Pochards on the far sand bank, boom! A big white one! Really big and really white.


I can say with certainty that Canvasback is one of those birds that can have you scrutinise every one of the common taxon, in this case every Pochard that's turned away or sleeping. But when you see the real deal there's absolutely no doubt.


I learnt it had arrived during my absence and performed just below everyone before going to sleep on the far bank. I should have guessed, there were actually spaces in the car park when I got back.

It's sore thumb time.

Neighbours come and go, the sun goes in, the tide drops... the Canvasback doesn't budge.

A commotion up stream and it's time to wake up.

Time to drop onto the river and give good views... or fly straight out to sea.

The river, the river would be really good...

Sighs... or straight out to sea.

Did I mention there were Red-breasted Mergansers and Goldeneyes on the river?


Mergs before sun-up...

And Goldeneyes after sun-up...

Note to Santa - Barrow's Goldeneye on the Ano gawa please. Oh no: I forgot to write male.

Rausu and Notsuke

From the Blakiston's Fish Owl atYoroushi Onsen we cut across to the coast to head up to Rausu and the next iconic Hokkaido sight, the flocks of eagles around Rause harbour.


The eagles were the main target and though it would have been good to connect with the likes of the returning Bufflehead, the local wintering Ravens or anything else of interest we moved soon moved south to the Notsuke Peninsula once we'd had good views of the eagles and checked the various (largely empty) harbours.

Imagine this on your doorstep.

The usual birds were in the harbours but from the Kansai perspective Harlequin Duck, Glaucous-winged and Glaucous Gulls were the pick.

Harlequins



Glaucous-winged Gulls

Juvenile Glaucous takes some beating...

The first birds we saw on Notsuke were Snow Buntings but it was really difficult to get decent shots because they were quite flighty and the grass stems meant some were always out of focus. It was only after going through the images at home that I realised Snow Bunting was a photograph tick!

In late afternoon hundreds of Sika Deer were coming out into the open along the peninsula.

I've never been to Lake Biwa when there wasn't a long line of photographers' cars and ranks of cameras at the ready to capture 'our' Steller's every move. It almost seems sinful to have a solitary Steller's all to yourself.

Blakiston's Fish Owl at Yoroushi Onsen and Washi no Yado

I've only only been to see Blakiston's twice in winter, staying at Washi no Yado five years ago and this month at Yoroushi Onsen. The two experiences are very different in terms of accommodation but as the Owls are the important thing it might not matter too much for someone who has never seen these magnificent birds. I would just say Yoroushi is far more comfortable and I wouldn't hesitate staying more than one night if I wanted to give the area more time. Whereas one successful night at Washi no Yado would be enough, I'd look for alternative accommodation if I wanted to spend longer in the area. But, and it's a big but, the food was fantastic at Washi no Yado.


An Owl arrived during dinner at Washi no Yado and after eating more quickly than I'd have otherwise chosen I sat outside in my rental car to get a better view. This steep, narrow valley is cold, really cold, and the car needed a jump start the following morning. The owner told me the same had happened to another birder the day before. The local garage was doing good business. The small pool in the middle of the river is kept stocked with fish (at least as long as people are viewing it seems) so there's plenty of time to watch the Owls coming and going or just sitting in the snow. The problem is you are virtually sitting in the snow too and I'm not as tough as the Owls so there was a limit to how long I could sit motionless in the car with the windows open in minus (a large number) degrees. Of course you could watch from the minshyuku but that would double the distance to the birds.


Similarly the Yoroushi Owl arrived while we were still at the dinner table and caught me off guard. Stupidly I'd left my camera in my room and by the time I dashed to get it the window was already lined by (mostly) non-birders and I had to hand-hold the camera at the back of the group as a result. This would have been easily avoidable if I'd been aware of the feeding regime. Unlike the protracted viewing at Washi no Yado, with fish being put out as required, there were just two feeding sessions, one between 6-7pm as I recall and the other must have been between 5-6am. There's actually a calendar pinned up next to the office giving the times of daily sightings but the penny didn't drop that these neat clusters of sightings were dependant on when fish were put out. The result is that though the views are remarkably close, they are also relatively brief before the Owl polishes off the fish and disappears into the surrounding darkness along the river. It also resulted in me getting very few shots of the bird as I thought I'd have plenty of time after the crowd lost interest.


So which site is better for the Owls? The view is much closer at Yoroushi, maybe only eight metres, and the experience is slightly surreal from the warmth of the lounge. If you want a more authentic and slightly more distant, cold, freezing cold, really freezing cold experience then Washi no Yado wins hands down. If you intended to watch from indoors at Washi no Yado then I'd definitely recommend staying at Yoroushi.


I suppose the supporting cast needs to be considered too. Washi no Yado had Brown Dipper on the river in front of the minshyuku and common woodland birds in the surrounding woodland. Yoroushi had Solitary Snipe and Crested Kingfisher on the river in front of the ryokan and common woodland birds on the feeders right outside the window. Better for me, it also had Sable, a mammal tick, coming to the feeders too.


Kicking off with the Washi no Yado birds under the powerful spotlights...

In in reply, Yoroushi...

Coming back to the supporting cast...

sable

red fox

This Solitary Snipe was on the near bank of the river and as such wasn't visible from inside the minshyuku.

Great Spotted Woodpecker. Compared to woodpeckers in Honshu I always think that the Hokkaido birds are tripping over themselves to get in front of any camera. However this GSW was the only one to give itself up on this trip. Though admittedly we weren't really after any woodland species and didn't spend more than a daylight hour or two at this our only woodland stop on the trip.

Marsh Tits were common, a great little bird we can't see in Honshu.

The brandtii Jay of Hokkaido... I can't resist putting a comparative shot of the Honshu japonicus below. 



Probably the only thing their respective heads have in common is a bill. The pattern of white in the wing is quite different too.