Between my September trips to Ogasawara and Hokkaido I squeezed in a single visit to Mie. Ordinarily I'd be getting anxious about what I was missing there if I didn't get across as much as possible during peak wader passage so it didn't help that a Buff-breasted Sandpiper had been reported in the area, even though I didn't know exactly where it was. I've already posted about the Latham's and Pintail Snipe I saw that day but there were a few other interesting birds too.
There's usually the odd Garganey to be found during spring and autumn passage, singles or twos and threes usually mixed in with the arriving Eurasian Teal but flocks of over 20 on a couple of occasions kept to themselves. I only found one bird mixed in with a party of Eurasian Teal on this visit, though there may have been one or two more in with them, it was hard to say for sure as the Teal spent most of their time hidden on pools in the reeds.
Another good sighting for me was Common Tern. They aren't rare by any means but they aren't easy to get decent views of in this area either, tending to be distant fly-bys or way out on exposed sand bars at low tide, so it was good to have to have a couple on a coastal lagoon. According to Brazil (East Asian Field Guide), minussensis is less common in Japan than the more eastern longipennis. I'm uncertain how much less common it should be but these birds, like many I see appear to be minussensis with extensive red in the lower mandible and bright red legs.
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| Garganey (and Eurasian Teal) with very rusty breast just visible above the water line. |
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| Presumably the same bird later in the day. |
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| Common Tern, subspecies minussensis. |
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