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.
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| Northern Shrike spotted from the corner of my eye while watching Crossbills. |
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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.
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| 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...
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| Sadogashima from the northern tip of Hegurajima. |
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| 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?
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Rook |
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| 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
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