Some migrants on Yonaguni

I've already posted regarding the most important migrants from a personal perspective, the Himalayan Swiftlet and Citrine Wagtail, but here are a few other migrants, some more to be expected than others.

There was only this one pair of Garganey during my stay. Last time there were quite a few on a tank favoured by Common Teal. These birds were on the pond/lake at Kubura.  

Grey-faced Buzzards are a daily occurrence, perhaps they are wintering birds rather than migrants, and often easily photographable on utility poles. I've gone with this poor, distant shot because this was such a striking bird, beautifully sandy above and mainly white below. 

There were a lot of Chinese Pond Herons on the island, though six was the largest group I saw they could be seen singly or in twos in many places.

This Whiskered Tern only spend about five minutes over the flooded fields at Hikawa before purposefully heading north over the island never to be seen again.

The only Oriental Cuckoo I saw perched, and the only non-hepatic.

Brown Shrikes are common and found in gardens, field edges and open scrubby areas.

Chestnut-cheeked Starling is a common spring migrant throughout Japan.

Daurian Starling on the other hand is not. There were at least three in the above flock of Chestnut-cheeked and I'd only previously seen a single bird on Mishima (Yamaguchi Pref).

Phylloscopus warblers were disappointingly scarce, I heard one Yellow-browed and eventually saw this Dusky Warbler which was singing from dense cover.

Stejneger's Stonechat is another common migrant throughout Japan and there were several dotted around the island.

The only Richard's Pipit of the trip, briefly on the school playing field. I saw several last time.

Red-throated Pipit could be seen daily, there were usually a few around the margins of flooded fields. 

I was surprised to see a Brambling but I came across two more singles on subsequent days.

Little Bunting is a fairly common migrant on migration islands but this was the only one I saw on Yonaguni. Masked was common and there were a few Black-faced but buntings, like warblers, were disappointing.

Perhaps it was a little early for some migrants even this far south? Perhaps a little late for others as I didn't see any Oriental Plovers or Upland Buzzard though I suspected I might miss these two Yonaguni specials before going.

One of the Oriental Plovers from my previous visit to the island, It's such a great bird I don't need much of an excuse to dig up an old shot.

Hegurajima: October 3rd-5th

I was delightedly surprised to be able to get reservations at the minshyuku Tsukasa at short notice. Four nights for the following week and two nights a week later, most early Octobers I can't get a room at such short notice. I was far less delighted... or surprised for that matter... to have one day cut off the beginning and end of my visit by ferry cancellations. A 50% cut, it could have been worse and I'm worried about the chance of a 100% cut later this week!


There had been a clear out the night before my arrival and though birding was good and the sense of expectation as high as ever when arriving on Hegurajima, it was a little slow. There were plenty of the commoner muscicapa flycatchers, a few Stejneger's Stonechats and Kamchatka Leaf Warblers, enough to keep you hopeful and on your toes.


Chestnut-flanked White-eye was the first good bird of the day in the early afternoon though I'd already seen a bird I thought was this species but hadn't been able to confirm it. Over the three days on the island I realised Chestnut-flanked was the default species present; at first I thought perhaps a highly mobile party was responsible for multiple sightings in different parts of the island but it soon became apparent that possibly all the white-eyes present were Chestnut-flanked, and there were many of them, all over the island. Ultimately I only saw two definite Japanese White-eyes during my stay!

The other species I was pleased to see was Brown Shrike. I seem to remember often seeing juvenile/first autumn Brown Shrikes on Hegura years ago but they had dried up until this trip when there were three birds (two juveniles) on the first day. Only one of them lingered beyond that first day.

The first bird, nice crisp markings throughout.

The second bird has already moulted come scapular and mantle feathers. This was the only bird that stayed throughout my stay and frequently perched on the overhead wires.

The third bird looks like an adult female. I'd have liked better views of this pale bird but I only saw it once, very briefly, at quite long range. 

As the afternoon wore on I picked up Middendorff's Warbler, the only one of the trip, then 'Gray's Warbler' which was a personal first for the island. As you might expect views weren't great or prolonged but I was happy enough to have been in the right place at the right time. I heard later that there have been several birds seen recently.

Even a poor record shot is a minor miracle, whether it could be the continental fasciolata Gray's Warbler or Japan breeding amnicola Sakhalin Grasshopper Warbler, I'll never know.

As light was beginning to fail I make my way towards the scrubby area in the harbour for a last scout around before dark. Suddenly a drongo dashed into view above the tree tops to my left, caught whatever it was after, then swung back out of sight! I rushed in the opposite direction to the edge of the quay to try to get a view of the area behind the first row of taller trees. As luck would have it the drongo was perched in one of the few spots that could be seen and I could make out it was... Ashy. I confess I was disappointed, it's a great looking bird, spectacular even, and of course a real rarity in Japan. But it's also my third Ashy on Hegura, Hair-crested would have been nice, really nice. I watched it making sorties from the same perch long enough to get record shots and went to get any birders who were already at the minshyuku. I was back with a couple of birders in less than five minutes and I pointed out the perch with the bird sitting in the same spot. Just as I lifted my binoculars the bird, actually birds, flew. A Brown-eared Bulbul had taken over the Drongos spot on the tree top and it flew conspicuously away while simultaneously the Drongo, which had moved lower in the tree, dropped straight down. This was a corner-of-the-eye view. The other guys' attention was drawn to the Bulbul and they didn't notice the diving Drongo. It was deep twilight by this time and hope was the Drongo would be easily seen in the morning, however it must have left overnight as it was never seen again. It's amazing to think I was the only person on the island who saw this striking and conspicuous species; we all know a large number of rares will go undiscovered but usually imagine they'll mostly be the skulkers. Yet drongos are, if anything, the antithesis of the skulker and still this one almost got away.

Ashy Drongo in the failing light. A good way to end the first day and build anticipation for the second.

It was clear from the get-go that there fewer birds on the island next day. I picked up a few things I'd missed or only heard yesterday, a Siberian Rubythroat, a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers, Black Woodpigeon and nine Little Buntings. The only birds that were new were two Dusky Thrushes that I heard overhead and two Buff-bellied Pipits were probably also just arrived.

Yellow-brows can be quite common but I only had three on this trip. They're more often heard than seen and can be difficult subjects to photograph, this was the best I managed. 

Little Buntings can also be common and tend to sit around for anyone to snap away at.

The final morning was pretty dead by island standards but by mid-morning it became obvious that birds were arriving in significant numbers. Bulbuls were becoming common, three conspicuous Blue & White Flycatchers where there had been none, my first Narcissus of the trip, an up-tick in muscicapa flycatcher numbers, the return of Stejneger's Stonechats after an absence yesterday, a Red-throated Pipit quickly became five and my first spodacephala Black-faced Bunting of the trip turned up. Unfortunately today would be the last chance to get off the island before the next typhoon arrived so I, along with everyone else, left.

A nice male spod Bunting.

One of the fresh-in Red-throated Pipits.

Male Stejneger's Stonechat.

81 species on Hegurajima

81 species might not seem like a large total for five days birding but there are two mitigating facts: firstly five days sounds like far more than the just over 30 hours in the field that it boils down to and secondly as October progresses there isn't really the variety there was earlier in the season. It really can't compare to spring when you might be lucky enough to get that many in a day. So all told I was quite pleased with the birding, the absence of a tick being the only bugbear... after all the Siberian Accentor I still need isn't so much to ask for on Hegura at this time of year, is it?


The surprises big or small:-
   Zero Tristram's Buntings - I've never struck-out in October before, this is the 'island specialty' that isn't even so difficult to get on the mainland.


   The first trip (Oct 11-13) produced a small number of spodocephala Black-faced Buntings but no personata whereas on the two day trips (Oct 20 and 21) personata were very common and there were no spodocephala.


   Just a single Dusky Warbler but five Radde's. I don't think Radde's is nearly as rare as some people think but this tipped the scales further from general expectation as well as my own previous experience. There was also one unidentified Dusky/Radde's.


   A relatively large and growing flock of Temminck's Cormorants on rocks in the bay behind Wajima harbour, there were 26 birds when I left with more seen flying in later. There were two Great Cormorants in the harbour. I've never had this number of Temminck's along the coast here so perhaps this was a pre-typhoon gathering... the fishing boats were doing much the same the following day.

The only Radde's Warbler that stayed in the open long enough to get a couple of shots off. It seemed like I was the only person connecting with Radde's which was becoming a bit embarrassing, I don't want to get a reputation for stringing Radde's and I'm tempted to keep quite in future. I got on to all five birds (and the lone Dusky) because of the call, I was 25-30 metres past this one when I heard it. Don't other people hear them? Some birders might be too busy chatting and perhaps the photography specialist don't know the calls which could give the impression that they're a rarity.

And with a flash of undertail coverts, it was gone. Back into the depths of the undergrowth.

Black-faced Bunting E.s.spodocephala

I'd say it has to be an adult male with these underlying markings.

A nice shot of the nominate tail pattern.

Staying with buntings...

Rustic

Pine

Little

Yellow wagtails are a favourite of mine, any taxon will do... which is just as well at this time of year.

Like Dusky Thrush, Naumann's tends to perch in the open so it's much easier to assess numbers compared the other thrushes. Naumann's is definitely a very scarce bird, personally I've never seen more than one per autumn.

This first winter male spent a day hanging round the harbour.

The following birds are definitely not scarce...

There were huge numbers of Eurasian Siskin earlier in the month, slightly fewer later, and they occupied all habitats from the shoreline to woodland. Their small size in short coastal vegetation could be quite a distraction when looking for skulkers.

Eurasian Siskin

Bramblings were equally common, equally catholic in their choice of habitat and equally tame. Fortunately their larger size made them more obvious and less of a distraction... other than them being great looking birds.

Olive-backed Pipits are ever-present.

Finally some of those early morning Temminck's Cormorants congregating on inshore rocks in Wajima...

As a footnote, there's quite a lot of infrastructure work taking place on the island, it's strange to have dumper-trucks running round all over the place and to see this barge ferrying materials to the island.

The final load coming across before the typhoon was due to arrive the following day. This was the calmest I'd seen the sea all month.

And a very subjective and unscientific approach to listing all species during the sum of the observation periods:-
Japanese Quail   1
Greater White-fronted Goose   2
Mandarin Duck
Eurasian Wigeon
Mallard
Eurasian Teal
Tufted Duck
Streaked Shearwater
Grey Heron
Great White Egret   1
Temminck's Cormorant
Peregrine   3
Black Kite
Japanese Sparrowhawk   1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk   at least two, it's never easy to estimate numbers for such a mobile species but I saw two together circling with the Goshawk early one morning.
Northern Goshawk   1
Common Coot   3
Pacific Golden Plover   2
Grey-tailed Tattler   1
Common Snipe   7
'Swintail' Snipe   1
Black-tailed Gull
Vega Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Black Woodpigeon
Oriental Turtle Dove
(one racing pigeon with full bling)
Ashy Drongo   1
Bull-headed Shrike   4
Rook   12
Large-billed Crow
Coal Tit
Skylark
Brown-eared Bulbul
Japanese Bush Warbler
Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler   1
locostella sp   1
Black-browed Reed Warbler   1
locustella/acro sp   1
Radde's Warbler   5
Dusky Warbler   1
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler   in large numbers mid-month, small numbers later
Yellow-browed Warbler   3 all heard only
Japanese White-eye   common later in the month
Goldcrest  1 mid-month became one of the commonest birds later
Eurasian Wren   1
White-cheeked Starling   2
Siberian Thrush   1
White's Thrush   2
Japanese Thrush   2
Eyebrowed Thrush
Pale Thrush
Naumann's Thrush   1
Dusky Thrush
Stejneger's Stonechat
Blue Rock Thrush
Red-flanked Bluetail
Daurian Redstart
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
Brown Flycatcher
Narcissus Flycatcher   1
Mugimaki Flycatcher   2
Taiga Flycatcher   1 heard
Taiga/Red-breasted Flycatcher   1 (possibly the same bird as above)
Yellow Wagtail   2
Grey Wagtail
White Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
Buff-bellied Pipit   2
Pechora Pipit   1
Brambling
Eurasian Siskin
Oriental Greenfinch
Hawfinch
Japanese Grosbeak
Pine Bunting   2
Meadow Bunting   2 on the 11th
Chestnut-eared Bunting   2
Little Bunting
Yellow-browed Bunting   1
Rustic Bunting
Elegant Bunting  
Black-faced Bunting
Grey Bunting   1

Hegura - October 10th

The night sky was fully overcast when I left the the tip of the Noto Peninsular in the very early morning. It's only about 35km to Wajima but once awake why wait... they have coffee down there.

The wind was strengthening as I drove down and the rain began to fall; great! By the time I was waiting in the harbour there were half a dozen Slaty-backed Gulls, I'd only seen two 2CY birds all week. Thinks were already looking good.

A couple of 2CY SBGs that had been a fixture along the coast all week.

Older immatures in Wajima harbour, I love the bird that looks as if it's brought its towel to the beach.

Heavy rain was still falling when I arrived in Wajima but after the front passed, about half way out to the island, the sky cleared completely and the westerly shifted to a stiff northerly.

As I disembarked someone I'd met a couple of days earlier said "It's still here", referring to the Ashy Drongo and gesturing towards the school. Most people on the boat rushed off in that direction and I later realised they were only here for the day specifically to see the Drongo.

Instead of joining the dignified stampede I made my way along the harbour edge and apart from a fly-over Black Woodpigeon the first thing I found was a Little Bunting that posed on the road with an equally confiding Rustic Bunting.

A nice comparison of Rustic and Little. 

Rustic Bunting. 

The Little appears to have lost its left eye!

A more pleasant shot of another Little later in the same area.

Bunting numbers were up compared to my previous visit a couple of days ago. In addition to the newly arrived Little Buntings, Rustic and Elegant were suddenly fairly common.

A new wave of Kamchatka Warblers had come in and I saw one Yellow-browed Warbler. Yellow-browed is to be excpected at this time on Hegura though numbers can vary significantly from year to year. Also on the warbler front there was one Black-browed Reed numbers of which are also very variable but as these skulkers are often fairly vocal I suspect seeing just one was an accurate reflection of low numbers present. There wasn't a hint of Middendorff's which can be quite numerous too, though we're possibly passed the peak time for them. While I missed out on Middendorff's I did score with one of the arch-skulkers, a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler. I've probably seen fewer than 10 PGTips in total on Hegura and always along the same stretch of coast. The other, Lanceolated Warbler, is either even less common or an even better skulker and I've only come across about three in all my visits to the island. On one occasion that I did miraculous flush one it predictably flew just a few feet, then disappeared from the centre of what was effectively a small lawn!

After just one Brambling two days ago there were flocks everywhere and indicative of new arrivals there were many Eye-browed Thrushes in the rank area just above the beach, even a Red-flanked Bluetail was perching on beach stems like a Siberian Stonechat, as was a Japanese Waxwing when I first saw it but it quickly flew off across the island. Daurian Redstarts had arrived and were fairly common.

Possibly the most interesting bird of the day was Feral Rock Dove, no doubt that seems an odd choice but this was an island tick for me. I've seen several "Rock Doves" in the past but they all turned out to be racing pigeons dropping in en route home and each had a full complement of rings. When two birds flew by in the harbour area today I naturally assumed they too would be racers taking a breather. However when I checked them one was completely ring-free. The size difference between these two is remarkable even assuming thet are male and female and the bill size and shape is no less striking. Presumably being bred and well-fed for racing produces a bigger bird. How they've teamed up remains a mystery.

Racer and Feral Rock?

I passed the school a couple of times during my stay and was surprised to find the would-be Drongo twitchers still encamped on the school playing field. I can only imagine it must have departed after the cold front passed through as it was such a conspicuous bird, I'd be surprised if it was staying out of sight four our full four hours on the island.

Just as I was boarding the ferry I heard and then saw two Brown-eared Bulbuls, the only ones of the day. How very different to the mainland.

List of birds seen:-
Mallard   1
Streaked Shearwater   common from the ferry
Grey Heron   1
Eurasian Kestrel   1
accipiter sp   1
Black-tailed Gull   common
Feral Rock Dove   1
Black Woodpigeon   1-2
Oriental Turtle Dove   2-3
Great Spotted Woodpecker   1 plus 1 heard
Large-billed Crow   1+
Japanese Waxwing   1
Barn Swallow   3-4
Japanese Skylark   3
Brown-eared Bulbul   2
Japanese Bush Warbler   common
Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler   1
Black-browed Reed Warbler   1
Dusky Warbler   probably 2 heard but not well enough to be sure about
Yellow-browed Warbler   1
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler   common
Eye-browed Thrush   fairly common
Pale Thrush   fairly common
Dusky Thrush   fairly common
Red-flanked Bluetail   5-6
Daurian Redstart   fairly common
Siberian Stonechat   1
Blue Rock Thrush   several
Grey Wagtail   1
White Wagtail   several
Japanese Wagtail   1
Olive-backed Pipit   1
Branbling   fairly common
Oriental Greenfinch   several
Pine Bunting   1 1stw
Little Bunting   3
Rustic Bunting   fairly common
Elegant Bunting   fairly common
Black-faced Bunting   fairly common
Mallard   1