A good spring for Yellow-browed Buntings

Yellow-browed Bunting

I normally find the two scarce 'island' specialty buntings, Yellow-browed and Tristrams, to be more or less equal in number in spring. Tristram's probably has the edge and it is also the only one I regularly see on the mainland. So events this spring seemed exceptional. Not only was Yellow-browed the more common of the two but the sheer number involved was staggering. It's no exageration to say it was not only the most numerous bunting species but that it outnumbered the sum total of all the others.


The evening we arrived on Tsushima we had a suggestion of the amazing number present with 80+ birds in two tiny neighbouring fields. The following day we covered the whole of the small Naiin valley, not aiming to count Yellow-brows of course, and I settled on, what I now think, a very conservative estimate of 200 when I wrote-up my notes that evening.


There were a few Little Buntings mixed in, perhaps 10, and a smaller number of Japanese Yellow Buntings. Little is reasonably common in both spring and autumn on the islands and, though I see fewer, Japanese Yellow is a bird I can find passing through Kyoto. Rustic Bunting unexpectedly proved to be the rarity amongst the migrant buntings.


Chestnut Bunting was the aim when checking bunting flocks. It's usually a spring bunting but in much lower numbers than Yellow-brow or Tristram's, so much so that I'd call it rare in Japan rather than scarce. We found one and though I hoped for more, if only to get a better shot, this was still a great prize as far as I was concerned. This was just my second encounter with Chestnut in Japan after a flock of about seven on Hegurajima some 15 years ago.

Chestnut Bunting

Unlike Yellow-browed, Tristram's seemed no more common than usual so I was pleased to get shots of this breeding male.

Tristram's Bunting

I might have wondered whether the huge number of Yellow-browed present was because the passage was later than usual, and/or because of the positioning of Tsushima. However, even if the peak movement is before the saturation coverage Golden Week brings, and I suspect it is, I'm sure I'd be aware that I was just missing this spectacle each year. My preceding visit to Tsushima netted a meagre two so I'd rule out location, especially as my usual spring island (Mishima) isn't so far to the east of here.


Normally the commonest of the scare buntings is spodocephala Black-faced. Actually it can be the outright commonest bunting on any migration island; finding a personata is more surprising. It was in its usual numbers this year but for once it couldn't compete with the tsunami of Yellow-brows.

This post has been all about smart looking males, so this spod redresses the balance slightly.

Males do look better though.

One last bunting word; what about the island breeders? The ever present Meadow, which tends to fall victim to dismisal at an subconcious level due to its distinctive shape became more noticeable perched-up singing once the majority of migrants had moved-on over the first couple of days of May. Of Tsushima's specialist breeders, I saw no more than a handful of Yellow-throated (Elegant) and not a single Grey. Not without trying I might add.


Tsushima trip list
Chinese Bamboo Partridge
Ring-necked Pheasant
Tundra Bean Goose
Mandarin Duck
Falcated Duck
Eurasian Wigeon
Mallard
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Garganey
Eurasian Teal
Pacific Diver
Streaked Shearwater
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Striated Heron
Chinese Pond Heron
Eastern Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret
Little Egret
Great Cormorant
Temminck's Cormorant
Peregrine
Osprey
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Black Kite
Japanese Sparrowhawk
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Grey-faced Buzzard
White-breasted Waterhen
Common Moorhen
Common Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Pacific Golden PLover
Little Ringed Plover
Solitary Snipe
Latham's Snipe
swintail Snipe (almost certainly Swinhoe's on combination of features)
Little Whimbrel
Whimbrel
Far Eastern Curlew
Common Greenshank
Wood Sandpiper
Grey-tailed Tattler
Terek Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
calidris sp (a small species in flight)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Oriental Pratincole
Black-tailed Gull
large white-headed sp (probably Taimyr)
Aleutian Tern
murrelet sp (very probably Japanese)
Feral Rock Pigeon
Oriental Turtle Dove
Northern Hawk Cuckoo
Oriental Cuckoo
Northern Boobook
Pacific Swift
Common Kingfisher
Hoopoe
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
Ashy Minivet
Brown Shrike
Black-naped Oriole
Eurasian Jay
Daurian Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Large-billed Crow
Japanese Waxwing
Eastern Great Tit
Varied Tit
Chinese Penduline Tit
Sand Martin
Barn Swallow
Asian House Martin
Red-rumped Swallow
Zitting Cisticola
Light-vented Bulbul
Brown-eared Bulbul
Asian Stubtail
Japanese Bush Warbler
Korean Bush Warbler
Oriental Reed Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Japanese/Kamchatka Leaf Warbler
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler
Eastern Crowned Warbler
Warbling White-eye
Eurasian Wren
Chestnut-cheeked Starling
White-cheeked Starling
Siberian Thrush
White's Thrush
Grey-backed Thrush
Japanese Thrush
Pale Thrush
Brown-headed Thrush
Dusky Thrush
Japanese Robin
Siberian Blue Robin
Red-flanked Bluetail
Swinhoe's Robin
Stejneger's Stonechat
Blue Rock Thrush
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
Dark-sided Flycatcher
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
Narcissus Flycatcher
Mugimaki Flycatcher
Blue and White Flycatcher
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Citrine Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
White Wagtail
Japanese Wagtail
Richard's Pipit
Olive-backed Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
Buff-bellied Pipit
Brambling
Oriental Greenfinch
Eurasian Siskin
Hawfinch
Japanese grosbeak
Meadow Bunting
Tristram's Bunting
Little Bunting
Yellow-browed Bunting
Rustic Bunting
Yellow-throated Bunting
Chestnut Bunting
Japanese Yellow Bunting
Black-faced Bunting
139 species in 11 days

Two one-day trips to Hegura... part two

Even more than yesterday I was keen on finding my own birds rather than chasing other people's in the short time I had. Nevertheless I was still lucky enough to bump into two Black-naped Orioles on two occasions without putting in the effort many others had. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky with a male Chestnut Bunting which was the other found-by-others bird I'd have liked to see, the back of someone's camera was the closest I came.


The good news was there had clearly been an arrival with all that overnight and early morning rain. Phylloscs were even more common and I saw a lot more Eastern Crowned. Whether they were really new in or I was merely connecting with more I can't be certain but there were a also a couple of stubbornly silent Arctic-complex warblers I hadn't seen yesterday and there were most definitely far more Asian Brown Flycatchers. A small group of Chestnut-flanked White-eyes were discovered in the harbour during the day. As an aside, the lack of definite Japanese Leaf Warblers interesting as I saw and heard several in a coastal park the following day.

Not the greatest Chestnut-flanked White-eye shots, they stayed deep in the bushes and I was on count-down to ferry departure, but this was a well marked bird. Despite the brevity of the views the expected longer primary projection was striking but I confess I hadn't expected such a distinctly darker face.

As I said Asian Brown Flycatchers were far more common, I also added Grey-streaked and Japanese Paradise to my trip list, Blue and White were up in numbers but I saw just the one Mugimaki. Possibly the same bird as yesterday.

Asian Brown was common.

Grey-streaked.

2CY male Mugimaki.

That Chestnut Bunting I missed was frustrating but other buntings were fairly easy to find, though there was just a single late Rustic that I saw.

Tristram's Bunting

Yellow-browed Bunting

Female spodocephala Black-faced Bunting.

hegurajima October 14

I was hoping to spend three days on Hegura this week but just as last week it was impossible to get accommodation at such short notice. If most guest were fishermen last week, the island was certainly jumping with birders this week. The weather charts for the two days preceding my visit had looked very promising to bring birds in and so it proved; there were far more present this time.


Perhaps the two most striking changes were the arrival of Daurian Redstarts, which are now flaunting the presence around the island, and a huge number of buntings; buntings at every turn. Much more like mid-October in other words.


It wasn't difficult to resist the temptation to photograph the Daurians, they are after all a very common bird in Japan and there's no need to go to Hegura to get frame-fillers. The only Daurians I'd photograph there are birds that are of special interest for some reason, he said pompously. I often grumble inwardly when people are messing around on Hegura photographing common birds rather than getting on trying to find something. So let me first of all confess my own sins...

One of many Bramblings on the island.

Do they come much more common than Brambling? Well how about this...

One of two Great Spotted Woodpeckers I saw (and yes, I even got shots of both).

Well one excuse could be the Woodpeckers could be an interesting race; or how about they're damn difficult to get even half decent shots of in Kyoto. I know, clutching at straws. But why is it that Hokkaido woodpeckers always throw themselves at the camera while elsewhere they do their best to be on the wrong side of the tree. I'm still struggling for a Brambling excuse though.


Another bird that isn't exactly rare is Hawfinch but again it's a species I never normally get close to so...

An unusually confiding Hawfinch.

For many people Elegant Bunting would be another common winter species but it's something I rarely see in Kyoto, though they do winter elsewhere in Kansai.

Elegant Bunting was suddenly one of the commonest species on the island, there had been none a week earlier.

Last week I had my first Yellow-browed Bunting for Hegura and the following bird may even be the same individual as it was only 50 metres from that sighting. A cracking bird though and these better shots were worth a little stalking to get.

Yellow-browed Bunting; a very uncommon, dare I say rare, autumn migrant.

And sticking with Yellow-browed, the next one's a warbler. I saw nine Yellow-brows in my brief visit, no doubt there could have been many more.

This shot of Yellow-brow was taken by accident while trying to photograph a Willow Warbler!

There were two interesting clusters of birds. The first was in the strip of dense, low, tangled woodland running through the centre of the southern half of the island. I found a Willow Warbler and while driving myself nuts trying to get a decent shot of it I also saw two Yellow-brow, single Mugimaki and Narcissus Flycatchers as well as several Pale Thrushes, an irritating flock of Japanese White-eyes (irritating because they made it so difficult to follow the Willow Warbler), quite a few Goldcrest (they didn't help much either) and a handful of Coal Tits. Just last week I said I don't often see Coal Tits on the island, had I known they would suddenly appear in bigger numbers I'd have made the comment about something a bit more exotic. A Eurasian Sparrowhawk put in two appearances which was very nice though as I'd already found three piles of Pale Thrush feathers on my way through the trees I doubt any of the thrushes still present felt the same way.

Coal Tit.

If you're thinking "Another common species!", this is because I was hoping for Yellow-bellied Tit and even though this doesn't look anything like a Yellow-bellied Tit it was good camera practise just in case...

Mugimaki Flycatcher.

The second good-bird cluster was in a little grassy bay near the north end. I was staggering and stumbling through the hidden rocks and grassy tussocks when in fairly quick succession a large silent pipit, a large silent bunting and a small silent bunting flew up and perched on the rocky shore. In the end the large bunting turned out to be Pine which is good but expected in October and the pipit was a Richard's which may be the first I've seen on Hegura. I normally see Richard's either as spring migrants on other islands or as wintering birds further south. The small bunting I dismissed as a Reed in the excitement but grabbed a couple of quick shots to check later as I hadn't seen Reed this trip yet. With the big things sorted and the little thing gone I looked at the two images and was puzzled; I still am. It looks as though it's going to be easy to identify but looking closer it's almost as if it's made of old left over bunting bits, it's not a Reed. The small conical bill with the pale lower mandible could fit on a Pallas's Reed okay, there are bits of washed out Little and of Rustic too but neither seem perfect. This is killing me. Surely the answer is so obvious it's staring me in the face but I'm just not getting it!

A bunting on some colourful but not pleasant to walk over rocks...

A couple of people have commented saying this looks like a Pine Bunting. Indeed it does, the answer really was staring me in the face. Pine was the only streaky bunting (within reason) I never considered, simply because there was a Pine Bunting a few rocks over and this bird looked about 30% smaller hence my mind was focused on something small.


Having a last look around the harbour before boarding the ferry two guys came up and told me there was a Schrenck's Bittern at the hospital. My first reaction was hospital! What hospital? Anyway I thought right, two minutes up to the docs, two minutes back, 15 minutes till the ferry's official departure time. This has to be the only public transport in Japan that often leaves a few minutes early. Fortunately the bird really was just sitting in the "garden", a quick series of shots and back just as they shutting up shop, raising the gangplank or whatever, and we were out of the harbour five minutes ahead of schedule.


This reminded me of the time I was going to the ferry and someone told me he'd just found a Spotted Flycatcher! Still Japan's one and only record. Why didn't I just let the ferry go and stay on the island another day?! In that light even a Schrenck's pales. Another puzzle; why do I always get cracking views of Schrenck's Bittern (okay not always, but three of them have been point-blank range) and Yellow is always (always) a distant speck flying over some enormous reedbed?

Garden gnome or Schrenck's Bittern.

Species recorded:-
Eurasian Wigeon   1
Streaked Shearwater   common from the ferry
Schrenck's Bittern   1
Grey Heron   1
Great Cormorant   1 Wajima harbour
Black Kite   2
Eurasian Sparrowhawk   1
Black-tailed Gull   c200
Slaty-backed Gull   several Wajima harbour
Oriental Turtle Dove   1
Great Spotted Woodpecker   2
Coal Tit   c10
Red-rumped Swallow   1
Brown-eared Bulbul   c15
Japanese Bush Warbler   fairly common
Willow Warbler   1
Dusky Warbler   1
Yellow-browed Warbler   9
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler   1 heard
Japanese White-eye   c10
Goldcrest   several
Pale Thrush   several
Siberian Rubythroat   2
Daurian Redstart   common
Stejneger's Stonechat   3
Narcissus Flycatcher   1
Mugimaki Flycatcher   1
White Wagtail   2
Richard's Pipit   1
Olive-backed Pipit   1
Red-throated Pipit   1
Buff-bellied Pipit   2
Brambling   common
Eurasian Siskin   c30
Oriental Greenfinch   5
Hawfinch   3
Pine Bunting   1
Little Bunting   1
Yellow-browed Bunting   1
Rustic Bunting   several
Elegant Bunting   common
Yellow-breasted Bunting   1 seen by others
Black-faced Bunting   common
Lapland Bunting   1 seen by others

Hegurajima October 7

Heading out to Hegura, even for just a day trip when the weather is far from perfect in birding terms, is always exciting. Whatever the weather something could turn up or a earlier arrival still be lingering. Of course a day trip means getting there at 10:30 and catching the 3pm boat back. It doesn't allow enough time to even cover the whole island, small as it is, let alone spend sufficient time in each area to find the more secretive species. So it proved this time but even some of the easily found birds were pretty good.

When I'm staying on the island I always make a beeline for the accommodation, get rid of my bag and into the field as quickly as possible. Whereas on day trips my first port of call is no further than the scrap of scrub in the harbour. This tiny area never seems to disappoint and I wonder how many good birds I've missed over the years hurrying by on the way to dump my stuff. To call this 30m x 30m nugget of knee-high vegetation even a scrap of scrub seems rather grand, it may be a universe to an arch-skulker but to most birds, even with the small seamless blob of central bushes (probably no more than three or four), there aren't many places to hide!

On this occasion I glimpsed the distinctive tail pattern of a Taiga/Red-breasted Flycatcher dive into the clump of bushes. I managed to get a brief view as it perched in the penumbra before vanishing stubbornly into the interior. But as I was leaving the island there it was again, this time perched right out in the open on the wooden fence charged with holding back this mini-jungle. Thus it provided an excellent introduction and conclusion to this all-to-short visit - even though I wasn't left with enough time to try to get any half decent shots of it.

With more time and a few mealworms that the photographers usually come armed with, I'm sure this bird would have proved very cooperative.

100 metres further on, in the less often cut strip of grass and weeds along the edge of what used to be the school playing field (it still is I suppose, it's just no longer a school with any pupils) a Middendorff's Warbler popped up and whirred the slow-motion locustella whir into the hedge. How do they migrate thousands of kilometres when reaching the nearest cover looks as much as they can manage? Then a couple of minutes later I was looking at a Yellow-browed Bunting. Yellow-browed is a more frequent spring migrant and as I usually visit other islands in spring this was both a Hegura and autumn tick for me. And very nice too!

Kamchatka Leaf Warblers were common on the island but the only other phylloscs I had were three Yellow-browed Warblers and one Sakhalin Leaf Warbler heard only.

I don't think I've ever been to Hegura in October without seeing Pine Bunting. Sometimes small flocks of them, yet I've never seen one anywhere else in Japan except once for a rather dashing wintering male in Hokkaido. It's not as though they're either skulking or difficult to identify and I find it odd that I don't see more given they're so regular here.

Pine Bunting in the harbour, a farewell bonus before jumping on the ferry.

The "midday shift" allowed by the ferry schedule isn't necessarily the most productive and considering I had a two-hour lull during which I found very little I had no complaints about the trip. This is the list of species recorded:-

Mandarin Duck   8
Streaked Shearwater   common from the ferry
Grey Heron   1
Black Kite   1
Black-tailed Gull   common
Slaty-backed Gull   c10 in Wajima harbour
Black Woodpigeon   2
Oriental Turtle Dove   several
Great Tit   2-3
Coal Tit   1
Barn Swallow   1 the only Barn during the four-day trip to Ishikawa
Skylark   5
Brown-eared Bulbul   a few
Japanese Bush Warbler   c12 heard
Asian Stubtail   1
Middendorff's Warbler   1
Yellow-browed Warbler   3
Kamchatka Leaf Warbler   common
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler   1 heard
Japanese White-eye   fairly common
Dusky Thrush   2
thrush sp   2-3
Blue Rock Thrush   2-3
Asian Brown Flycatcher   1
Taiga Flycatcher   1
White Wagtail   2
Red-throated Pipit   1
Brambling   c20
Oriental Greenfinch   several
Pine Bunting   1
Yellow-browed Bunting   1
Black-faced Bunting   several