Can't have been all bad... there was a Chinese Egret!

I had hoped to get out to Hegurajima the weekend before last but the forecast was enough to convince me the ferry wouldn't sail so I ended up going to Mie instead. But now, with spring weather now well and truly with us, I really wanted to get out there last weekend to see what might be coming through. I'd been looking forward to it all week as a matter of fact and even though a day trip means less than four midday hours on the island, a lot of birds can be seen in those four hours. They can, but you have to get there first...


By Friday the marine forecast was looking grim for the second weekend running. Eventually I decided I go up to the coast anyway, intending to bird the mainland if the ferry didn't run. I was quite sure it wouldn't operate, the wind speed was going to be well in excess of the ferry cancellation threshold. That rain was expected throughout the day didn't make any difference.


The drive north was starry but as I drew near the end on the Noto Peninsula rain finally began to fall from clouds that had been gathering since first light. It didn't seem particularly windy though and after about 20 minutes of light rain the clouds started to break up. This raised my hopes, I dared to think there was a chance the ferry might sail. A flat calm sea off Wajima and I was beginning to feel quietly confident about it.


Of course it didn't sail, the dreaded notice was posted on the ticket office door and that was that. I'd already covered the lighthouse hill behind the town where there were a couple of Narcissus Flycatchers and an Eastern Crowned Warbler singing. So the next stop was to be an area of paddy fields further along the coast but before that I had a quick drive past the harbour and round the small headland. The first bird I saw was an egret on the rock pools. Surely it had to be a Pacific Reef, hardly rare but still a good bird, however the vast majority I come across are dark so this white bird was well worth stopping for. I pulled up blocking the narrow road to have a quick check through the bins and... Whoa! Chinese Egret; only my fourth ever. Luckily there was a small car park I could dive into right by the bird.



So here are a few shots of the bird which, apart from in the first, might have passed for a Reef Egret were they common enough not to be worth stopping for.

Mishima; May 3-4, rain!

Another opportunity to pair two days together, again the weather was similar. The first spots of rain began to fall at 05:55 yesterday as I was sitting drinking awful canned coffee overlooking the paddy fields on the edge of the village. It rained lightly or heavily until nightfall and beyond. I didn't mind too much, it was what I'd hoped for after all. Every time I lifted my bins water ran down the back of my neck, gravity and the weight of water my hat had absorbed meant the brim was ever ready to dip inside my collar and tip the surplus in tickling runnels. Fortunately it lacked the chill of English rain so it was little more than a minor irritation but nevertheless I called it a day after only eight hours in the field. Eight hours of very few birds it has to be said.

The only standout bird of the day was a Korean Bush Warbler, its song instantly giving it away. Though I've seen them on other islands this was my first borealis for Mishima, which incidentally is the only place I've ever had cantaurians and I'm still hoping for an armchair tick from that one.

Other new birds for the trip were Dusky Thrush flying over and a Great Cormorant on the reservoir. My camera stayed safely stowed all day so there is no photographic evidence to prove I ever left the shelter of my accommodation.

This morning I left at 05:30, it was still dark. Dawn was late coming even though the rain had temporarily stopped, Emboldened I didn't both with the waterproof over-trousers hence the awful canned coffee was made even more depressing by getting a wet bum. Soon the clouds cutting off the hill tops descended and I suppose at some point became mist. Not long after that a west wind sprang up with intermittent drizzle; west wind, mist and drizzle... it was too good to be true.

New birds for the trip came quicker, Common Kestrel getting the ball rolling followed by Grey-streaked Flycatcher in a tree with five Asian Browns (more than the trip total so far in one tree!). Waders, which have been strangely absent chipped in with a Grey-tailed Tattler and the first Common Sandpiper of the day. It was good to get some different species but they were all just list- padders really.

By 10:00 the mist was reverting to low cloud and a Mugimaki Flycatcher was quickly followed by a White's Thrush then a singing Swinhoe's Robin. Arguably Chinese Bush Warbler could be the arch-skulker as it isn't even on the Japanese list but being realistic Swinhoe's Robin has to take the title. This one was no more than three metres off the path in the crook of a tight bend, I could walk round looking from different angles as it blythely sang away totally unconcerned by me and my frustration. Until it stopped singing and the scrappy tangle of vegetation went from being the most exciting spot on the island to just a scrappy tangle of vegetation.

One good thing about the low cloud/mist was the thrushes no longer considered me a threat for some reason. Maybe the thought I'd be too slow moving trying to prevent water running down my neck. Brown-headed were sitting up all over the place but buntings could still be tricky. Back home I'm confident enough to identify all the regular species by call but here there are too many possible species that I only hear irregularly and I want to get a decent sighting before I'll put a name to anything. In fact I only identified 14 individuals today two Tristram's and 12 Japanese Yellow, there were probably far more of the latter.

Maybe it was a Black and White Warbler in a past life. 

The other Tristram's was more confiding. 

A fairly typical view of a Japanese Yellow Bunting. 

And the rear aspect. There were quite a few in this field, in fact I stopped counting for fear of duplication.

One very interesting bird today was an Eastern Yellow Wagtail x ? hybrid with a black face. This stood out from a great distance, I saw it on the seawall at about 100m and I couldn't believe it. It flew over the wall and disappeared and I had to go legging after it. I caught up with it on the rocky shore where it had teamed up with three Grey Wagtails but the path didn't continue far and I couldn't get close to it before it flew again and I lost it. Though black on the face there is a tiny spot of whitish before the eye which probably rules out the rarer taxa.

Tschutschensis seem rather variable but this would be taking things to extreme. It's something I'll have to look into more when I get home.

As a matter of interest here are two more birds I saw in the past, both early May.

This bird is a slightly duller green above but does have a black mask, however the white supercillium is prominent, I'm now wondering whether this isn't a hybrid too.  

Also duller green but this has a completely grey mask concolourous with the crown, a typical tschutschensis.

In early afternoon the sky suddenly began to clear though the wind was unchanged which I thought was odd if the front had passed through. No doubt there's a technical term for clouds like the ones below but to me they're 'funny clouds'.

Earlier in the week a birder told me he'd seen the Kara shigi sagi "it's behind the paddies over there" he said and told me it has been here for some time. I mistranslated this to Chinese Pond Heron (Aka gashira sagi) and the following morning headed off to the back of the paddies to try to find it in the scrubby reed bed between the paddies and the sea. Sure enough, there it was...

However today someone else told me they'd seen it and the penny dropped, they were talking about Swinhoe's Egret. I asked where it was and he told me it was on a stretch rocky shore which actually is behind those paddies where I came across the Pond Heron. Off I went again and quickly found it. The funny thing is I've never seen the Pond Heron again since the misunderstanding.

Swinhoe's Egret.

Birds today:-
Easten Spot-billed Duck   7
Little Grebe   2
Cattle Egret   7
Grey Heron   5
Great White Egret   9
Intermediate Egret   11
Little Egret   2
Swinhoe's Egret   1
Great Cormorant   1
Common Kestrel   1
Osprey   4
Black Kite   common
buzzard sp   1 flushed from a tree in the mist
Common Greenshank   1
Wood Sandpiper   4
Grey-tailed Tattler   1
Common Sandpiper   7
Black-tailed Gull   3
Rock Dove   14
Black Woodpigeon   1 plus 1 heard
Oriental Turtle Dove   common
Oriental Cuckoo   1 heard
Ashy Minivet   heard once or twice
Carrion Crow   2
Large-billed Crow   very common
Japanese Waxwing   1
Great Tit   2
Barn Swallow   common
Brown-eared Bulbul    common
Japanese Bush Warbler   several heard
Korean Bush Warbler   1 heard (yesterday's bird)
Oriental Reed Warbler   2 plus several heard
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler   common
Eastern Crowned Warbler   common
Japanese White-eye   common
White's Thrush   1
Japanese Thrush   several
Brown-headed Thrush   common
Pale Thrush   several
Japanese Robin   many heard
Siberian Rubythroat   4 heard
Swinhoe's Robin   1 heard
Blue Rock Thrush   4
Grey-streaked Flycatcher   1
Asian Brown Flycatcher   12
Narcissus Flycatcher   common
Mugimagi Flycatcher   1
Blue and White Flycatcher   8
Tree Sparrow   common round human habitation but one along the coast road, a personal first
Eastern Yellow Wagtail   1
Grey Wagtail   5
White Wagtail   2
Olive-backed Pipit   2
Red-throated Pipit   1
Buff-bellied Pipit   2
Oriental Greenfinch   common
Japanese Yellow Bunting   12
Tristram's Bunting   2
bunting sp   fairly common

egrets

Kansai may miss out a lot of Japanese birds but we do well enough for egrets. Apart from Eastern Reef, which is coastal of course, all can be seen easily in or around Kyoto city.

Cattle Egrets are numerous passing through Ogura in spring and autumn, in April mixed flocks of  Cattle and Intermediate can be seen flying upstream at Yawata where the rivers Yodo, Kiso and Katsura meet. In autumn they're less hurried and spend time in flocks dotted about the fields at Ogura (and elsewhere). They can still be found in the region throughout summer, birds breeding at Biwako may be the closest to Kyoto city. I've only seen one bird in winter, an oddly pink-footed bird following a plough at Ogura. Some are meant to winter in southern Japan but this was definitely an unusual occurrence in Kansai.

Living up to the name on Yonaguni.

In early May the colourful bare parts as much as the plumage make this a really attractive bird.

 

In June black on the culmen and only a hint of colour on the fore-crown suggest this is 2CY.

Part of a post-breeding flock at Ogura in August. The adults are losing their colour and some juveniles, like the bird on the left, still have black bills.

That the legs and even feet are pink seems very odd, I don't know how often Cattle have pink legs in winter. These images are video-grabs.

Ogura, late December 2004.

Great White Egret can be seen year round and is quite common even in Kyoto city centre where they can be quite tame. I once watched an woman walking her dog along the Kamogawa near the botanical gardens with a loose flock of Great Whites and Grey Herons walking along with her as she threw food to them. I watched them till they were out of sight around a bend. A most peculiar sight for all the world as if she was taking her pet herons for a walk.

This modestus is only just starting to come into breeding condition in March. No doubt why they are sometimes losing out to Great Cormorants in competition for nest sites.

Two full breeding birds in early May (Tsushima, Nagasaki). The rosy-pink tibia, blue-green lores and black bill are a striking combination.

      Below, a full breeding bird with entirely pale pink legs in early May, Mishima, Yamaguchi.

 

I'm uncertain about the status of albus in Japan, according to Brazil (The Birds of Japan, 1991) modestus occurs throughout the year and breeds from southern Japan to northern Honshu and increasingly into Hokkaido but he cites only a few records for albus. However in the Birds of East Asia (2009) albus is said to be the subspecies with the wide distribution with modestus being a summer visitor to southern Japan.

For a long time I was unable to detect any discernible differences between birds I was seeing in Japan and assumed the races must be indistinguishable in the field if both were occurring here. This until I was taking a visiting Australian birder round Lake Biwa one day and he asked about two egrets on a nearby pond. Getting the scope on them, they were both clearly Great White but for the first time I was seeing a very obvious difference between individuals. For the first time I was looking at something which really appeared to be an albus.

Great White Egrets, albus (right) and modestus (left), Lake Sainoko, Shiga January 2012. The albus is obviously larger and heavier with longer tibia and deeper-based bill. This is the first yellow-legged Great White I'd seen here, the legs were yellow to below the knee with tapering extensions down the sides of the tarsi.

Lake Sainoko, January 2012.

Amazingly I found another bird a month later in Sanda, Hyogo (the three shots below). Though alone, it nevertheless gave the impression of being very large and had the same distinctive pattern of yellow on the legs.

A second albus, February 2012.

                                     Below, two shots showing the extent of yellow on the legs.

 

I noticed this albus when going to see three Siberian White Cranes in Sikoku (March 2014), a local birder told me it had been a good winter for them and that there'd been more than just this one in the area.

Intermediate Egret is common in summer and very common around Kyoto in spring and autumn, there can be huge numbers (100s) in paddyfields on passage. Some of the biggest concentrations I see are in Mie but they are common throughout the whole of Kansai.

The obvious short gape line and large eye of Intermediate.

Intermediate coming into breeding condition in early April on Yonaguni.

The rather small size, close to Little, domed head and black-tipped yellow bill in spring and autumn can make them easy to identify even at long range across the fields.

Intermediate 14 September, the dark bill tip is beginning to fade.

Intermediate 18 October, a few migrants are still passing through.

Intermediate and Great White modestus side by side for comparison.

Little Egrets are also out on the paddies but are more a bird of riversides or ponds and they're common on the Kamogawa in the centre of Kyoto throughout the year. There is still a city centre breeding colony in a temple garden but others have disappeared. This is a species that can be found in all lowland areas in Kansai.

A great looking breeding bird in early March foot paddling on the Kamogawa in the centre of Kyoto city.

There are invariably birds fishing at the base of the small weirs along the river in the city.

Little seems far more aggressive than the other egrets here but maybe river sites increase competition compared to open paddyfields.

The Kansai egret you won't find anywhere close to the city is Eastern Reef. They're normally on rocky coasts and the best areas are in Wakayama and southern Mie, though they can easily be overlooked unless you're actively looking for them. The shots below are of a bird passing through Hegurajima in October.

The two video-grabs below are of a couple of Chinese Egrets on the Yodo River at Ebie, Osaka city at the beginning of July 2005. Definitely a species that can't be expected on a visit to Kansai!