Lots of thrushes

I had hoped to get back to Hegurajima this week but it wasn't to be. I set off on the off-chance the sea might calm sufficiently to allow the ferry to sail. As I continued to check the marine forecast while heading north it became clear this wasn't going to happen so I didn't waste my time driving up the Noto Peninsular to Wajima.


I had left home the afternoon before yesterday allowing time for a quick stop in the hills on the way up, even if the ferry had been running. No sign of Copper Pheasant, display has tailed off somewhat but this showy Japanese Woodpecker was nice.

Ashy Minivets were frequently overhead but none came within decent camera range and this pair was the best I could manage.

I was disappointed I wasn't going to make it out to the island, the weather looked promising but it meant when I arrived in Kanazawa there was time to grab a little sleep before dawn. When I did clamber out of the van I had this snowy reminder that some parts of Japan get real winter, unlike Kansai.

To be honest the winter scene was the second surprise, the first was before I even clambered out of the van. There were Eyebrowed, Brown-headed and Dusky Thrushes running round on the short grass next to where I'd parked. Dusky I could understand but the other two are often no more than a fleeting tail breaking from the undergrowth before vanishing through the canopy. Unfortunately in the early light they required a very high ISO to capture them so the results aren't as impressive as they might have been.

Almost a nice grouping: male and female Eyebrowed Thrushes but the Blue and White Flycatcher (tail just visible behind a branch on the left) chose to move before I could get the shot.

A stunning male, they don't even look this good in field guides.

Brown-headed Thrush.

There were plenty of other migrants around, the place was teaming with phylloscs, Eastern Crowned were everywhere, very vocal, very active, and Sakhalin Leaf were fairly numerous too. A couple of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings became half a dozen as the morning wore on and an Ashy Minivet heard only once probably passed straight through. Two or three Japanese Robins were singing and there was at least one Siberian Rubythroat as well. Several Narcissus, Asian Brown and Blue and White Flycatchers were dotted around the park but I came across just a single Japanese Yellow Bunting. Also represented by a lone individual, Oriental and Northern Hawk Cuckoo sand intermittently throughout the day but I only saw the former. Another invisible songster was an Oriental Reed Warbler, quite what it was doing in woodland I don't know but there were several in more expected habitat nearby. Just as good for me was an Azure-winged Magpie so I'll mention it with the migrants. I don't see them in Kansai and this is the closest to home I can find them, great looking birds.   

Chestnut-cheeked Starlings is a passage migrant in my region.

My drive up to Hegurajima is my only chance to see Azure-winged Magpie, if I have the time to stop and look.

Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Because the park had a good selection of migrants it was easy to the feel things were on the move and something could really good turn up. Unfortunately it didn't and by day's end I was wishing I'd been on Hegura. The marine forecast didn't look any better for today so I stayed overnight but this morning seemed much quieter. In fact the same birds were present but less vocal, the periods of drizzle perhaps dampened the birds' exuberance, making everything seem harder work. I'd walked for 11 hours yesterday but there was no way I could muster the enthusiasm to repeat that even if I'd had the time. Someone saw a Japanese Paradise Flycatcher early in the morning in an area I'd spent a lot of time yesterday so that may have been newly arrived.

Female Meadow Bunting caught in a rare sunny moment.

Ishikawa trip last weekend

While the Hoopoe I wrote about a couple of days ago was the highlight of the trip to Ishikawa last weekend, the aim was to see the Scaly-sided Merganser on the Saigawa in Kanazawa. And just like last winter I failed miserably.

I started on the Saigawa at the usual (?) spot and though there were 11 Goosanders on the river at first light there was no sign of the Merganser. Here we go again I thought, but hey, there was plenty of river still to check, still plenty of optimism... still plenty of misplaced optimism as it turned out. The Goosanders were expected here but a Bohemian Waxwing wasn't. A splendid adult hanging on the fringe a group of about 20 Hawfinches, not quiet sure if it should join those seed eaters. I suppose if you're a Waxwing being on your own is an odd experience.

I gave up on the spot far more quickly than last winter, no more walking up and down, and drove up river stopping everywhere the road touched the river, at every vantage point giving a view along an unreachable stretch. There were no more Goosanders, nothing to keep my hopes up, where does it go? Or maybe it had gone, it is March after all.

I saw no more sawbills up river, but a couple of Crested Kingfishers in riverside trees and a Brown Dipper were reward enough. Or at least that's what I told myself, I could maybe have seen them without the four-hour drive. Returning for a quick look back at the starting point where there were now only four Goosanders convinced me to give up and trawl the fields to the north of the city for anyhting else of interest.

Two of the Goosanders just after dawn. 

The lonely Bohemian Waxwing, a cracking adult.

It seemed a day for disappearing birds so it was somehow appropriate that I could hear invisible Tundra Swans calling on the fields. They didn't sound too far away but I couldn't find them, they weren't overhead either. Fail to find a Scaly-sided Merganser on a long and difficult river is one thing but audible Tundra Swans on open fields is an entirely different matter. The fields weren't a total bust though, I did find three Daurian Jackdaws in one of the Rook flocks, all dark birds though one had ghosted white underparts. I have a soft spot for Daurians and these were really were worth the trip as there haven't been any close to home this winter. Or none that I've seen anyway. Unfortunately, unlike many I've seen, I couldn't get creep up on them as the flock wasn't settled enough. The muddy fields they were feeding in resulted in many of the Carrion Crows having whiter-based bills than I'd expect from Rooks in Europe let alone the less white-based eastern birds.

White-billed Carrion Crow. 

The real deal, an obvious Rook.

The Daurians weren't the only good crows in the area. This is Azure-winged Magpie country, a fairly common species along the coast near Kanazawa but one I can't see in Kansai. The first ones I came across were in a tiny scrubby area in the docks and for a change I was able to get a couple of shots off before they managed melt away into what little undergrowth there was. Another disappearing bird.

Two of half a dozen Azure-winged Magpies.

I intended to go down to Katano Kamo-ike and almost didn't drop into Kenmin Kaihin Park before heading south. Fortunately I did and hence ran into the Hoopoe, suddenly things were really looking up and Merg or no Merg coming to Kanazawa now seemed a smart choice.

Baikal Teal and Taiga Bean Geese always leave early and I wasn't surprised there were none at Katano Kamo-ike. Nevertheless it was worth dropping in to connect with the only Falcated Ducks of the day. Then it was just a short trip to the coast in the hope of seeing a few divers and auks. There weren't any auks but three species of diver were excellent and on rocks off Kasano Misaki were Temminck's and Pelagic Cormorants.

A breeding Great Cormorant in the harbour.

Nearby, in the harbour were hundreds of gulls. Sadly the light was going and and most gulls were out on the breakwater. I was torn; stay here overnight and check the gulls in the morning or keep heading south and start Sunday at Biwako. A small harbour on a Sunday? I doubted there'd be much gull action in the morning so down to Biwako it was. It was on the dive south I paused in a convenience store car park I posted the Hoopoe shots.