A few other birds on the beach

It can be tough getting a good shot of Greater Scaup, they're often closest when in harbours rather than the open sea. On this occasion, standing on the tideline checking gulls, the birds were cruising the tideline and coming to me.

Immature Red-breasted Merganser

It wasn't just ducks off the beach, there were waders on the beach, mainly Dunlin, Sanderling and these Kentish Plovers.

Kentish Plover

And of course more gulls. There are plenty of atypical Vega around vying for attention, this was a nice one...

Distinctly small with shortish, purple legs. The saddle really is darker than the other Vega even though the different angle doesn't normally allow a meaningful comparison.

Extensive white in the outer primaries isn't unusual, a significant minority show this.

The fine streaking on the very rounded head and the bill slight are sufficiently unusual to catch the eye. However all the features shown by this gull can be found sifting through a flock of Vega, it's the combination of delicate head along with that saddle shade, the legs and wing-tip markings making it worth the attention.  

Bits 'n' bobs from Mie

I was in Mie this weekend, mainly to check through the gull gatherings on the beach north of Tsu-shi, and so didn't visit all my regular locations from south of Matsusaka north to Tsu. The stand-out bird, or birds I should say, were divers. It's always seemed odd to me that I've never seen a diver offshore in this area; yesterday I saw 19. There were 15 Pacific and four Red-throated visible from the beach, dotted through the huge rafts of ducks and grebes that were even more obvious than usual on a sea as flat as it ever gets. None were close enough to attempt a photograph but scoping through them a couple of Pacific still had chequered upperparts and one of the Red-throated even had remnants of a throat patch. Apart from the divers (and gulls) there weren't so many birds to comment on.


This is as good a time as any to mention a roadkill sighting in October that I'd meant to write about at the time. Quite amazing really.


I have a reasonably good Japan mammal list but I've never seen Japanese badger despite spending plenty of time in forest areas which look suitable. So it was unfortunate for me, and far worse for the badger of course, that the closest I came to one was spotting a freshly dead animal on the road while driving to Mie. The amazement factor kicks in when on the return drive there was another dead badger, in the same forest but lower on the mountain, this had plainly been hit during the afternoon in daylight. Was this an astonishing coincidence or was something else have created the situation where two animals would be on the road and hit by vehicles within about 14 hours? Since then things have been back to normal with no sign they even exist in this forest.

Buff-bellied Pipit in slanting light of the rising sun.

Another early bird in the same strong light.

This Little Grebe was just below the Kingfisher, in deep shadow.

The setting sun was much kinder to this Greater Scaup in a small fishing harbour.

Sanderling, while gulling on the beach.

Shorebirds and industry are a frequent mix, it's the lone tree that strikes the unexpected note for me.

Common Sandpiper

Female Daurian Redstart

Male Daurian Redstart

A day-and-a-bit in Mie

There are always plenty of birds to see in the Tsu / Matsusaka area thanks to the range of habitats. Though I didn't see anything that might be considered rare or even uncommon in Kansai this week I  did have a great time after not having been there since mid-November. And don't you love it when an impromptu search for something difficult to see pays off. In this case I decided to creep along a 400-metre stretch of roadside ditch to look for an Eastern Water Rail...

...success!


Most of the other birds I found, or I should say photographed, are the impossible to miss species. Still, getting half decent shots without putting any time into it is always a matter of luck.

First bird of the morning, immature male Blue Rock Thrush. That light reflecting off the water is from harbour lights not sun, it's amazing what a decent camera and lens can achieve pre-dawn.

Saunder's Gulls weren't being cooperative, they often cruise over the mud at the roadside but today they were way out in the middle of the river. Now that the adults have full breeding hoods they're playing harder to get. It must reflect Saunder's more southerly breeding range that all the adults (about 10) were in full breeding plumage whereas not one single Black-headed Gull (about 2000) was even close.

When I was last here in mid-November I was surprised there were no Common Gulls but there were many today. This first winter is at the light end of the colour spectrum; some birds are hanging on to a lot of juvenile plumage, particularly on the underparts.

Greater Scaup is prbably the most numerous bird around, there must be tens of thousands in the bay. There are usually a few in harbours.

Gadwall are really common here too but it's difficult to get close enough to appreciate their subtle beauty. This pair was on a drainage canal but they were very nervous and flew off onto a larger body of water before I could get any closer than this.

Chestnut-eared Buntings are quite common, far more so than around Kyoto.

Common Reed Buntings.

Eastern Buzzard, easy to see but another species which can be difficult to photograph well. They have clear views on boundaries. 

First winter Mongolian Gull. 

This leucistic Vega has been around for several winters.

Tsu/Matsusaka, Mie

I spent all day on the 9th and the morning of the 10th in the Tsu/Matsusaka area of Mie this week hoping to see migrant waders. My enthusiasm was probably getting the better of me, numbers are still fairly low and some common species weren't in yet, no Red-necked Stint or Grey-tailed Tattler for example, but I still managed 20 species.  Eight Spotted Redshank, single Long-billed Dowitcher and Ruff were the pick of the bunch. None are rare but I don't see Spotted Redshank every time I go, Dowitchers are unpredictable and Ruff really is a scarce passage bird.

Because spring passage wasn't in full swing and many wintering species had departed there was something of a 'between seasons' feel to the trip. There weren't any Common Shelduck or even the normally so common Goldeneye but others were still hanging on with a single Black Brant and a couple of Saunder's Gulls. Two Chestnut-cheeked Starlings, which is a reliable early passerine, were the only non-wader migrants I came across.

I'd planned to make it a one-day trip but decided to hang on and spend the night in the van as the tide tables showed a much bigger drop the following day. Counter intuitively waders are often much closer at low tide as birds can gather on distant sandbars and follow the receding waterline towards the coast. As things turned out the views were better on tidal areas but wader numbers were identical except for four new Bar-tailed Godwits.

I left just before midday as I wanted to check out an area in the mountains on the return journey. It always looks promising driving through but in the event the accessible areas, and much of the rest, were monotonous ranks of cedar. Even Large-billed Crows and Brown-eared Bulbuls were thin on the ground.

There were huge rafts of Greater Scaup well off-shore, 200-300 on a large pond and a few, like these in some of the harbours.

The Ruff was a nice surprise.

Long-billed Dowitcher

Spotted Redshanks

This is usually one of the commoner species so in that respect just a single was disappointing but as the moult of most I see isn't as advanced I was happy enough. 

On the 9th there was just a slight dip between high tides and the Oystercatchers were only seen at one location but on the 10th there was a much bigger fall in the water level and birds were dispersed over a wide area and were much easier to find.

Some of the Bar-tailed Godwits were very red and views were quite close on the 10th.

These three Barwits were more distant on the 9th, so was their breeding plumage. One of them was a monster with an amazingly long, thick and straight bill, I was expecting it to be Black-tailed until I got the scope on it.

The Grey Plover must be either late breeders or fast moulters, there wasn't a single black 'n' white amongst them. 

I don't think it's possible to get a shot of Sanderling with two feet on the ground, with two birds there's at least a chance.

First summer Saunder's Gull, one of only two I managed to see. 

 

I was going to say a slightly odd looking Slaty-backed but then what's really odd is to see two that look the same.

The Buff-bellied Pipits are starting to come into breeding plumage but this bird caught my eye more because of its long, hook-tipped upper mandible. 

List of birds seen
Chinese Bamboo Partridge   1 heard
Green Pheasant   3 plus many heard each morning
Gadwall
Falcated Duck
Eurasian Wigeon
Mallard
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Eurasian Teal
Pochard
Tufted Duck
Greater Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Grey Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret   1
Little Egret
Great Cormorant
Osprey   1
Black kite
Moorhen   1
Coot
Eurasian Oystercatcher   29
Black-winged Stilt   3
Grey-headed Lapwing   10-15
Grey Plover   16
Little Ringed Plover   fairly common 9th, only 1 10th
Kentish Plover   common
Lesser Sandplover   2
Common Snipe
Long-billed Dowitcher   1
Bar-tailed Godwit   7
Eurasian Curlew   1
Far Eastern Curlew   2
Spotted Redshank   8
Redshank   2
Greenshank   2
Wood Sandpiper   1
Common Sandpiper   4
Sanderling   common on some beaches
Dunlin   c300
Ruff   1
Black-tailed Gull   several
Common Gull   fairly common
Vega Gull   fairly common
Slaty-backed Gull   3
Taimyr Gull   fairly common
Black-headed Gull  
Saunder's Gull   2
Feral Rock Dove
Oriental Turtle Dove
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker   1
Bull-headed Shrike   several
Carrion Crow
Large-billed Crow
Great Tit   1
Barn Swallow
Zitting Cisticola   3
Brown-eared Bulbul
Japanese Bush Warbler   many heard
Chestnut-cheeked Starling   2
White-cheeked Starling
Dusky Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush   2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
White Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit   1
Buff-bellied Pipit   10+
Oriental Greenfinch
Meadow Bunting
Black-faced Bunting   4-8
Reed bunting   several

Additional species driving back
Varied Tit   1
Coal Tit   fairly common
Long-tailed tit   1 party
Japanese White-eye   several
Eurasian Wren   3 heard
Grey Wagtail   1

Mammals on the drive out
Sika Deer   c30
Japanese Marten   1
mouse sp   1