Aleutian Terns from the Fukuoka ferry

The draft of this post has been sitting around for ages because I've been birding... a lot. By way of a quick explanation, I went to Tsushima on about April 27 and stayed a couple of weeks after which I was at home (mainly weeding the garden) for a few days before heading off again. So, I have some catching up to do; here goes...


I've never been a big fan of Tsushima; it's too big. Or so I've always thought, more in a minute. However, due to the current health situation it has been the only off-shore birding location accessible by private car, all the birders I met out there had arrived via the ferry in their own vehicles. The empty ferry I ought to stress, the jetfoil service was actually suspended due to the lack of passengers.


I've always thought the stretches of water between Tsushima and ROK to the north, and Tsushima and Iki to the south, would be good for northbound Aleutian Terns in late April or early May, around Golden Week in other words. My two previous trips across these waters however produced nothing other than the predictable Streaked Shearwater fest. This time I was luckier, the return ferry to Fukuoka (May 8) was not only more birdy in general but even produced the hoped for Aleutians! Despite all the fantstic birding over the two weeks out there, this was my only Japan tick of the trip.


Still within sight of Izuhara port we met with the first of two flocks of incoming passerines. I didn't get on to them until they were already past the ship heading towards land but the uniformly brownish upperparts and particularly the very direct flight strongly suggested waxwings. We'd seen a party of Japanese Waxwings on the island just two days earlier and I suspect these were more birds on their way from where ever they'd been lurking in western/southern Japan. I always imagine waxwings should be gone by now and I don't know why this persists. There seem to be many turning up on migration islands into late May. A quick check through my own recent records show May 20 (Hegurajima) is latest, but a number of both species have been in Shiga this week, until at least May 24-25 I believe.


The next excitement was a murrelet. This was almost certainly Japanese of course but it was just too quick and heading away to be 100% sure. I invariably see them not so far from here on the Mishima-Hagi ferry at this time of year. There, usually on the return late afternoon sailing as the birds are gathering off their nesting islands.


With Iki island drawing closer we had our first Oriental Honey Buzzards coming from the north. At first sight it seems odd that raptors fly this same north to south route into Japan in spring as well as on the famous autumn passsage; no doubt these are birds which breed in Japan and are almost 'home'. First there was a lose group of six, soon followed by two more, but interest in the last two was cut abruptly short with the appearance of two Sterna terns, Yes, they may be Onychoprion nowadays, but in the heat of the moment they were definitely still Sterna.


The terns weren't close and might have been reluctant to tick them had the images not confirmed the features I thought I was seeing in the field. My companion on the trip, who is familiar with Aleutian Terns, had no reservations. As I said earlier, this was my only Japan tick of the trip even though the birding had been excellent. So good in fact that I've had to change my rather negative view of the island (or rather islands) as a migration hot-spot. While time spent driving is a problem, knowing more high quality sites means more birding and less exploration. I'd certainly consider going back now, something I'd previously thought out of the question.


Continuing south, the ship doesn't hang around in Iki port, it's hardly docked before it's pulling out again. This was just long enough for me to discover all the vending machines aboard had already switched to cold coffee. Really?! It was surprisingly chilly out on deck despite the strong sunshine so a celebratory hot coffee in the warmth of the sheltered harbour would have gone down a treat.


South of Iki were clouds of feeding Streaked Shearwaters but apart from three more southbound Oriental Honey Buzzards that was pretty much it. All in all, a very successful ferry journey.

Two of the southbound Oriental Honey Buzzards

OHB's weren't quite daily on the island but ones or twos weren't so surprising rising on warming early morning air. The views were unquestionably better on the island. All but one were seen at the southern end of the island, the SW peninsula near the Tsutsusaki lighthouse to be more accurate, and I'd assumed they'd made landfall the previous day and roosted before continuing north. Now I realise they were gathering here waiting to make the jump the other way, south, into Japan. There were also several Japanese Sparrowhawks there on sunny mornings, presumably with the same agenda.

Male Oriental Honey Buzzard over Tsutsusaki lighthouse on the SW peninsula. We had three or four Japanese Sparrowhawks one morning in the same area.

Two Aleutian Terns... if you can pick them out.

Awful as these heavily cropped images may be the key features can be seen; dusky belly contrasting with white throat and the distinctive dark secondary bar on the underwing.  

The upperwing is mainly uniform but there's a paler wedge in the inner primaries and the outers are darker- tipped.

Even more distant but as the bird is tilted slightly this way the paler inner primaries are more obvious.

And speaking of Japanese Sparrowhawks, these images are of birds at the south west peninsula. Do Eurasian Sparrowhawks also fly with this Bulwer's Petrel-like raised head? I can't say I've noticed if they do.

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

October 15-16 Noto Peninsula & Hegurajima

After my successful Hegura day trip on the 14th I drove up to Rokkozaki at the tip of the peninsula in the evening. I consider the place a poor man's Hegura, it's definitely got potential but as yet I've never had anything spectacular.


So on the morning of the 15th, after all the birds on Hegura the previous day, I had high hopes. Two Yellow-browed Warblers and a couple of Daurian Redstarts at the beginning of the track up to the lighthouse on the point did nothing to diminish them. However, though there were more birds than there had been a week ago there really wasn't anything to get excited about and the best bird I saw was a juvenile Japanese Sparrowhawk.

With a broad arm and small hand as well as a short tail I find the silhouette very distinctive; don't ask me why but it always reminds me of a butterfly.

Meadow Bunting is common at Rokkozaki, common just about everywhere in fact. So it's odd that of all the buntings you might expect to see just over the water on Hegurajima, this is possibly the least likely you'll come across. To my knowledge there were nine species of bunting on Hegura on the two days I visited this week, 10 if you consider Masked distinct from Black-faced. No sign of Meadow though.

Meadow becomes a widespread and frequently encountered bunting once off Hegurajima. They were very common at Rokkozaki.

After fruitlessly working the point for most of the morning I decided to head south to Kanazawa and Kenmin Kaihin Park. It's about 150km via Wajima which was the route I took and a bit of a long-shot but the weather suggested to me that birds would be leaving in droves with nothing coming in to replace them so I hoped there might be a chance of catching something lingering after the bring-'em-in weather two days earlier.


Coming into Wajima I was amazed to see a cruise ship docked! Totally incongruous and the last thing I'd have expected in this small, out-of-the-way port. I'd have been no more surprised (though a good deal more delighted) to see a Saker coming in-off.

A cruise ship in Wajima?! Anyone familliar with the port will recognise that brown fish processing building next to the Hegura ferry docking point.

What is it about Kanazawa and Lesser Cuckoos this week? Once at the park in Kanazawa it was obvious most birds had already left, if they'd ever arrived in numbers at all. But there was yet another Lesser Cuckoo for entertainment.

The question now seemed to be go home or return north and make another day trip to Hegura. I really didn't expect there to be much there but the island is capable of attracting just about anything even if the weather doesn't seem terribly conducive. So it was another overnight drive north and 9am ferry out to the island. The cruise ship had already left, someone must have informed the captain he'd docked in the wrong port.


Hegura was predictably quiet after all the birds earlier in the week. Almost all the common migrants were down in numbers, the buntings and Daurian Redstarts had all but cleared out. Only Hawfinch was up in numbers, they were everywhere. However Yellow-browed Warblers were still present, I counted 10, a Dusky could have been the same bird as two days ago but there was no sign of the Willow Warbler.


Red-throated Pipit numbers might have seemed to be up but that was possibly because I hadn't visited one of their favourite locations last time and there were seven present this trip. The same might be said of Buff-bellied, up to six from two last visit. Unlike some trips out there it wasn't a wrench to be leaving in the afternoon and judging by the number of birders heading to the harbour well before sailing time I wasn't alone in that thought.

Two of the Red-throated Pipits present.

Hegura list:-
Mandarin Duck   2
Streaked Shearwater   common from the ferry
Black Kite   2
Eurasian Sparrowhawk   1
Black-tailed Gull   c150
Vega Gull   1
Oriental Turtle Dove   4
Large-billed Crow   1
Coal Tit   several
Skylark   5
Brown-eared Bulbul   fairly common
Japanese Bush Warbler   common, though mainly heard
Dusky Warbler   1
Yellow-browed Warbler   10
Goldcrest   c10
Pale Thrush   8
Siberian Rubythroat   2
Daurian Redstart   8
Stejneger's Stonechat   1
Blue Rock Thrush   1
Mugimaki Flycatcher   1 heard
Grey Wagtail   1
White Wagtail   2
Olive-backed Pipit   1
Red-throated Pipit   7
Buff-bellied Pipit   6
Brambling   very common
Eurasian Siskin   1
Hawfinch   common
Japanese Grosbeak   c8
Pine Bunting   1
Chestnut-eared Bunting   2
Rustic Bunting   c8
Elegant Bunting   c40
Black-faced Bunting   c5, the two seen well were both spodocephala, a male and female

accipiters

I've never heard of Chinese Sparrowhawk in the region but as they are recorded migrating south over Cape Irago they are obviously passing into Mie and hence necessarily through the region, albeit in small numbers. So it's something people need to be aware of but not to expect.

Japanese Sparrowhawk breeds in the forested hills of the region. It's probably reasonable common but sightings are unpredictable. They are far more conspicuous on migration than in continuous mountain breeding habitat and it's even possible to see them in city parks or along major river systems.

Flight shots of an October migrant on Hegurajima.

Seeing one dash by in woodland is one thing, but finding them perched requires even more luck.

 
Eurasian Sparrowhawk can be equally difficult to find in summer but in winter they also move into open country and are far more easily seen. I'll often come across one at Ogura or around Lake Biwa, hunting along hedges, riverside trees or even across open fields.

A spring migrant on Mishima, Yamaguchi.

A typical winter bird sitting in riverside trees at Ogura.

Another island migrant, this time on Hegurajima in Ocober.

Goshawk is also a common winter hawk, often seen in open country, much as Eurasian Sparrowhawk, and they are frequent in the Ogura area. While Eurasian Sparrowhawk is something I often see on islands during migration, Goshawk seems less common out there.

Adult and juvenile Goshawks on a misty winter's morning along the Uji River at Ogura.