Greater Spotted Eagle in Kyushu

I started the 29th at Yatsushiro where I've seen Great Black-headed Gull in the past. The estuary was teamimg with birds but all were at such a great distance it wasn't possible to identify most waders and there didn't seem to be any Great Black-headed Gulls in the large flocks gathered on different mud banks dotted off-shore.


The fields were a better option as far as viewing conditions were concerned and flocks of Saunder's Gulls were doing their best marsh tern impersonations over flooded fields, their high pitched k'yip calls quite un-gull like.

The wet fields provided my only Little Ringed Plover of the trip too. In the dry areas a flock of 200+ Russet Sparrows was good and regular sightings of Chestnut-eared Bunting, rather scarce around Kyoto, only went to emphasise how odd it was not to see any Rustic Buntings anywhere.

Chestnut-eared Bunting is quite easy to find.

Two of many Russet Sparrows in a huge flock.

My wife is worried about the car problem and forecast snow for the area and is pushing me to come home for New Year; and her January 1st birthday would have nothing to do with that I'm sure. So rather than head down to Izumi to see the the great clouds of cranes filling the morning sky I decided to cut across the island to Sadowara on the Miyazaki coast instead. Fantastic a spectacle as the morning crane flight is I can see that again another time, the Greater Spotted Eagle I'm not so sure about. Even though the last one in nearby Kagoshima Prefecture came back every winter year after year. Thought it was a pity to lose birding time driving across, I much prefer to do my driving at night, I didn't think I had much choice if I wanted to see the Eagle.


I arrived on the outskirts of Sadowara, dropping down from the mountains, mid-afternoon and a few hirundines caught my eye. Usually they'd be Asian House Martins in winter of course but these looked like Barn Swallows and sure enough when I was able to stop the only bird still in view was a Barn. An excellent introduction to the area but as time was pressing I didn't make the effort to check if they might have been tytleri. I've been told winter Barn Swallows can be this race.


The next good bird was also a subspecies, an albus Great White Egret. As I was approaching the Eagle site I noticed two egrets standing next to each other at the side of a ditch and was struck by the very obvious size difference. Again I didn't stop to check wanting to hurry on but as it turned out my first stop at the Eagle site was only 100 metres further on and soon after parking the Egret appeared. It was clearly much bigger than the several modestus present and extensive yellow in the legs and feet were also indicators. I'm not sure what the problem was but both feet were deformed.

Great White Egret E.a.albus, there's something unpleasant happening to its.

 

Unfortunately I was never able to get a shot of them next to each other for direct size comparison, but this is the usual modestus. With very nice feet.

...and continuing with the white theme, there were half a dozen Black-faced Spoonbills present too.

By far the best bird I didn't get a shot of was a Baikal Teal. Unlike the birds I usually see it was really close, unfortunately the battery for my camera wasn't anywhere near close. I'd forgotten to take it off the charger when I arrived and when I'd retreived it the duck had slunk back into the reeds where it spent most (I'm tempted to say all) of its time. It never did come back into the open after that brief lapse of skulk mastery.


The Greater Spotted Eagle had been sitting motionless in a bush all this time but it finally got airborne. If I see an eagle in Kansai it's more often than not a Steller's Sea Eagle and by comparison there really isn't anything 'great' about this Eagle other than its spots, it's strikingly small.

It really lacked the wow factor you get with Steller's. Nevertheless it was a very attractive bird and the aquila eagles look rather classy even if they don't have such impressive size.

The rest of the shots (apart from the first) are more heavily cropped despite eventually getting closer views from a better vantage point.

List of species seen at Yatsushiro(Y) and Sadowara(S):-
Common Shelduck   c10(Y), c20(S)
Gadwall   c15(Y)
Eurasian Wigeon   common(Y), c30(S)
Mallard   common (Y/S)
Eastern Spot-billed Duck   common(Y/S)
Northern Shoveler   c25(S)
Northern Pintail   several(Y/S)
Baikal Teal   1(S)
Eurasian Teal   c10(Y), common(S)
Common Pochard   c40(S)
Tufted Duck   c20(S)
Red-breasted Merganser   2(Y)
Little Grebe   1(Y), 2(S)
Great Crested Grebe   4(Y)
Black-necked Grebe   1(Y)
Black-faced Spoonbill   5(Y), 6(S)
Black-crowned Night Heron   5(S)
Grey Heron   common(Y), several(S)
Great White Egret   4-6 modestus and 1 albus (S)
Little Egret   1(Y), 2-3(S)
Pacific Reef Egret   1(S)
Great Cormorant   several(Y/S)
Eurasian Kestrel   1(S)
Merlin   1 (S)
Osprey   3(Y), fairly common(S)
Black Kite   fairly common(Y/S)
Greater Spotted Eagle   1 juv(S)
Common Coot   common(Y), several(S)
Northern Lapwing   5(Y), 1(S)
Grey Plover   5(Y)
Little Ringed Plover   1(Y)
Kentish Plover   fairly common(Y)
Common Greenshank   6(Y)
Green Sandpiper   1(Y)
Common Sandpiper   4(Y)
Dunlin   100+(Y), c30(S)
Common Gull   c300(Y)
Vega Gull   250+(Y), c20(S)
Slaty-backed Gull   1(Y)
Taimyr Gull   4-5(Y)
Black-headed Gull   several(Y)
Saunder's Gull   50+(Y)
Rock Dove
Oriental Turtle Dove   fairly common(Y/S)
Common Kingfisher   1 heard(S)
Bull-headed Shrike   2-3(Y)
Carrion Crow   several(Y)
Large-billed Crow   several(S)
Varied Tit   1 heard coming through the mountains
Barn Swallow   6-7(S)
Japanese Skylark   several(S)
Brown-eared Bulbul   common(Y/S)
Japanese White-eye   several(Y/S)
White-cheeked Starling   common(Y)
Pale Thrush   1(Y), common in the mountains
Dusky Thrush   fairly common(Y)
Daurian Redstart   fairly common(Y), several(S)
Russet Sparrow   c300(Y)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow   fairly common(Y/S)
White Wagtail   fairly common(Y/S)
Buff-bellied Pipit   fairly common(Y)
Oriental Greenfinch   common(Y)
Meadow Bunting   common(Y)
Chestnut-eared Bunting   3(Y)
Reed Bunting   fairly common(Y/S)

storks & spoonbills

Historically there are records of Black Stork in Kansai but until recently it had disappeared from Japan as a wintering species. The previous few winter there have been a couple of birds wintering around Isahaya Bay in Kyushu but as the population as a whole isn't growing this is very unlikely to herald the return of the species to its former status.

One of two Black storks at Isahaya Bay, January 2015.

Oriental White Stork is another species that disappeared but even more dramatically as it was formerly a widespread breeding species. It still occurs, usually in winter but it's rare and could turn up anywhere in the country. I've seen two in Kansai over the years, a wandering immature which by chance stumbled upon the Hyogo re-introduction programme headquarters and stopped wandering. And another, a Chinese ringed bird, which settled for the winter at Kameoka, just outside Kyoto city. This bird seemed to become a source of civic pride among the local dog-walkers and farmers.

Video-grab of the Chinese-ringed Oriental White Stork soon after arrival, November 2004, Kameoka.

Now that birds from the re-introduction scheme based at Toyoka (Hyogo prefecture) are successfully breeding in the wild it is possible to run into these birds in rural Hyogo and Kyoto in any season, though you'd still need to be very lucky. Or indeed, even further afield as birds from this scheme have wandered the length and breadth of Honshu and as far as Hokkaido and Kyushu.

Oriental White Storks in north Shiga, 2014.

The Crested Ibis re-introduction project on Sado Island is more recent and as yet smaller scale but at least one bird has turned up in Ishikawa, an area in which they hung on until late in the day, there may be hope for this species re-occupying its former range too.

Eurasian and Black-faced Spoonbills both occur in Japan in winter. Though Black-faced is more numerous overall, it's Eurasian that's more frequent in Kansai. However numbers are very low and it's impossible to guess when or where they might turn up. Ponds around northern Lake Biwa have a good track record of hosting wintering birds and I've seen a number there over the years.

Adult Eurasian with its dipped-in-custard bill on a pond near Lake Biwa.

Black-faced Spoonbill will be of more interest to most overseas visitors but fewer come as far east as Kansai and visting birders who have the time will expect to see this species in Kyushu where it is quite easy to find at certain locations, particularly estuaries in the north and north west.

An immature Black-faced on the Yodo River in Osaka city was a good local record.

A party of Black-faced Spoonbills, Kyushu.

Eurasian and Black-faced together in Kyushu.

Almost synchronised spooners.

Immature Black-faced Spoonbill in Kyushu, December 2015.