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.

Mongolian Gull: first winter

I have a soft spot for juvenile and first winter gulls and Mongolian is a cracker, this particular bird put in an appearance on the beach during my last visit a few days ago. Mongolian is scarce here so it was nice to see two of them, this and another, a week earlier. These images are from the most recent sighting.

This is the other bird from last week...

Biwako & Matsusaka, a two-day trip

I hadn't been up to the north end of Lake Biwa in ages, all winter in fact. Which is surprising considering winter is the best time to go and as a result I haven't even seen Steller's Sea Eagle this winter. I was hoping to get (good if possible) views and maybe even photos of Copper Pheasant but in the event I didn't even hear a displaying male.


Because there's a cell tower at the top of my usual hill there is an access road, well that's why it is 'my' hill in the first place of course, and this access road has been snow-ploughed allowing anyone daft enough to drive to the top the freedom to do so. However it also meant all bar one of my usual pull-offs were blocked by snow. By day the road becomes a shallow stream as snowmelt finds the easiest route downhill between the walls of snow on either side, but at dawn a steeply-angled ice-rink would be a better description of the road as it nears the top. Going upward, be it driving or on foot, always seems safer than going down to me, so I stopped at the summit rather than drop down the final 100 metres to the car park. I nevertheless still had to walk it. If I tried to stand still on the road I began to move down the slope, slowly at first. Gingerly I had to edge my way down trying to get purchase on a litter of pine needles frozen into the paved edge before it disappeared under the snow. Trying not to pick up speed! And all the while wishing I'd actually gone and bought new boots when I'd planned to rather than keep putting it off.


Like a lot of winter woodland birding much of the ridge was, well not birdless exactly but... you know. A few invisible tits calling somewhere off the trail, occasional Grosbeaks overhead. Then, again like so often, all the birds were back at the start point, by the car. Three species of woodpecker, Nuthatch, five species of tit, Jays, Red-flanked Bluetail, three species of bunting, five species of finch and so on.




Red-flanked Bluetail.

As I said, all my usual pull-offs along the road were blocked by snow except for one, the lowest good stop on the way back down. There were two clear signs spring is here...

Bear art? I often come across conifers with huge sections of bark ripped off, it comes away in huge chunks as if it had been badly-fitted to the tree. This hardwood presents a much better canvas.

Bullfinches feasting on new buds; this male (and female below) the expected rosacea.

Lake Biwa itself is a vast expanse of water, the winter panorama without exception broken by countless rafts of countless ducks, as well as more modest numbers of geese and swans. But hardly surprising given the date most of the wildfowl has gone and the drive southward was consequently a rapid one despite the best efforts of some serious road works. I reached Lake Sainoko far earlier than usual. Far too early for any harriers there may be in the area coming in to roost. However I did see five different Eastern Marsh Harriers in the time I spent there. I also had my first Barn Swallow of the year and little did I realise then, that by the same time a day later they would be common.


As usual the harriers were more often than not distant, at their closest they weren't great to photograph.

After a convenience store dinner and a nap it was off to Matsusaka. The route was simple according to the map; pretty much a straight line to Route 1 and I could take it from there. A straight line on major roads but a lot of jinks and route numbers so I let the satnav take the strain. She found an even more direct route! However this involved sticking to a road atop the river embankment; sometimes single track, sometimes very rough, but it was more direct. I don't know if it was any quicker in the end, especially at that time of day as it entailed cutting across several major roads with no signals during rush hour.

The main purpose in Mie was to look for immature Taimyr Gulls but there were a few other things of interest. First and foremost was a Japanese Scops Owl calling at 04:10 in an industrial area at Matsusaka port! It was very close but I didn't see it and it quickly moved further off onto private land.



Another point of interest I'd never seen before was seaweed harvesting by boat...

A seaweed harvest boat. at first I though being in the boat might be the better option but I'm no longer sure.

Simply line the boat up at the end of the row...

...and go!

Long-billed Dowitchers were fairly close for a change but the gulls will have to wait for another post.