Snow shoes and bird

I went to Nishioka park, Sapporo in January 6 before noon for birding through snow shoes trek.

Brown-eared Bulbul.

Great tit.

Eurasian Nuthatch.

Great Spotted Woodpecker.

On the snow shoes trek, I usually seek foot-prints of mammals.

I could find two foot-prints.

Red fox's (Vulpes vulpes).

Mountain Hare's (Lepus timidus).

Hen Harrior

Hen Harriers (Circus cyaneus) join in "Mukawa raptors festival".

A female individual was relatively not so shy, she sought her prey in front of me.

Raptors usually were mobbed by crows.

Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)

Occurrence frequency of males were lower than females.

All photos in Mukawa, Hokkaido. Jan/2010.

Short-eared Owl

In this season, raptors' fever happens in Mukawa.
I went there for every weekend from a New year.

In this entry, I upload Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus).

I heard about 6 individuals stay in Mukawa at beginning of January, but they decrease gradually. My friend saw an individual was predated by a Falcon.

They had relatively low wariness against humans.

All photos in Mukawa, Hokkaido. Jan/2010.

Brants

I've never seen Brant Geese (Branta bernicla) at a close range, I only saw them from very far  away through a scope.
Recently I found a Brant spot where I can go close to them.

They were in a fishery harbor eating algae.

At some distance, other group of Brants fed on attached algae.

At full tide, they were upside down to eat algae.

Dunlin (Calidris alpina) stayed at the same fishery harbor.

Tree sparrows seemed to be cold in falling snow.

All photos in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. Jan/2010.

Hybrid duck and more

In the winter, a hybrid duck (Mallard X Pintail) stays at Tomakomai Experimental Forest in the Mallards' group from for a few years.

It's wing speculum is blue.

In this pond other duck are...

Mainly Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) . They are tame because they are fed by humans. So when they find humans, they come closer.

Several Golden-eyes (Bucephala clangula) are usually seen in winter.

Female Goden-eye.
Additionally, on the board at the back of Golden-eye is written in Kanji, means "NO fishing".

In this season, a Falcated Duck (Anas falcata) is in this pond.

Ishikari bay and a little snow shoe treck

I went to the Ishikari Bay to see sea birds, but there were few interesting birds.

Only seen some sea gulls were seen,

Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis),

Harlequin Duck　(Histrionicus histrionicus).

  I was not satisfied, so I went to Maeda-forest park that is near the Ishikari new port to see small birds.
The park is covered with snow and is used as a cross country ski spot, so many people are walking and skiing around.
I wandered around to see small birds with snow shoes.

While watching tits, I heard Eurasian Bullfinch's call from afar, so I went toward it.
A male Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) was parched on an above branch. And after a minutes it flew to a shrub and ate fruits.
So I carefully　approached it by creeping forward, and took photos.

 

All photos in Sapporo, Hokkaido. 24/Jan/2010.

Birding in Shimane5 -Other birds-

Finally I upload photos of other birds.

I explain difference between "Hikawa" and "Hiikawa". One letter "i"  means different object.
"Hikawa" is a name of town in Shimane prefecture and "Hiikawa" is a name of river.
Hiikawa river flows in Hikawa town.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) was near, this individual kept opening its nib, I didn't know the reason.
Photo in Hikawa, Shimane prefecture. Dec/2009.

A male Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) parched on outdoor light.
Photo in Hikawa, Shimane prefecture.

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) was very near.
Photos in Higashi-izumo, Shimane prefecture. Jan/2010.

These crow were Rooks (Corvus frugilegus).

They were found around agriculture region.
I searched Daurian jackdaw, but it was not in this group.

Photos in Hikawa, Shimane prefecture.

Large group of Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) was found, I counted over 260. They rested and fed at mouth of Hiikawa.

A group of White-cheeked Starlings flied against snowstorm.
I found this scene in my parents' home and went got out to took photo of them.
Photos in Matue, Shimane prefecture.