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| Hakodate Birding |
Ruddy Kingfishers This juvenile is one of 4 Ruddy Kingfishers at Onuma this afternoon. I suffered getting these shots. The forest around the lake was infested with mosquitoes. It's been very hot the last week or so and we only decided to take a quick look at Onuma at the last minute (we were passing nearby). I was only wearing shorts, sandals and a very thin short-sleeved shirt. The mozzies showed no mercy, especially around the ankle area. The youngsters were so fearless that some of the shots were too close for me to focus properly with my budget set-up. My wife even managed to get a couple of passable shots with the crappy camera on her cellphone. A couple of other birders who were around said the 2 juveniles had only just fledged and one of them had even caught a baby snake this morning!  Not too much else around in the forest. Japanese Green Pigeon, Narcissus Flycatcher and a couple of the commoner Woodpeckers were the main things of interest. The heatwave has meant not much birding recently. In Hakodate the Red Cheeked Starlings are flocking ahead of their winter holidays in the Philipines. Night Heron, Grey Wagtail and Osprey have been the only other species of note. Further afield I've been to the usual local places and seen the usual common stuff. Grey Heron, the 4 common summer Buntings including Chestnut Eared still singing, the 3 common summer hirundines, Black Headed Gull, Scaup, Goosander, Stonechat, Black Browed Reed Warbler etc. We went to Niseko yesterday. About 3 hours north of Hakodate. The mountain you can see is called Mt Yotei and is approx 1800 metres high. I've climbed it twice. the first time we misjudged the time and most of the descent was in darkness (through steep forest). The second time was my 33rd birthday. We slept at the hut near the summit. The owner's dog kept trying to bite me. It snowed too (in September!). On the plus side we had some French cheese, Italian wine and a couple of pre-rolled joints to pass the night (it was a few years ago). Lots of Japanese Accentor near the top and I also got my first ever Red Flanked Bluetail on the descent.  Music recommendations from the last few drives: The Beta Band's "dry the rain" and "can you see the love" by Hawke. 20:02 - 10/8/2006 - post comment
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