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| Hakodate Birding |
MerlinHad a walk down the Shinkawa River to the Pacific Ocean this afternoon. This sounds quite exotic but it's actually a pretty mundane narrow concreted river leading to drab beach. Realtively mild weather has continued this week resulting in dirty rutted slushy paths and roads which means the cars spray you with brown colored icy sludge if they pass at anything over 20 km/h. Dog turds are also emerging from under the snow-a sure sign of the changing seasons. I prefer crocuses myself as a sign of spring. Best bird of the day was a female Merlin. It even perched on a telephone wire for a couple of minutes no more than 50 feet away (of course I had no camera). I'd actually seen the same bird (presumably) briefly from my window yesterday morning. Also around were a flock of about 50 Bohemian Waxwing with a lone solitary Japanese Waxwing. This has been the best winter for Waxwings since I've been in Japan with several influxes since the middle of January. Still lots of Dusky Thrush about and 4 species of Duck on the river. The sea was a bit rough and I only had my pocket binoculars with me so the only things close enough inshore to ID were some Japanese Cormorants which were coming into breeding plumage (ie white heads). 5 species of Gull on the beach-a few Common Gulls and a second year Glaucous Gull being the most interesting. Lots of Herring Gulls of various shapes/sizes/colorations.............but I've given up worrying over which (sub)species they may or may not be. Had a quick look in Goryokaku park yesterday. The pair of Goldcrest seemed to have survived the winter and there was also a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Hawfinch. Stayed up to watch Liverpool's 0-0 draw last night. Why did I bother?16:57 - 5/3/2006 - post comment
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