26/10/10: Much colder temperatures that brought 25cm of snow to Hokkaido combined with a strong N5 to 7 wind and high seas. It remained dry for the early morning walk that revealed a number of cold weather migrants such as several distant passing flocks of Wildfowl and also Lapwings and Rooks and our first Kamchatka Gull. It only remained dry for a short time after breakfast when 12 Great White Egrets, 10 Grey Herons, 20 Waxwings and flocks of Thrushes were all seen arriving on the island before the onset of rain until midday. Difficult birding conditions persisted throughout the afternoon although our persistence was rewarded with our only Grey-tailed Tattler and 2 Heuglin’s Gulls of the trip and a new Pallas’s Reed Bunting at Tsukasa where we also found a plain Phyllosc but which was only seen very poorly in the atrocious weather conditions and what was most-likely a new Daurian Jackdaw accompanying a newly-arrived flock of Rooks.
Great White Egrets over the Harbour
Species noted:
Streaked Shearwater 500
Cormorant 5
Eastern Reef Egret 2
Great Egret 12
Grey Heron 10
Gadwall 4
Mandarin 2
Teal 2
Mallard 1
Black-eared Kite 3
Japanese Sparrowhawk 1
Sparrowhawk 4
Merlin 1
Peregrine 1
Lapwing 12
Grey-tailed Tattler 1
Black-headed Gull 1
Black-tailed Gull 100
Kamchatka Gull 1
Vega Gull 10
Slaty-backed Gull 10
Heuglin's Gull 2 adults
Rufous Turtle Dove 5
Japanese Green Pigeon 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Skylark 15
Olive-backed Pipit 2
Red-throated Pipit 1
Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit 15
Grey Wagtail 1
Black-backed Wagtail 3
Brown-eared Bulbul 3
Waxwing 20
Red-flanked Bluetail 1
Daurian Redstart 20
Blue Rock Thrush 2
Pale Thrush 15
Dusky Thrush 80
Japanese Bush Warbler 2
Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler 1
Arctic Warbler 4
Yellow-browed Warbler 1
Goldcrest 25
Wren 2
Grey-streaked Flycatcher 1
Coal Tit 1
Japanese White-eye 25
Eastern Rook 30
Large-billed Crow 4
Daurian Jackdaw 1
Brambling 100
Oriental Greenfinch 2
Siskin 150
Mealy Redpoll 6
Bullfinch 1
Japanese Grosbeak 3
Hawfinch 15
Black-faced Bunting 1
Masked Bunting 2
Elegant Bunting 50
Rustic Bunting 30
Reed Bunting 2
Pallas's Reed Bunting 1