Hegura-jima...the birding post

It's the literary event of the year (drum roll please)...the moment you've ALL been waiting for (intensify drum roll)....yes, it's the HEGURA BIRDING TRIP REPORT (thunderous applause greets the compere, the crowd go wild)!!!!!

Right lads, this is basically it. We got the de boat to de island, saw shite loads of birds, ticked away to me hearts content, got drenched, got a wee bit pished, birded some more the following day and den went back on de boat to de mainland and went home...fabulous!!!

Oh alright then, here it is. You know how we got there so there's no point going into all that rigmorole again so let's get straight to the facts. A nice island to cover due to it's small size but there's LOTS of cover but thankfully it's flat as a pancake. On the way into the harbour area (picture Cape but a bit bigger) we looked up and there were literally hundreds if not thousands of birds flying around and coming into land very quickly. It was obvious there was a massive fallout happening so we quickly got off the ferry and headed to the Minshuku we were staying in. During the short walk to the Minshuku, Dusky and Plain Thrush were everywhere, as were Daurian Redstarts...I mean EVERYWHERE!!! Some birds were dropping at our feet and looked exhausted. It was really pissing down with rain but we dumped our gear and headed out like the true die-hard birders we are. Neil commented it was the biggest fall of birds he has seen in his 35 years of serious birding, and he has birded in a lot of countries.



One can walk around the island in an hour so that meant we covered the island about 3-4 times on Saturday and the same on Sunday. All we were seeming to see were Daurian Redstarts (1000), Rustic Buntings (1000) and Plain Thrush (5-6000), they were abundant. We were hoping to pick something else out in the bunting flocks but nothing gave it itself up. While walking along one of the paths, we picked up Black-faced (3) and Yellow-throated Buntings (12) and Japanese Waxwing (1). Nice one I thought, I now have all Waxwing species OML biy!! The volume of birds on the Saturday was tremendous but the species count was low for this time of year. It didn't perturb us and we continued on regardless.

A Eurasian Woodcock was a suprise find as we stumbled around a little wooden thicket and an Olive-backed pipit (3) flew from under our feet to perch in a tree (which was nice). As we rounded a corner, a flock of Mandarin ducks appeared coming in off the sea which were probably the flock of unidentified duck we had had from the ferry on the approach to the island. My first genuine Mandarin duck! A fly-by goshawk (2) was the next species to be notched up and 2 peregrines perched on a tower was also new. The warbler count was pretty poor as we had expected more but we managed to see Arctic (12), Yellow-browed (1), Dusky (1) and Bush (3) warblers during the trip. A Taiga Flycatcher(1) was a good find and the Japanese birders were excited by our find when we were giving out our day's species list that night in the inn. A White's Thrush for all of 30 seconds was enough for me and another black-faced bunting gave itself up at the local school ground. Siberian Stonechats were scarce with only 3 seen on the trip. Apparently they are more numerous in winter. My first one since the OHK bird of '89(?). A large flock of Brambling (800) and Siskin(200) kept us company for most of Saturday and it was great to see this species in such good numbers. A female Kestral was a nice surprise as it chased a small flock of Rustic bunts that were feeding near us on the school playing field, keeping the Dusky and Plain thrushes company. In amongst the eonomus species of Dusky Thrush (second photo below) were a few naummani Dusky Thrushes, easily distinguished from eonomus by their rusty red spotting on the underparts and flanks.




Sunday saw glorious sunshine and a clear out of the volume of birds was obvious in the diminished numbers but that didn't stop the speceis list from growing. Adult Vega and Slaty-backed gulls on the pier wall made for a good start and that was followed up pretty quickly with Red-flanked Bluetail(6). As we were looking for pine bunting and siberian accentor which were reported on Saturday, we got news of a black/red-headed bunting near our Minshuku!! We went down and got some cracking views. The consensus is that it's a black-headed and possibly an adult female. The bill shape, size and primary projections fit the criteria as does the darkly streaked crown and rump contrast with the mantle. Nice bird.


We saw neither the pine bunting nor the accentor that day but the comepensation came in the shape of a marvellous Brown Hawk Owl perched in a tree which was pretty cool!! It didn't seem to mind our presence and just stared at us for the 20 minutes we spent looking at it (see below). At about 1pm we headed back to the area near the Minshuku to see if the Black-headed bunting was still on show. On the way we passed the school playing field which was awash with Rustic Buntings, Dusky Thrush, Brambling and a self-found Red-throated pipit which was joined a short time later by a second individual. Nice. A couple of minutes later, as we turned the corner towards the Minshuku, we could see the crowd of photographers assembled en masse, training their big lenses in the same direction so we knew the bunting was showing itself. Nice views were had by all and the consensus again was for Black-headed. The hope of seeing the Lapland Bunt before we boarded for the ferry were dashed as it was time to go. A marvellous trip and I am most certainly going back again in the spring. Other highlights of the trip were Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-rumped Swallow, Sand Martin, Black-headed gull, Grey-Streaked Flycatcher, Goldcrest, Japanese White-eye and Hawfinch.



On the ferry back, in perfect weather, about a thousand Streaked Shearwaters were gliding over the gentle swell and they came close to the boat on a few occasions. I must have rattled off about 30 photos but I only managed one semi-ok one is on the photopage. As one learned friend of mine said, if one shot out of a 36 roll is good, it's been a good day. I still haven't got the panning right yet, but there's time to learn....

I hope you enjoyed the read and the photos. Maybe it gave you a bit of a feel for what the place is like. There are more photos on my photopage for those of you interested in seeing them.

Thanks for listening. I bid you goodnight (the crowd stand to as the compere bows, roses are thrown on stage, applause and shouts of encore greet the closing curtains....)