Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Snow blizzards and Steller's eagles

Hello all, well the gloom of Monday has lifted to the exhalted heights of Wednesday, and as I write this in the candlelight (I'm going for the Dickensian mood here), I am warm inside and delighted at having witnessed the majesty of a true marvel and the wonder of a wild winters day.

Neil called me on Monday night and asked would I mind if we went to Biwa-ko on Tuesday morning instead of Amagaskai. There was a ring-necked duck there he wanted to connect with and missed on Monday. It was like asking a carbohydrate addict would they mind going to an all-you-can-eat pasta joint instead of an all-you-can-eat salad bar. There was only going to be one answer.

So, at 5.15am I hopped on the train and three trains later arrived at Kyotanabe at 6.30am and off we went. The forecast was good but the cloudy and threatening sky did not bode well. We birded up the "coastline" of the lake for the first couple hours of daylight, stopping here and there and enduring the bitter cold. It was 3-4 degrees C out of the wind, but in the wind it was below freezing. Bitterly cold isn't close to describing it. Walnuts...if not even chickpeas. That is how cold it was. Anyway, first port of call, to check out a couple of thousand pochard. First spectacular birds were picked out, a Baer's Pochard (globally endagered now) and a Red-crested Pochard. Two very rare birds for Japan in our first scope of the duck flocks. Next port of call produced Daurian Jackdaws, Long-billed Plovers and the Hooded Crane, remaining since our previous visit.

Then, we arrived at the spot where the Ring-necked duck (an American species, annual in Ireland but scarce in Japan) was previously seen. As we pulled in to the side of the road I noticed a photographer, and his 2-ton tripod and camera set-up, running and looking panicked. I looked at Neil, panicked. I jumped out of the car and looked up...there it was, Mr. Steller's Eagle flying toward me, it's immense wing-span, white shoulders, white-wedged tail and the largest hooked bill I've ever seen. The bird moved it's head, looked down and disappeared into the hills above us. I just looked at Neil with the biggest smile on my face since I came here, looked back up and jumped in the air. I wished that Ciaran could have been there with me as I've shared most of my birding moments back home with him. He would have loved this. I shook Neil's hand and didn't stop smiling all day. I had seen one of the species that I had wanted to see in Japan. The bird came and went so quickly and I just wanted to take it all in, that I didn't have time for a photo. I didn't really care. I had just seen Steller's Eagle. Majestic. For those of you out there who don't know what one of these magnificent birds look like, check out the following link...amazing aren't they
  • Picture of a Steller's Eagle


  • We waited for a while to see if the bird would reappear but it didn't. As the snow started to come in we decided to move back up the lakeside and see what else was on show. As we rounded the hill, I wanted to check a flock of Black-necked grebe that I had spotted from the car. As Neil was checking the ducks, I just scanned the hillside with the naked eye and caught a glimpse of a white patch in a tree. I put the bins up and there it was...the eagle perched in a spruce tree, feeding on a duck. Incredible. I put the scope on it and it filled the lens. What a bird. Words truly cannot describe the feeling I had watching this majestic creature feed, preen and generally look like the coolest bird on the planet. And it is certainly up there with them. As the snow came in even harder, we decided to move on. Goodbye Mr. Steller, for now at least.

    The remainder of the day was spent running from the car to areas to bird and running back to the car to warm up again. It was goddamn cold. As we were looking through a flock of Bewick (Tundra) Swans in the fields, mixed in with Greater Whitefront and Bean geese, we picked up a Whistling swan, the American race of Bewick. Magic. By now, the snow had reached blizzard conditions, it was diffiicult to stay out in it and the swans started hunkering down to shelter. It was the harshest snow I've ever seen. Hokkaido is going to be an amazing experience. I'll need Everest-style thermals for that trip.

    As we left the swans and geese, and finished watching Olive-backed pipits, I noticed a bird fly past and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Battling against the blizzard conditions was a lone Swallow flying around, looking for food. I just looked at Neil and he just laughed. It wasn't the first time he has seen a Swallow at this time of year in these conditions. This bird should have been battling against a sand storm in the Sahara, not a blizzard in below-freezing conditions in Japan. A crazy and bizarre sight.

    At this stage the weather got too bad to bird so we decided to head back south and see if the weather would improve. Once we cleared the mountains the snow had stopped and the ground was dry. However, light was fading fast so we just headed back for home. Other hightlights of the trip included 150+ Smew, Black-necked Grebe, Japanese Grosbeak (10-20, from the car, stopped at traffic lights!!), Common Sandpiper, Hooded Crane and Long-billed Plover.

    I am sure I have bored most of you by now so I shall sign off. I hope the photos are ok, it was damn cold out there trying to take these. The best shot of the Japanese Grosbeak is posted above, we were stuck at traffic lights afer all. Paparazzi birder!! It was one of the best days birding so far with a massive 79 species, the highest one-day total I've had in Japan. Simply put, an incredible birding experience watching eagles through the snow...

    Carmo's diet: today i've mostly been doing my laundary

    Carmo's birds: LONG-BILLED PLOVER, STELLER'S SEA EAGLE (adult), DAURIAN JACKDAW, BAER'S POCHARD (male), RED-CRESTED POCHARD, Rook, Red-breasted Merganser*, Japanese Grosbeak, Black kite, Buzzard, Goshawk, Eurasian Spoonbill, Great White Egret, Dusky thrush, Pale thrush, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Meadow bunting, Yellow-throated bunting and Redflanked Bluetail.

    25 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    you langer!;)

    January 04, 2006 7:53 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    good on ya fella - cool you finally got on da eagle! Also liked how you just casually drop in red-flanked bluetail in at the end - oml by de way!

    There's a couple of Hokkaido weblogs on surfburds just now too - hokkaido stu has a couple of snaps of stellars too! when are you going there?

    January 04, 2006 9:56 PM  
    Blogger Carmo said...

    Boys...nice wan!! Col, am heading there, with a bit of luck, next month, maybe for 4-5 days so hopefully should get to see a lot of Steller's there and maybe get some photos. Was delighted to get it. Made my New years holiday to be honest. Will chat to you on MSN soon, just logged on but you weren't there. I'll be logged on for the next hour or so...

    January 04, 2006 10:09 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Hi MC,
    Delighted for you, man! Met Cronin in town briefly today, and he told me your good news.
    Hope this is the year that I see a bluetail, bound to happen here sooner or later. Short of that, I may have to wait until whatever year I do Beidaihe!
    H

    January 05, 2006 12:37 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Is it just me or does that BN grebes bill look funky?

    Pariah

    January 05, 2006 7:14 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    thats a smew fella!

    January 05, 2006 10:50 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Hi Col,
    Priceless, you beat me to it! ;-)
    H

    January 05, 2006 11:31 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Bastard.

    Met Gill yesterday - if only you could have been as nice as her! Hi Gill!

    January 06, 2006 1:09 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Col.you tart.H.you Langer.
    C...how nice?
    Carmo...konichiwa.

    Pariah

    January 06, 2006 1:28 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    fella - we managed to hold denis et al to a draw on de bird race - both teams managing 94 in de end. We got nowt very special, yellow legged gull was their best. Couldn't have done it without ya biy, cheers for yer pep talk at half time!

    JW got 92, TN et al got 88 and 3 other cobh lads finished on 80 - so it was all good. 102 combined total. But de trophy is ours for 6 months anyhoo!

    Gotta go, dude! Have fun!

    January 08, 2006 7:22 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Alright sham,
    94, oh yes, 94! You see the thing is that we maintained our integrity by NOT adding a 1w YLGull, OR a guillemot, when we kinda could've....Yet, the stringy east cork feckers had a couple of dodgy bits - like 2 guillemots distant by the buoys in the harbour, which were probably the 2 black guilly's we were seeing. Ah well, we'll just have to be less decent next time round, which shouldn't be a problem if you are back and 'meticulous Mundy' gets the boot - see, I have it all sorted!!

    January 08, 2006 8:54 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    shamser!
    Just noticed in yer list of Carmo's Birds on de last post - in amongst tings like Interstellar Sea Eagle, Dusky Thrush & Bluetail you have rook listed!! erm, why? Even if they are hexceptionally rare in Japan (are they?) - I fail to see how rook could ever be worthy of a mention on any list, except perhaps a crap crow list - explique moi senor!!

    January 09, 2006 4:56 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    oh yeah, and don't be getting on at me for mentioning pheasant on me blog - thats completely different!

    January 09, 2006 4:57 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    ..good to talk to you the other day lad!...speaking of eagles and all things bright and beautiful..made a trip to Galley head the other day...v impressed...spotted a few gulls...ahem!

    good to see you the other day Ciaran! tell Leah I'll mail her soon..if she's looking for a bed in Barca!Thanks for noting the difference between the carmody siblings!!:)

    tlk soon,

    g
    xx

    January 09, 2006 5:52 AM  
    Blogger Carmo said...

    Alright ye langers, congrats on the bird race fellas, a bit disappointed that my half-time pep talk didn't spur you on to clinch the one species required. I thought I saw guillemot when talking on the phone to you, technology is marvellous. Col, the reason rook is mentioned is coz we onl see them in winter here...they're migratory and it was actually cool to hear one call. Home sounds and all that.

    Gill, it was good talking to you the other day, hope the meeting went well, or is it this week, my head's all over the place this morning. Anyway, back to work...am cleaning the apartment...ughhe

    January 09, 2006 12:07 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Yah i wasnt arsed with the inferior cork bird race!
    I went home to do the great dublin bird race!The Raven Loonies, took 3rd place with 101.5 species.
    The top score was 106.5 held jointly by 2 teams (that seems to be going around). Both winning teams were southside bastards!
    Highlights were Bluewinged Teal, Green winged teal, Slavonian grebe, Yellow Legged gull.
    A crippling event was hearing a drumming great spotted woodpecker but not being able to pin it down!Bah!
    On the way back home last night i got barn owl, Long eared owl and woodcock in d'midlands.

    Long may you flame Carmo

    Pariah

    January 09, 2006 7:09 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Hi all,
    Greetings from low-year-lister land, still only seen 83 species all year! Owen, this includes American Herring Gull....
    Still, never mind, year lists are an irrelevance, unless one breaks a record like Andre did, and I sure as hell won't try to do that!
    Carmo, I have a question that's been bugging me about some of the aul' birds that are in Japan right now, but I'll ask it on your last post....
    H

    January 09, 2006 9:28 PM  
    Blogger Carmo said...

    pariah, that inferior bird race you refer to is the longest running bird race in ireland, if not europe so pooh pooh on that comment. Drumming GSW eh???? where did you hear that? Were you sure it was one? I mistook a calling redflanked bluetail for a drumming pygmy woodpecker y'day...

    H, i'll see you on the next post

    January 09, 2006 10:30 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    drumming gs woodpecker? in January? In Ireland? Has pariah completely lost the plot?

    January 10, 2006 12:10 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I know!Me and disco couldnt believe it, but twas one.
    This was in Dalkey in south dublin.
    A perfect mix of woodland park and woody gardens!
    Ive heard drumming peckers many times in my long life, all three british species in fact, and i know it was a GS. But we could not pin down the location.And seeing as we were doing so well on the race, (having nailed hard dub birds like raven and kittiwake) we kept on going.I was back next morning but had no joy.The area is too big unfortunately. This would be the second pecker in dublin in 2 months (or the same one relocated)
    Painful.

    Pariah

    January 10, 2006 1:17 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Nice birding experience!

    Greeting to Neil too.

    February 02, 2006 3:21 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    (+s)

    Gabor

    February 02, 2006 3:22 AM  
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