Aisatsu

Aisatsu

This blog is for family and friends, to share my feelings and photos with and for myself, to support my fading memory. Readers who have my site translated automatically, please refer to the original if necessary. Especially when it comes to identification. Any comments, anonymous or by email name are always welcome!.

Sunday 24 March 2013

角島, Tsunoshima 3

That’s a whole lot of mergansers on the blog!
We don't get to see them in big numbers very often. In spring they get together before heading off to their breeding grounds in the north. There must have been a hundred of them in a protected bay of Tsunoshima and they all needed to eat well before departure.


ウミアイ  Red-breasted Merganser


Slim and elegant birds with bright orange-red bills


The males' black head gets a green shine when it gets a bit of sunshine.



Some females have black coloring around their eyes - a sign of breeding?

They swam back and forth near the boat-harbor, following a school of fish towards shallow water, which they would eagerly plunge into and get their fill. How much was hard to tell, they probably swallowed their catch mostly below the surface.




rush. rush


The hunt is on




Got one!



Heading back


Waiting for the next chance



 male


female


pair? 
There were many more female than male, about 30% male - 70% female



The Ladies Parada




Fish!!


One female venturing out of the water, inspecting a bit of  rock. Not a usual sight in winter, but they breed on the ground in the north of China and Russia

Another bird seen in smaller numbers:

ハジロカイツブ  Black-necked Grebe



More of them in the next post.


No comments:

Post a Comment