Imazu update Sept 9th

 After a long time cruising the fields again for a few hours in between jobs. The weather was rainy at times with short periods of sun. It was the middle of the day and I didn't expect that much, not being able to hang around and wait. But I got lucky:

At the first field I checked: A young Far Eastern Curlew, ホウロクシギ

No stints other then this one: オジロトウネン, Temminck's Stint. ヒバリシギ, Long-toed Stint. The bird to the left seems to be a コアオアシシギ, Marsh Sandpiper in between summer and winter dress

コアオアシシギ、Marsh Sandpiper

Every now and then some タカブシギ, Wood Sandpiper showed up. I could hear some more behind the rows of rice plants

Swinhoe's Snipe ? In this location I would expect a Common Snipe, but the bill and the line between eye and bill tell me different. However, it is a Common Snipe, タシギ apparently.

In another field  ツバメチドリ, Oriental Pratincole

Female タマシギ、Greater Painted-snipe

Male セイタカシギ, Black-winged Stilt and behind it an over sea's cousin:

オーストラリアセイタカシギ, White-headed Stilt

Here in front

Again, オーストラリアセイタカシギ, White-headed Stilt

At the mudflats the tide was coming in. As other years in September a lot of Grey Herons, アオサギ were gathered. At the tiny bit of mostly submerged island 3 Curlews, ホウロクシギ, Far Eastern Curlew. However the one in the center seems lighter. It could be ダイシャクシギ, Eurasian Curlew

An Osprey, ミサゴ drying its wings

Last the 2 Hooded Cranes, ナベヅル at their usual spot. Are they going to be our residents now?

💕

 I admire the couple for staying together. The one with the handicap likes to stretch its wings often. When some egrets came too close it jumped up and flew a bit.

Black-winged Stilt, セイタカシギ and White-headed Stilt, オーストラリアセイタカシギ

A little towards the west: 8 Black-winged and 1...

A bit apart from the others was that one bird with the standing black nape, that looked familiar.

maybe White-headed Stilt, オーストラリアセイタカシギ　?

オーストラリアセイタカシギ, White-headed Stilt

On October 8^th I drove to Isahaya in Nagasaki hoping to find some migraters, kestrels, merlins or an early Amur Falcon maybe.  I left early and got there just before sunrise. There was very little activity that day, although I did see some Common Kestrels and a very early Daurian Redstart.

Luckily a White-headed Stilt was spotted and mentioned in one of the blogs. Not a common bird in Japan. We get many Black-winged Stilts, also in Fukuoka, but this one usually stays further south, therefore named Australian Stilt in Japanese. So halfway the morning I headed out in search.

Stilts are easy to detect with their long legs, but some ongoing construction work in the reclaimed area made them retreat to some hidden corner and it took me and 3 others the best part of the day to locate. Halfway the afternoon someone finally found it and there were the birds: 8 of them; male and female, adults and juveniles, all dressed in black and white and all looking different. They moved in and out of the rice plants and the watered field, behind that blue netting that is so widely used in Japan (I hate it!) Now, which one is the Ozzie???

Got it! Once you know it's easy... White head, Black nape, slightly different bill and just a wee bit taller than the others. (Only visible when they all stand up straight, which is.... seldom)

juvenile female  オーストラリアセイタカシギ, White-headed Stilt on the right, juvenile Black-winged on the left.

on the right again.

Once I had her sorted out our bird disappeared in the greenery. It took time again to wait for it to come out so all of us birders could see it. 

lurking at the back...

stepping forward...? No, not yet.

When it finally did come forward it lifted one leg up, tucked its head in and went to sleep…

Of course the only thing we could do was wait...  again. But then: 

Our bird from down under is the one on the left, calling "Hi, it's me!" with an Ozzie accent.

With my white face and blackish nape, on the very left.

  

left

left

Just when I got ready to leave it did a brief tour in the waterlogged field and returned to the safety of the secluded rice paddy. By now it really was time for me to head back, but I did have some photos.