Visit to Saga 2; Great Grey Shrike, オオモズ

Later that day we managed to see the bird that we had come for. It was in a dried-up pond, full of wild rose bushes, chittering with the sound of many small birds. The big Shrike flies in for breakfast and dinner and after waiting around in the morning at the wrong location :-( we were happy to finally see it. The bird dove right into the pit and emerged with its prey, a Warbling White-eye. Then took its time to eat it in a nearby tree. It was close to 6pm, nearly dark. Below some images

Various buntings in the dried-up pond included Rustic Bunting, カシラダカ

December birds 3 Great Grey Shrike

On the 23rd friends took me to the Yokoshima reclaimed land area at the mouth of the beautiful Kikuchi river. It was only my 2nd visit there and it was just as nice as 2 years ago. This time a Great Grey Shrike entertained us for a few hours. It didn't come close for quite a while when we first got there, but there were other birds, like Kestrels and even a Short-eared Owl to keep us happy.
Eventually the great shrike came to sit in his tree.

Catching a lot of hoppers, I didn't know there were still that many this time of the year.