Around Imazu

January 11th. The snow has disappeared in the low lands and temperatures are above zero now. Was this our only cold spell for the season? 15 Smews, ミコアイサ were reported in the 2 lakes at Tajiri. I found them on the other side of the river

A flock of 40 something White-cheeked Starlings, ムクドリ included 6 Commons, ホシムクドリ

Black-faced Bunting, アオジ and Chestnut-eared Bunting, ホウアカ

Male Daurian Redstart, ジョウビタキ

Kanatake in the snow

 Friday January 8th

Snowy, cloudy and a few sunny periods. We donned our winter gear (including crampons) and went for a walk. I often wondered what the place would look like when covered in snow. After so many summer and spring walks, here is the winter version

A White Wagtail, ハクセキレイ came close, just when the sun peeped through the clouds

He seems to like the snow, acting kind of playfully

Feathers extending from the body to keep warm

Other birds that came down: Black-faced Bunting, アオジ

And Dusky Thrush, ツグミ

Oops, better move on

When we drove up route 49 to go to Imazu the road quickly became icy and we skidded across the lane. An oncoming truck did the same thing and thus we got stuck. 6 Hours later we could make our way home !!!

Snow birds

How did you all get along with all the snow we had?! I prayed for snow all year long, hoping to see a thick pack of it, but what we got was mostly icy conditions and a lot of powder snow of the type that doesn't stick to anything. We drove around Kyushu, planned our route according to the weather forecast and the first snow we saw was around Mt Kuju. We camped in Billie our RV for 3 days in freezing weather, didn't leave the car much on the first day, but became a bit braver on the second. Our drinking water froze and the pump stopped working, we feasted on frozen cucumber that tasted truly horrible and suffered from-heated-toilet-seat-withdrawal symptoms. But generally we were happy. Thanks to lots of blankets, thermal wear and kailo's. Jaap climbed Mt Hosshozan and some of his amazing photos are in here. I looked for birds at my usual checkpoints. Camera work was hard. My cold fingers could not compete with the speed of wings. And I was constantly struggling with exposure. Snow is so very white!

Varied Tit, ヤマガラ

Japanese Tit, シジュウカラ

female Red-flanked Bluetail, ルリビタキ

There were 3 or 4 birds, but the males kept on eluding me

Eurasian Wren, ミソサザエ

Willow Tit, コガラ

Eurasian Jay, カケス

Eurasian Nuthatch, ゴジュウカラ

More of  Mt Hosshozan

Finally, a young male Red-flanked Bluetail, ルリビタキ

Red Crossbill, イスカ

Happy New Year! to all the readers of the blog. Thank you all very much for your support and for keeping up with me over the previous months, years. Last year was not an easy one for many of you. For me neither in several ways. My physical condition went down in summer - No, not due to the Corona virus - a first for me. Regular excercise and a healthy diet are not always enough it seems. Birding has been my favorite pastime for so long and in the last year it gave me means to escape and a much needed diversity. I hope I will be able to continue this and that the coming year will be better for all of us.

Over the holidays Jaap and I took Billie the camper to the mountains, away from the crowds, safely locked away behind the wheel. We stopped at Oita, passed by the forest park where the Crossbills were seen and spend a day waiting (mostly) and watching them. Difficult light conditions, and see here the best I could do:

A flock of around 30 birds flew over just after 9am and landed in the tree.

Little by little they made their way towards the water...

...and left after 15 min

At 11:30, when I was about to give up they returned for a 2nd drink

At midday the light was worse and I hoped for some shots in the lower part of the trees

Male

Female