Recent birding highlights - April 2007

Well apart from the Hoopoe, highlights were pretty few and far between until this Friday, when I managed to find a few minutes to take a look around Shukkein Garden, in downtown Hiroshima.

Apart from larger than usual numbers of Rufous Turtle Dove, there was also a small passage of Black-faced Buntings, around 4-5, a very confiding Short-tailed Bush Warbler who came within 2-3 meters of me, oblivious to me as he chomped on a caterpillar. Just as I had given up any hope of any other migrants, a beutiful male Narcissus Flctatcher appeared out of nowhere and diligently posed on a low post for a minute or so, before flitting off into the canpoy. I also managed to flush a Eurasian Sparrowhawk out of the canpoy, while the commoner birds of winter dwindle evermore - Dusky Thrush 2-3, Pale Thrush 4-5, Brown-eared Bulbul 1-2 and Olive-backed Pipit 1 accompanying freshly-fledged Long-tailed Tits.

On the way back from teaching in Yano I was lucky enough to hear and see 4-5 Japanese Waxwings on roadside wires and trees next to busy route 2 briefly before they flew off.

A trip to Minami-Iwakuni the previous weekend also found very few birds of note. a possible Pintail Snipe, 1 Marsh Sandpiper, 11 Pacific Golden Plover, 1Spotted Redshank, 3 Grey-headed Lapwing, Penduline Tit, Ruddy Crake, Stonechat and Grey-faced Bunting..as well as a nice male Rustic Bunting. News afterwards also reached me of a 'lucionensis' Brown Shrike.

Birding at the nearby Otagawa River, yielded 3 Chinese Penduline Tits, as well as at least 5 species of egret/heron in the henronry, as well as 20 odd wigeon and a couple of amorous Spotbill Ducks.

There were also penty of gulls for me to sift through, get confused over and fail to ID as usual. I will post some picsof gulls this winter in a future post.

Unfortunately rain, work commitments and some over- exhuberant soccer antics kept me from birding this weekend.

Well off to Mishima Island in the Sea of Japan from next Sunday..camping under the stars and hopefully finding some nice birds in good company is in order. I wil post a taster of what might be on offer in the next couple of days.

I'll finish with a few of some of my more than half decent pics...including some record shots of the big flock of 22 Great Knot that David Flack and I saw at the Yahatagawa 2 weeks ago.