Birding in Japan: geese

Showing posts with label geese. Show all posts

Monday, 8 February 2021

Tundra Bean Goose

There have been a few wintering Tundra bean geese (Hishikuiヒシクイ) by Lake Imbanuma for the last few winters and this winter three have been seen on the same paddy fields as before.

resting in the middle of the fields

They started foraging in the fields. Still far...

and flew towards the even farther end of the fields...

There happened to be a Black-eared kite (Tobiトビ) sitting on the field and a flock of Lapwings (Tageriタゲリ) flying over the edge of the patch in one frame.

The geese & lapwings flew because they saw a better option - a working tractor!

more than 4 Grey herons (Aosagiアオサギ) were following the tractor - one was actually getting a ride on the tractor! and quite a few Lapwings were on the churned up fields.

Happy evening snacking time!

Time for heading back home for us as well. Bye!

Saturday, 11 January 2020

South Korea VI The Han River

On the way to Cheorwon, we stopped at several locations where Byoungwoo, our guide, showed us wonderful Korean birds.

The mighty Han River

Byoungwoo spotted a pair of Scaly-sided Merganser (Kourai-aisaコウライアイサ) in the middle of the river, which was too far for a photo. Argh!

BUT! There were plenty of other birds for us to watch.
Whooper Swans (Oohakuchoオオハクチョウ) - a lot of them!

A raft of Goldeneyes (Hoojirogamoホオジロガモ)

One of them flew towards us and swam away:)

Whooper Swans, Taiga Bean Geese (Oohishikuiオオヒシクイ) and Mallard (Magamoマガモ)

familiar Spot-billed Ducks (Karugamoカルガモ) & Eurasian Teals (Kogamoコガモ)

This handsome male Daurian Redstart (Jobitakiジョウビタキ) was foraging in the shrub by the river.

At another location by the Han

We were lucky to see two species of eagles!

Steller's Sea Eagle (Oowashiオオワシ) taken by Byoungwoo. Awesome!

& a white-tailed eagle (Ojirowashiオジロワシ) with no photo.

In the river below the eagles were some sawbills.
Common Mergansers (Kawa-aisaカワアイサ)

Smews (miko-aisaミコアイサ)

It was only a couple of hours after our birding trip started but we already saw quite a few lovely birds by the river, thanks to Byoungwoo.

Byoungwoo's bird guide site:
https://www.birdingkorea.com/

Thursday, 9 January 2020

South Korea IV Geese in the DMZ

In the late afternoon, we went to see Greater White-fronted Geese (Maganマガン) roost in a reservoir. On our way, we saw many of them flying towards the site.

As the number was going up, the noise was just overwhelming.

Even after getting rather dark, they were still coming in from all directions.

When we went back there next early morning to see them flying out, it was just stunning.

(taken by Byoungwoo)

You can feel a part of it by seeing the video, especially with the sounds on-
geese leaving their roost

Our guide, Mr Byoungwoo Lee, said it was one of the best mornings even for him.
It was so great. Thank you, Byoungwoo, for taking us there! Luckily, it was not as cold as everyone was expecting. We had been warned prior to the trip that the temperature could go down to -20 or lower in Cheorwon, but actually on those two days, it was very mild and we only had a bit of snow during the day.

If you're interested in birding in South Korea, we strongly recommend Byoungwoo as a guide. Please check out his URL "Birding Korea" here
https://www.birdingkorea.com/

Thursday, 14 March 2019

Spain III - Doñana National Park

a view of a lake in Doñana

At this big lake we had a very good opportunity to observe a Red-knobbed Coot (Afurika(Africa)-oobanアフリカオオバン), one of the Andalucían birds, very closely.

The red knobs at the top of their white shield are only visible in the breeding season so it would be much harder to separate them from the Eurasian Coot especially at a distance.