This is a summary of my birding last year in Hakodate, northern Japan. I've attatched a couple of photos in case you're wondering what Hakodate looks like (I'm pretty sure nobody on this forum has ever been to Hakodate). I occasionally used to post sightings from Hakodate back in the days when birdforum was pretty small but have gotten a bit lazy recently. Hope this isn't too boring...............
Hakodate end of year report 2005.
Hakodate is a smallish city at the southern end of Hokkaido. It faces the main island of Honshu across the Tsugaru Straits. It's the shortest crossing so the spring migration season is especially interesting. My local patch is mainly urban with 3 or 4 smallish rivers (no mudflats alas and only minimal areas of reedbeds) and a couple of parks. It's also on the coast and has several sheltered bays/fishing harbours and some cliffs. Hakodateyama-a small forested mountain (joined to the town by a spit) consistently provides the best birding although good birds turn up anywhere around town especially in spring and autumn.
Apologies if this gets a bit repetitive. It won't win any creative writing prizes.
I spent the start of January in the UK and returned back to Hakodate to find deep snow and frigid temperatures. Common species around in early January were Feral Rock Dove, Large billed Crow, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Brown Eared Bulbul, Grey Starling, Spot Billed Duck, Japanese Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Common Teal, Black Backed Wagtail, Black Kite, Slaty Backed Gull, Winter Wren, Tufted Duck, Herring Gull, Common Kingfisher, Japanese Wagtail, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Common Goldeneye, Harlequin Duck, Brent Goose, Black Scoter, Black Tailed Gull and Glaucous Winged Gull, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Mallard, Daurian Redstart, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Hawfinch, Oriental Greenfinch, Peregrine Falcon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Common Buzzard, Pheasant and Eurasian Wigeon. Passerines generally were pretty thin on the ground. Best birds of the month were a WHITE TAILED EAGLE flying over the town on the 16th and Grey Headed Woodpecker in the local park on the 17th.
I did some seawatching in February which produced Black Necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe and Pacific Diver. A few more passerines began to show-Brambling, Brown Dipper, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Yellow Throated Bunting and Buff Bellied Pipit as well as the winter's first Glaucous Gull and Little Grebe. A good month for raptors-the highlight being a MERLIN on the 13th (which was seen intermittently over the next few weeks including from my balcony). Also around were Northern Goshawk and Common Kestrel. A Long Billed Plover on one of the local rivers was the first wader of 2005.
March saw gradually milder weather (plus the trails at the foot of Hakodateyama became passable towards the end of the month) and my first "rarity" in Hakodate. A HOOPOE arrived after stong SW winds on the 30th-flapping around in the sleet on a local sports field. Other new birds in the month included Bullfinch, Black Throated Diver, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese Skylark, Goosander, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marsh Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Black Headed Gull, Eurasian Treecreeper, Long Tailed Tit, Grey Wagtail and Red Throated Diver.
April is always the best month. Birds that generally leave Hokkaido and overwinter in southern Japan return to Hokkaido in the early part of April-these included Grey Heron, Mandarin Duck, Oriental turtle Dove, Red Flanked Bluetail, Bull Headed Shrike, Siberian Meadow Bunting, Whites Thrush, Japanese Bush Warbler, Common Reed Bunting, Japanese White-eye, Rustic Bunting, Black Faced Bunting and Blue Rock Thrush. The trail up Hakodateyama finally became passable up to the top allowing me to see Willow Tit and a bird I must have overlooked previously-a WHITE BACKED WOODPECKER. The first 'real' summer visitors were Stonechat on the 10th followed by Barn Swallow and Asian House Martin on the 11th. Other summer visitors in the month included Common Sandpiper and Red Cheeked Starling. A WRYNECK on the 25th was unexpected. Spring was rather late coming in 2005 and the first big influx of migrants occurred from the 29th and continued until May.
Like most of Japan the end of April/start of May is probably the best fortnight's birding of the year in Hakodate. 3 early morning visits in Golden week to Hakodateyama provided ASHY MINIVET (not so common up in Hokkaido I believe), Pale Thrush, Brown Thrush, Blue and White Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Narcissus Flycatcher, Grey Bunting, Japanese Robin ( a big influx on May 2nd), lots of Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers as well as large numbers of Red Flanked Bluetails, Long tailed Rosefinch and the usual common landbirds of northern Japan. Other birds seen in the first week of may included Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover, Grey Tailed Tattler, Asian Brown Flycatcher and Oriental Reed Warbler. Further trips up the mountain later in May produced Siberian Blue Robin, Stub Tailed Warbler, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Arctic Warbler plus Common and Horsfields Hawk Cuckoos. Flyover birds (seen over my apartment) included INTERMEDIATE EGRET and Pacific Swift. Highlight of the month was the vast flocks of RED NECKED PHARALOPE that pass offshore every spring. I first saw them on the 15th and there were thousands and thousands of them on the 18th together with lots of Loons (all Pacific Diver I think) and Alcids (Rhinoceros Auklet). Inevitably I didn't have my scope that day. I also saw lots of migrants in the City parks and along the rivers with lots of flycatchers and warblers especially.
Migration continued until early June with Black Browed Reed Warbler, a displaying Lathoms Snipe, Black Crowned Night Heron and Osprey being seen early in the month.
Summer was pretty quiet. I tend not to do too much birding at this time. There aren't too many birds about and the weather can be muggy and humid. The trail up Hakodateyama is overgrown, crowded with noisy 'hikers' and infested with bugs. On the small river near my appartment there were several Oriental Reed Warbler breeding along with Bullheaded Shrike and Red Cheeked Starling. The end of the summer was also extremely hot meaning even less birding.
The first returning autumal migrant was a Common sandpiper on the 14th of August. Autumn migration was pretty poor in 2005 compared to previous years, maybe because of the exceptionally warm and calm weather. Common migrants included Grey Tailed Tattler, Stonechat and various Warblers. A lone Red Necked Stint sitting out a typhoon and Sooty Flycatcher were the only new year birds in late August/early September.
Birding improved in October with some pretty nice birds including a GREAT WHITE EGRET flying south and a male SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT flitting around in the bushes near my apartment. Lots of Ducks began passing through and amongst all the drab eclispse and immature birds I could pick out several Northern Pintail. Migration on Hakodateyama was also pretty light but there were a few Pale Thrush, lots of Bunting (5 species) and thousands of Japanese Bush Warbler.
Early November saw the return of many of the winter birds such as Red Necked Grebe, Harlequin Duck, Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush and Glaucous Winged Gull. Best bird of the second half of 2005 was a drake AMERICAN WIGEON on the 8th. An immature Eurasian Coot in the local park, the first returning Whooper swan and a small flock of Goldcrest were the last species to be seen in the year. December provided a couple of surprises-a Whites Thrush skulking around in a tiny park near my apartment on the 2nd (just 1 day ahead of the first heavy snow) and a Great White Egret seen from my balcony on the 26th. Lots of the commoner raptors passed through-mainly Northern Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard.
133 species seen in 2005-1 better than in 2004. I've managed to see 155 species in Hakodate so far.
Here are some links for previous years..............
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=27503&highlight=Hakodate
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=11261&highlight=Hakodate
Hakodate end of year report 2005.
Hakodate is a smallish city at the southern end of Hokkaido. It faces the main island of Honshu across the Tsugaru Straits. It's the shortest crossing so the spring migration season is especially interesting. My local patch is mainly urban with 3 or 4 smallish rivers (no mudflats alas and only minimal areas of reedbeds) and a couple of parks. It's also on the coast and has several sheltered bays/fishing harbours and some cliffs. Hakodateyama-a small forested mountain (joined to the town by a spit) consistently provides the best birding although good birds turn up anywhere around town especially in spring and autumn.
Apologies if this gets a bit repetitive. It won't win any creative writing prizes.
I spent the start of January in the UK and returned back to Hakodate to find deep snow and frigid temperatures. Common species around in early January were Feral Rock Dove, Large billed Crow, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Brown Eared Bulbul, Grey Starling, Spot Billed Duck, Japanese Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Common Teal, Black Backed Wagtail, Black Kite, Slaty Backed Gull, Winter Wren, Tufted Duck, Herring Gull, Common Kingfisher, Japanese Wagtail, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Common Goldeneye, Harlequin Duck, Brent Goose, Black Scoter, Black Tailed Gull and Glaucous Winged Gull, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Mallard, Daurian Redstart, Coal Tit, Varied Tit, Hawfinch, Oriental Greenfinch, Peregrine Falcon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Common Buzzard, Pheasant and Eurasian Wigeon. Passerines generally were pretty thin on the ground. Best birds of the month were a WHITE TAILED EAGLE flying over the town on the 16th and Grey Headed Woodpecker in the local park on the 17th.
I did some seawatching in February which produced Black Necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe and Pacific Diver. A few more passerines began to show-Brambling, Brown Dipper, Long Tailed Rosefinch, Yellow Throated Bunting and Buff Bellied Pipit as well as the winter's first Glaucous Gull and Little Grebe. A good month for raptors-the highlight being a MERLIN on the 13th (which was seen intermittently over the next few weeks including from my balcony). Also around were Northern Goshawk and Common Kestrel. A Long Billed Plover on one of the local rivers was the first wader of 2005.
March saw gradually milder weather (plus the trails at the foot of Hakodateyama became passable towards the end of the month) and my first "rarity" in Hakodate. A HOOPOE arrived after stong SW winds on the 30th-flapping around in the sleet on a local sports field. Other new birds in the month included Bullfinch, Black Throated Diver, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese Skylark, Goosander, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, Marsh Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Black Headed Gull, Eurasian Treecreeper, Long Tailed Tit, Grey Wagtail and Red Throated Diver.
April is always the best month. Birds that generally leave Hokkaido and overwinter in southern Japan return to Hokkaido in the early part of April-these included Grey Heron, Mandarin Duck, Oriental turtle Dove, Red Flanked Bluetail, Bull Headed Shrike, Siberian Meadow Bunting, Whites Thrush, Japanese Bush Warbler, Common Reed Bunting, Japanese White-eye, Rustic Bunting, Black Faced Bunting and Blue Rock Thrush. The trail up Hakodateyama finally became passable up to the top allowing me to see Willow Tit and a bird I must have overlooked previously-a WHITE BACKED WOODPECKER. The first 'real' summer visitors were Stonechat on the 10th followed by Barn Swallow and Asian House Martin on the 11th. Other summer visitors in the month included Common Sandpiper and Red Cheeked Starling. A WRYNECK on the 25th was unexpected. Spring was rather late coming in 2005 and the first big influx of migrants occurred from the 29th and continued until May.
Like most of Japan the end of April/start of May is probably the best fortnight's birding of the year in Hakodate. 3 early morning visits in Golden week to Hakodateyama provided ASHY MINIVET (not so common up in Hokkaido I believe), Pale Thrush, Brown Thrush, Blue and White Flycatcher, Japanese Thrush, Narcissus Flycatcher, Grey Bunting, Japanese Robin ( a big influx on May 2nd), lots of Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers as well as large numbers of Red Flanked Bluetails, Long tailed Rosefinch and the usual common landbirds of northern Japan. Other birds seen in the first week of may included Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover, Grey Tailed Tattler, Asian Brown Flycatcher and Oriental Reed Warbler. Further trips up the mountain later in May produced Siberian Blue Robin, Stub Tailed Warbler, Chestnut Eared Bunting, Arctic Warbler plus Common and Horsfields Hawk Cuckoos. Flyover birds (seen over my apartment) included INTERMEDIATE EGRET and Pacific Swift. Highlight of the month was the vast flocks of RED NECKED PHARALOPE that pass offshore every spring. I first saw them on the 15th and there were thousands and thousands of them on the 18th together with lots of Loons (all Pacific Diver I think) and Alcids (Rhinoceros Auklet). Inevitably I didn't have my scope that day. I also saw lots of migrants in the City parks and along the rivers with lots of flycatchers and warblers especially.
Migration continued until early June with Black Browed Reed Warbler, a displaying Lathoms Snipe, Black Crowned Night Heron and Osprey being seen early in the month.
Summer was pretty quiet. I tend not to do too much birding at this time. There aren't too many birds about and the weather can be muggy and humid. The trail up Hakodateyama is overgrown, crowded with noisy 'hikers' and infested with bugs. On the small river near my appartment there were several Oriental Reed Warbler breeding along with Bullheaded Shrike and Red Cheeked Starling. The end of the summer was also extremely hot meaning even less birding.
The first returning autumal migrant was a Common sandpiper on the 14th of August. Autumn migration was pretty poor in 2005 compared to previous years, maybe because of the exceptionally warm and calm weather. Common migrants included Grey Tailed Tattler, Stonechat and various Warblers. A lone Red Necked Stint sitting out a typhoon and Sooty Flycatcher were the only new year birds in late August/early September.
Birding improved in October with some pretty nice birds including a GREAT WHITE EGRET flying south and a male SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT flitting around in the bushes near my apartment. Lots of Ducks began passing through and amongst all the drab eclispse and immature birds I could pick out several Northern Pintail. Migration on Hakodateyama was also pretty light but there were a few Pale Thrush, lots of Bunting (5 species) and thousands of Japanese Bush Warbler.
Early November saw the return of many of the winter birds such as Red Necked Grebe, Harlequin Duck, Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush and Glaucous Winged Gull. Best bird of the second half of 2005 was a drake AMERICAN WIGEON on the 8th. An immature Eurasian Coot in the local park, the first returning Whooper swan and a small flock of Goldcrest were the last species to be seen in the year. December provided a couple of surprises-a Whites Thrush skulking around in a tiny park near my apartment on the 2nd (just 1 day ahead of the first heavy snow) and a Great White Egret seen from my balcony on the 26th. Lots of the commoner raptors passed through-mainly Northern Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard.
133 species seen in 2005-1 better than in 2004. I've managed to see 155 species in Hakodate so far.
Here are some links for previous years..............
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=27503&highlight=Hakodate
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=11261&highlight=Hakodate
