Alexjh1
Well-known member
I just got back from a trip to Japan on Monday and now, as I currently can't sleep due to my timezones being messed up, I thought I'd get down to the business of getting the photos I'm unsure of identified.
The four candidates here:
1) Taken at Kamakura near Tokyo, there were a lot of cormorants about basking on rocks, and from the wedge shaped yellow section at the back of the beak and slight greenish tinge (not evident in this photo so much) I got that some of them were Japanese Cormorants? This is very much an identification based on descriptions I've read as I haven't found a side by side comparrison of Japanese with Great.
2) Also taken at Kamakura, from my birdbook for Japan ("A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North East-Asia"), I'm getting Brown-Headed Thrush, but there is a bit of resemblance to Pale thrush as well, so was hoping for a second oppinion.
3) Presumably Vega Gull? Given the only Larus-type gull I saw the whole trip that I've seen before was a Glaucous, and there seem to be three Herring Gull-type gulls in Japan, I'd like to confirm it.
4) Is the most difficult - this was taken from a moving train on a foggy day between Kushiro and Akkeshi over wooded hillside habitat. My initial impression was corvid but I wasn't getting an impression of Large-billed or Carrion. The wings seemed broad and hawk-like and I think I glimpsed a long beak (which you can just about make out in this picture).
Thanks in advance for any help!
Alex
The four candidates here:
1) Taken at Kamakura near Tokyo, there were a lot of cormorants about basking on rocks, and from the wedge shaped yellow section at the back of the beak and slight greenish tinge (not evident in this photo so much) I got that some of them were Japanese Cormorants? This is very much an identification based on descriptions I've read as I haven't found a side by side comparrison of Japanese with Great.
2) Also taken at Kamakura, from my birdbook for Japan ("A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North East-Asia"), I'm getting Brown-Headed Thrush, but there is a bit of resemblance to Pale thrush as well, so was hoping for a second oppinion.
3) Presumably Vega Gull? Given the only Larus-type gull I saw the whole trip that I've seen before was a Glaucous, and there seem to be three Herring Gull-type gulls in Japan, I'd like to confirm it.
4) Is the most difficult - this was taken from a moving train on a foggy day between Kushiro and Akkeshi over wooded hillside habitat. My initial impression was corvid but I wasn't getting an impression of Large-billed or Carrion. The wings seemed broad and hawk-like and I think I glimpsed a long beak (which you can just about make out in this picture).
Thanks in advance for any help!
Alex
