East Hokkaido Trip VI

Feb 23rd was my last full day birding in Rausu and the minshuku owner was so kind that he offered me a drive from Kasuga to Rausu port. I got off the car and walked around the area taking photos of some common birds again. The weather was much better than the day before and along the way I had very nice views of Steller's Sea Eagles perching on high dead trees against ultramarine blue sky. However, it's got more and more cloudy as I arrived the port, yet still had periods of sunlight.

A view of Rausu Port

All the places where I took photos of the birds

To make sure you're not in the wrong town!

There was a lot of ice in the port and several Pelagic Cormorants were swimming and diving all over the place. Some of them were even tame enough for me to get pleasant shots in close range. I saw this species once in Beppu 2 years ago but the birds were far away in the sea. Other common species were presenting well as usual including the goldeneyes, scaups, mergansers and swans. Lots of eagles were circling up in the sky and one juvenile White-tailed came down to the port. These birds were much more wary here in land than when they're out in the sea.

A non-breeding Pelagic Cormorant

A juvenile White-tailed Eagle

And an adult

More photos of the Whooper Swan

This female Common Merganser didn't care about my presence at all.

However, my main target of the day was actually the beautiful Harlequin Duck, which I have seen so many of them but couldn't take any decent shot. I saw a male swimming in the harbour the day before so I waited for them around the area. In the meanwhile, I took loads of photos of the same flock of tame Greater Scaups. Too bad the beautiful male wasn't quite cooperative like the day before, so I mainly got photos of the females and eclipse males.

A female Greater Scaup

An ugly male moulting out of its eclipse

And a better looking one

Steller's Sea Eagle soaring high up in the sky

A 2cy Glaucous Gull

And a 1cy Glaucous-winged Gull

After a long wait for the Harlequin Duck, I finally spotted a pair of male and female bird feeding in one corner of the harbour. With a lot of hide and seek tricks and patient, I finally got some decent shots of the species. It's incredible to see all those feather and pattern closely. I can't imagine how nature creates such a wonderful beast like this.

A male Harlequin Duck

Typical behaviour of the bird when searching for food

Though lacking those vivid colours, the female bird is also pretty.

Always nice to see them in pairs

I have no program for the day again, so I just sat down there at the port, shooting whatever came into the range of my lens. The photos are quite repetitive so I won't be putting so many of them here. You can just check them out in my main gallery website here http://www.pbase.com/ayuwat_j/hokkaido_2010

A male Common Goldeneye

A younger male

An even tamer Pelagic Cormorant

More Common Goldeneyes

A male Harlequin Duck

Before I left the port in the afternoon, a flock of Harlequin Duck which was always staying far in the sea unexpectedly came close to where I was sitting. I was so surprised that these birds can also be quite tame at times, so I finally completed my mission for the day once again. I love these ducks!

Many of them were doing group display

So the story of my trip ends here. I really like Russell's use of the word "Where the Earth Ends" in his article here. For me it's not only where the earth ends, but it's where my dream has begun and I finally made it there. I'm sure there will be the next time. I've got Blakiston's Fish Owl, Gyrfalcon, Rough-legged Buzzard, sea mammals and many more to see!

East Hokkaido Trip IV

The next morning I had to get up before 4:30 because a guy from Godzilla Iwa, the ferry company that I reserved for a morning sightseeing course, will come and pick me up at the minshuku. I actually booked for the 9am course but he said it might be canceled because there was no other guests who booked for that course other than me. So I told him that I cannot go to Rausu before 5am because I don't have a car, then he said it's okay for him to drive and pick me up from there.

It was super cold! I sat in the cabin for about 30 minutes then the boat began to leave the port. It started to get brighter as the boat reached the area where the drift ice was intense. As the first sunlight began to show up behind the Russia-occupied Kunashiri island, lots and lots of gulls began to fly from everywhere towards the boat. Then I spotted several eagles perching in a distance. The guy who drove me from Kasuga did the work on throwing fishes to the eagles. He then started to throw some of the fish down to the drift ice. The gulls flew in like crazy then followed by the eagles!

I can't think of a word to actually describe the feeling of happiness I had back then when the sun slowly rose from the beautiful and unique island, turning the cold icy water into reddish-orange color with all the birds flying from everywhere. It's just one of the moments I won't forget. When the boat had gotten into the right place and the engine had been turned off, it's time for the real shooting. I somehow think that it's quite a good occupation they're doing. Collecting 10,000 yen each for having a DSLR, more than 10 people were already in there and all with DSLR, it's already more than 100,000 yen. If they get this much of the guests everyday, at least during the season, I can't even wonder how much they can earn the money. 100,000 yen a day or more cos they can go out 2 times a day everyday, I wanna work here!

A Steller's Sea Eagle perching nicely in morning light

I love their face!

The smaller and averagely tamer White-tailed Eagle

A juvenile White-tailed

And a juvenile Steller's

Japanese people call the Steller's Sea Eagle Ō-washi(オオワシ) meaning "large eagle", and the White-tailed Eagle Ojiro-washi(オジロワシ) meaning straightforwardly "white-tailed eagle". I wikipedia the Steller's Sea Eagle and found that it's the third largest eagle in the world after the famous Harpy and Philippine Eagle. But apart from the length, it's the heaviest eagle in the world with the weight of 4.9 to 9 kilogrammes! Great that it's a bird, no one would be so proud if he/she is the heaviest person in the world.

I don't get why Japanese photographers always carry their huge lens
when the birds are always so close.

A proud Steller's Sea Eagle

And also the White-tailed Eagle

A bit of BIF

A brief period of warm sunlight

Apart from the eagles, I was greatly enjoyed by the variety of gulls. I love the Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) so much that I took almost as many photos as the eagles. They look so beautiful with their entirely white plumage, especially when they're flying against beautiful wintry landscape. The Glaucous-winged Gull (L. glaucescens) was also special but it looked a bit like the normal Vega. Slaty-backed Gull was numerous as hell and it's the species I took the least photos of.

A 1cy Glaucous Gull

Love the entirely white with pinky bill and legs

This one seems to be in its first-spring plumage

The bird gets whitest in its 2nd year.

Then it has some grey in the 3rd year.

And turns into adult in the 4th year.

Here's a lovely shot I took which shows the birds in different stage
from 2nd year(left) to 3rd year(center) and 1st year(right).

A Glaucous-winged Gull in its breeding plumage

It looks pretty much like the normal Slaty-backed in first-winter plumage
except for the pale primary feathers.

Sometimes Glaucous Gull can be quite dark too, but it has pink beak with black tip.

So before ending this entry, here are more photos of the eagles. I will continue the rest in the next entry since I think this one is getting too long now. There will be more(and more and more) eagles photos to come and a lot more photos of the birds at Rausu port as well.

Steller's Sea Eagle in flight

And the White-tailed Eagle