Not Many

Like I said in the earlier post, there were not as many ducks in Oita River as the last winter, and I was disappointed. Seems like this winter is going to be really dull for birding around here. The first snow finally covered Mt. Tsurumi on December 12, and we just had a series of semi-blizzards a few days ago. I just hope that the cold wind will continue to bring in some good migrants, especially the Baikal Teal. On the early morning of December 13, I took a train to Kaku and walked to the area where I found the Baikal Teal last year. No Baikal Teal was found. Instead, I got a decent shot of a male Common Teal (Anas crecca), and many shots of the Little Grebes as you can see in the earlier post.

Full moon setting behind Mt. Tsurumi

Male Common Teal (Anas crecca)

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus trivirgatus)

There were usual stuff along the river, a small flock of 3 Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatus trivirgatus) feeding near a fruiting tree that looked more like a flowering tree, a few Dusky Thrushes, Oriental Turtle-Doves, Bull-headed Shrikes and Black-faced Buntings. There were not so many birds in the river, except for the Little Grebes which seemed to be everywhere. The number of Common Coot (Fulica atra) seems to be much lower than the last winter, but at least there were still quite many of them swimming in the dam on the upper stream. In contrast, this winter I found Common Coots showing up in different places in Beppu for the first time. I even recently saw one feeding in a small port next to my dorm.

Common Coot (Fulica atra)

A pair of Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope)

Female Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)

There were more ducks at the dam, and I also found a female Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) for the first time in this area. After scanning through the flocks of sleeping ducks, I was sad to find nothing special. Most of them were Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope), Mallards, Common Teals and Chinese Spot-billed Ducks. All of the ducks seemed to be quite lazy and didn't move even until 11:00AM. The merganser was swimming in the middle of the dam, but even after hour of waiting it still didn't come any closer. The coots and Little Grebes were swimming closer to the bank than most of the ducks though

Common Coot (Fulica atra)

Eating fresh leave picked up from the surface of water

Male and female Common Teals (Anas crecca)

Male Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Male and female Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope)

Unidentified female Wigeon

The above female wigeon got me puzzled. Its head speckles look a bit odd for normal Eurasian Wigeon, so I took photos of it while it was swimming pass my hide. I posted a few photos of it in Bird Forum and few people who made a comment said that it looks like a female American Wigeon (Anas americana) but they can't be definite until they see the bird's axillaries. American Wigeon has white axillaries, while Eurasian has barred axillaries which make them look greyish. There have been a few records of American Wigeons in Oita River by other birders. All of them were, of course, male birds. I wonder how many female American Wigeons have been overlooked each winter.

A Bunch Of Unproductiveness

Even though I have already complained about the lack of birds during this winter in a few other posts, this post is also dedicated to the same topic. Sekinoe kept disappointing me so bad that I have lost my motivation to visit it again. I've been thinking of going to Oita River for a few days now, but I also fear of not seeing any decent bird. This winter seems to be much delayed too, so I am not sure if interesting migrants like the Baikal Teal that I found last winter or the Japanese Waxwing that I missed, have already arrived or not. Anyway, at least I have found 2 Beppu's firsts during this season, which are the Japanese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter gularis) that I found both at Hamawaki and Rakutenchi, and the Common Coot (Fulica atra) at Sekinoe and Furuichi.

Juvenile Japanese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter gularis) at Hamawaki on December 6, 2011.

Possibly different juvenile Eurasian Sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) at Sekinoe

The only Accipiter hawk that I've found in Beppu has always been the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). This winter has been a little bit different because 2 Japanese Sparrowhawks were found in the southern part of Beppu including Hamawaki and Rakutenchi entrance. I was actually unsure about the identification of the bird in the first picture at first, but after sending it to a raptor expert, I was confirmed that it is a juvenile Japanese Sparrowhawk. It has different streaking and barring pattern on the underparts with a much shorter tail. Juvenile Eurasian Sparrowhawk has no vertical streaking on the breast with a much longer tail.

Male Common Teal (Anas crecca)

A flock of Common Teals resting in the afternoon

Eclipse male and female stretching wings

Comparing to other years, the number of waterfowls at Sekinoe is quite disappointing. Normally, a large flock of Common Teals (Anas crecca) would be filling the whole lotus fields by late November. However, this year there were only about 20 birds. There was a pair of male Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) among the flock of Common Teals and a single Common Coot (Fulica atra) swimming in the river.I was so shocked to see the emptiness of the fields. Only a pair of Common Sandpipers, a lone Buff-bellied Pipit, a Grey Wagtail and a pair of Japanese Wagtail were found feeding in the fields at Sekinoe. Things are a little bit better on Furuichi side. I flushed up a single male Greater Painted-Snipe and an extremely shy Ruddy-breasted Crake was seen moving and calling in the grass.

Male Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

Ruddy-breasted Crake (Porzana fusca erythrothorax)

Male Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)

And the female

This year even the Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) which normally passes through Beppu in a large number seems to be fewer than ever. I've always got decent shots of this species during autumn either at Sekino or Beppu Park easily without much effort. However, this year it was more difficult for me to get any decent shot of the birds. Apart from these usual migrants, I also found a single Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) soaring above Sekinoe field and a few Black-faced Buntings (Emberiza spodocephala personata) flicking within the reeds. It's the species that I'm still waiting to get a decent shot of. On my recent visit on December 4, I also found another Common Coot feeding in an open lotus field along with a small flock of Common Teals at Furuichi.

Common Coot (Fulica atra)

Male Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus)

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Female Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala personata)