Some sparrows at Hyoko, Niigata. Hyoko is famous for swans and ducks but there are also some smaller species. All look beautiful in the snow.
Tag: Hyoko
The Swans, The Mountains and The Ducks
Well, the winter break is far over already. I was hoping to spend lots of time capturing goshawks and falcons chasing ducks around the wetlands, but I could only muster a few rare and distant glimpses. My most successful photos were just of the swans and the mountains, which I took on December 31. Maybe the most exciting photos are of the male Smew which I realised was coming straight at me. I hope to go out sometime during the Coming of Age long weekend. The forecast looks good.
Arrivals and Departures
| Bewick’s Swan (Tundra Swan) Hyoko, Agano City, Niigata, Japan October 6, 2018 |
Last night’s local news was pretty exciting. They announced that the first swans arrived at Hyoko just before sunrise on Thursday. There were birders with tripods, scopes and cameras there to greet them. I wasn’t there but, welcome back!
I went there today. There weren’t so many and I saw some that looked pretty tired and hungry. I hope they will find food soon and fatten up before winter. It was a beautiful day with another typhoon approaching and I believe it got up to 30C. Strange to look at winter birds under brilliant warm sunshine.
I found a cross of winter birds and summer birds. A young cuckoo baffles me as well as some ducks. There are many brown ducks with different shaped heads and facial expressions. I fear, I’m a failed birder. I am often disconfident with my choice of words. Please help me, Stu.
| Intermediate Egret |
| Grey Heron |
| Common Cuckoo
Juvenile |
| Perplexing Gadwell or Square-headed Pintails? |
| Mallard
(female) |
| Pintail? |
The Happy Duck
| Luke’s Duck **UPDATED: Domestic Duck, Not Hybrid. Identification by the Hybrid Group at Flicka.com Hyoko, Niigata, Japan February 11, 2018 |
I usually overlook hybrids but have been trying to have a closer look because my friend Luke seems intrigued. I took these pics last Saturday.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a Mallard x Domestic Duck. It’s head is larger than the typical Mallards’ it hangs around.
Anyway, I usually search for the rare and dynamic, but if you study this individual, it’s kinda cute and happy. So what’s wrong with bit of a look?
What do you think of my trial watermark? Too big? Yeah, but I want it to look cool. Sometimes I’ve found my pics on other websites.
The Frozen Lake
| Hyoko, Niigata, Japan
February 11, 2018 |
After a long cold week with heavy snow, it was sunny yesterday morning so I went to Hyoko. It was treacherous walking between thick walls of ice. A kind lady showed her concern for me while I was standing on the slippery ice and she cleared a space for me next to her on up on a ledge of soft snow. We stood side-by-side for a while with our digital cameras with birds all around us. I think everyone should have a digital camera and stand by the side of a lake.
A Hybrid
| Hybrid Ferruginous Duck + Common Pochard
Hyoko, Niigata, Japan January, 2018 |
It’s been very cold the last few weeks and I haven’t birded much. I get so tired of falling down. I’ve heard people have had frozen toilets and showers and taps for days and days. Really different to following the Australian Open Tennis.
These pics were taken earlier in the year in nicer light and conditions. I posted the pics of this hybrid on the Kantori page in Japan and the kind people there confirmed it was a hybrid Ferruginous + Pochard. My birding pal Luke thought of that but I ignored him as he’s just starting out. He looks at the details like real birders. I am too abstract.
I just visited my blog for the first time in a while and discovered a number of kind comments. Thank you for that. I will try to brave the conditions and get newer and better shots.
| Common Pochard with leg ring. |
| Little Grebe |
| Northern Pintail are so common here in the winter but don’t you think they’re worth a close look? |
| Little Grebe |
| Mallard in nice light |
| Eurasian Wigeon |
Tombi
Endless Rain
| Tundra Swans
Hyoko, Niigata, Japan January 3, 2018 |
I went to Hyoko again this morning but light, wet, snow became a blizzard so I only stayed for an hour. By the time I got home again the sun broke out.
I wonder what Charles Darwin would have thought after many years in Japan. I went from steak and veges to rice and miso. I think the shape of my beak has changed. I know my body has.
I have been getting into a lot of Japanese music recently. I watched X Japan sing “Endless Rain” on the tele the other night and I broke and bought it. Listened to it heaps, along with Masaharu Fukuyama’s latest song.
Another Year Over
| Cygnus
Hyoko, Niigata, Japan December, 2017 |
My mum passed away on the first day of this year so today is the eve of her first anniversary.
I still have metal things in the arm I broke. The largest looks like a utensil for serving spaghetti.
There have been some challenges but I have wonderful family and friends and I know I’m lucky to be looked after so well.
I think the best way for me to see out this year is to find something beautiful with my lens and share it with the world.
Hyo Lake in Agano City, Niigata is famous for its swans. 80% are Tundra Swans and the rest are Whooper Swans.
Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you find something beautiful in your new year.
| Tundra Swan |
| Whooper Swan |
Duck for Christmas
| Hyoko, Niigata, Japan
December 27, 2017 |
It’s nice to get some time off for winter. It seems to have been a long year. Being in Japan, Christmas Day was a work day but I took it off and headed to Hyoko. I found an adult Northern Goshawk hunting there then. Today I headed back with Luke and we found a young one doing the same. A number of raptors were about including Peregrine, Eurasian Buzzard, and milvus kites. Plenty of ducks included, Northern Pintail, Pochard, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Wigeon, Tuft and various mixes. Of course Tundra and Whooper Swans for which the place is famous. Coot, cormorants, sparrows, egrets, a Grey Heron, Carrion Crows.
My weather app predicted 1C as the high for the day and hard ice under foot cracked with my steps. Love it but I don’t want to fall.
| Northern Goshawk |
| Eurasian Teal |
| Peregrine Falcon |
October Arrivals
| Common Coot
Hyoko, Niigata, Japan October 21, 2017 |
Not so cold yet, but pretty dull. I’m happy to see all the new arrivals at Hyoko. Some Tundra Swans, but no Whoopers yet.
The usual assortment of common ducks have made their way from the continent in the north. There’ll be many more to come in the weeks ahead. Hope they travel well with the typhoon coming our way.
I thought I’d lead off with a Common Coot. They’re here for summer too, but I usually look past them. Quite a nice face really.
| Common Pochard |
| Tufted Duck |
| Tufted Duck |
| Eurasian Wigeon |
| Mallard |
| Tundra Swans
and below.. |
Autumn Swans
The iWants
| Northern Goshawk
Adult Hyoko, Niigata, Japan February 21, 2016 Sony RX100iii held up to a Nikon ED50 field scope I didn’t bring an adaptor! |
I want a big new spotting scope. Either Zeiss, Swarovski, or Leica will do. The above goshawk looked fantastic through my little scope but I imagined a nice, intimate portrait with snow and dead reeds would have been nice. Looking through my scope the breeze was blowing the reeds in and out of the way and the soft feathers on the hawk’s chest were fluffed up. The goshawk was interested in the ducks on the water and its yellow eyes peered through the reeds, sometimes almost directly at us.
| Nikon D7100 with Nikkor AF-S 300F4 |
| Black-eared Kite |
I got ready with my D7100 and 300 f4 when it looked like flying anf it came right at me. I messed up though, the camera just got stuck on the background.
I lost focus after this shot and didn’t regain it until it had almost passed me.
| Rock Dove |
I only brought my little scope and D7100 with the Nikkor 300 f4. These photos show why I like that set up. I wasn’t ready for the goshawk.
Anyway. It was a fruitful outing.
| Northern Pintail
female |
| Northern Pintail
male |
| Common Pochard |
| Whooper Swan |
| Eurasian Teal
male |
Splashin’ Pintail
Goshawks Chasing Ducks
| Northern Goshawk
Hyoko, Niigata, Japan November 22, 2015 |
Here are some pics of a couple of Northern Goshawks stirring up the ducks at the back of Hyoko yesterday. Actually I really messed up with many out of focus shots. The focus either just caught the background or the grass.
I might make it a goal to get better shots through the winter.
