BIRDING JAPAN: Last Day in Hokkaido

Once more, Mr. Take showed us and released some birds he'd banded earlier right after breakfast. This time, they consisted of 2 long-tailed tits, a marsh tit and a young Narcissus flycatcher. 

LONG-TAILED TIT Aegithalos caudatus

MARSH TIT Poecile palustris hensoni

NARCISSUS FLYCATCHER Ficedula narcissina

After leaving Furen Lodge and saying goodbye to Mr. Take, we went to a nearby woodland for a walk Mr. Take had recommended. Along with some surprisingly tame sika deer, we saw a few distant Temminck's and pelagic cormorants, and a feeding flock of nuthatches in the forest. A lone brown-headed thrush was flushed from the path, too quick to get a good look at.
After the walk was finished, we began the drive to Kushiro Airport, taking a slower, more scenic route before switching back to the main road. We stopped several times, once to see a distant flock of black scoters and once to observe some nearby ducks. A large flock of male goosanders flew overhead at the second stop, and along the drive we also found a single red fox. Soon, we'd arrived at Kushiro, bidding Hokkaido goodbye . . . for now.

GOOSANDER Mergus merganser

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes japonica