Waders and Falcons at the WTP

Yesterday morning, I visited the Western Treatment Plant with some friends, in hope of seeing some of this season's waders.
When we arrived, we immediately spotted some of the Treatment Plant's commoner birds in the grassland near the entrance: superb fairy-wrens, Willie wagtails, house sparrows, crested pigeons, black kites and brown falcons were all present. The shed where fairy martins had been roosting last year was still being used, and we were able to get great views of them. At one point, a brown falcon tried to dive-bomb one, and the entire flock around the nests rose up high into the air.

BROWN FALCON

Falco berigora

BLACK KITE

Milvus migrans

As we headed past Lake Borrie, it started to rain, so we settled down and observed a distant flock of waterbirds. Pink-eared ducks, grey teal and chestnut teal were abundant, and we watched 3 Cape Barren geese fly in to graze. In the distance were 3 yellow-billed spoonbills. Reeds around us held many calling golden-headed cisticolas.

GOLDEN-HEADED CISTICOLA

Cisticola exilis

YELLOW-BILLED SPOONBILL

Platalea flavipes

As we drove alongside the Little River to the bird hide, Australasian pelicans, hardheads, several musk ducks and a lone blue-billed duck were seen. At the hide itself there was little of interest: however, the shrubs around the hide held many white-browed scrubwren. We drove towards the T-Section Lagoons, stopping on the way to observe a stunning pair of Australian shelducks.

AUSTRALIAN SHELDUCK

Tadorna tadornoides

At the lagoons themselves, we observed large flocks of waders and terns. Yellow-billed spoonbills were resting on a spit of sand, along with two royal spoonbills and several Australian shelducks. Behind them red-necked avocets and white-naped stilts were feeding. Australia's 3 commonest waders were present in large numbers: sharp-tailed sandpipers, red-necked stints and curlew sandpipers. In the distance was a flock of whiskered and white-winged black terns, joined by several bar-tailed godwits. As we approached the flock, a black-shouldered kite flew overhead.

ROYAL SPOONBILL

Platalea regia

SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER

Calidris acuminata

CURLEW SANDPIPER

Calidris ferruginea

BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE

Elanus axillaris

As we left the treatment plant, we saw several more black-shouldered kites hovering above grassland, and a single soaring black kite.

BIRDING SRI LANKA: Horton Plains

While staying at Bandarawela, we made a brief visit to Horton Plains National Park. Here, I was able to see some of the Hill Country's commoner endemics: Sri Lanka white eyes, Sri Lanka scimitar babblers, dull-blue flycatchers and yellow-eared bulbuls. As always, areas of grassland in the park also held many birds: pied bushchats, paddyfield pipits, brown shrikes, Jerdon's bushlarks and blue-tailed bee-eaters were abundant. A lone raptor, probably a black kite, perched on a shrub and gave us great views. Several purple-faced leaf monkeys and giant squirrels were seen, but strangely no sambar were present at all, despite their abundance on previous visits.

DULL-BLUE FLYCATCHER

Eumyias sordidus

PADDYFIELD PIPIT

Anthus rufulus

JERDON'S BUSHLARK

Mirafra affinis

BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER

Merops philipinus

PIED BUSHCHAT

Saxicola caprata

BROWN SHRIKE

Lanius cristatus

BLACK KITE

Milvus migrans

PURPLE-FACED LEAF MONKEY

Trachypithecus vetulus

BIRDING SRI LANKA: Bandarawela

During the school holidays, my family and I visited Sri Lanka for 9 days. 3 of those were spent at my father's home in Bandarawela. The forest around the house held a wide variety of birds, including one lifer. 

Fruiting trees attracted rose-ringed parakeets, yellow-fronted barbets, brown-headed barbets and red-backed flamebacks. A small, flowering shrub at the front of the garden was often visited by Loten's sunbirds, purple-rumped sunbirds and pale-billed flowerpeckers. The forest itself held many Sri Lanka scimitar babblers, velvet-fronted nuthatches, cinereous tits, Tickell's blue flycatchers, grey-headed canary flycatchers, emerald doves, and both small and orange minuets. Sri Lanka junglefowl, along with an extremely shy Indian pitta, roamed the forest floor, while crested serpent eagles soared overhead. Late in the evening of my second day, my life lesser hill myna flew into a tree in front of the veranda.

ROSE-RINGED PARAKEET

Psittacula krameri

YELLOW-FRONTED BARBET

Psilopogon flavifrons

BROWN-HEADED BARBET

Psilopogon zeylanicus

VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH

Sitta frontalis

ORANGE MINIVET

Pericrocotus flammeus

EMERALD DOVE

Chalcophaps indica

RED-BACKED FLAMEBACK

Dinopium psarodes

SRI LANKA JUNGLEFOWL

Gallus lafayettii

TICKELL'S BLUE FLYCATCHER

Cyornis tickelliae

LESSER HILL MYNA

Gracula religiosa

SRI LANKA SCIMITAR BABBLER

Pomatorhinus melanus

LOTEN'S SUNBIRD

Cinnyris lotenius

CINEREOUS TIT

Parus cinereus

GREY-HEADED CANARY FLYCATCHER

Culicicapa ceylonensis

Some of Sri Lanka's commoner birds, such as jungle crows, white-vented drongos, red-vented bulbuls, yellow-billed babblers, Indian mynas and spotted turtledoves, were also present. The tea estate just above the house held many chestnut-headed bee-eaters, along with a single distant brown shrike. 

CHESTNUT-HEADED BEE-EATER

Merops leschenaultii

WHITE-VENTED DRONGO

Dicrurus caerulescens

YELLOW-BILLED BABBLER

Turdoides affinis

Mammal-wise, barking deer, Indian palm squirrels and Indian giant squirrels were all seen.

BARKING DEER

Muntiacus muntjak

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

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Five

The first birds of the day were seen right after breakfast, when Mr. Take showed us some birds he had caught for banding earlier, and released them. A red-flanked bluetail, black-faced bunting, grey bunting and winter wren were all released before us.

RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL Luscinia cyanura

WINTER WREN Troglodytes troglodytes fumigatus

BLACK-FACED BUNTING Emberiza spodocephala personata

Then, we drove to Ochiishi for a cruise around the nearby islands, where several auks could apparently be seen. We were unlucky on our cruise, as the weather was extremely calm and all our views were extremely distant. Some sea otters and harbour seals that I couldn't get a good look at were seen by others. Bird-wise, many slaty-backed gulls, pelagic cormorants, Temminck's cormorants and black-tailed gulls were abundant, but only one group of auklets was seen: a small flock of rhinoceros auklets that briefly dashed past the boat.
On our return to the harbour, we set off on a guided trip with Mr. Take to Cape Nosappu. Along the way, we stopped at several small lakes that were full of waterbirds. Eurasian wigeons, Northern shovelers, spot-billed ducks, common teal and a lone tufted duck were seen, along with a black-necked grebe and a fishing gull-billed tern. In the scrub around one of these lakes were several Siberian stonechats. We also stopped at some sites Mr. Take knew to be good for gulls, and were able to find an immature glaucous-winged gull, along with some glaucous gulls. Finally, we reached Cape Nosappu and immediately spotted a stunning male Harlequin duck in the distance, with a few females swimming much closer in. With Mr. Take's scope, we also saw a pigeon guillemot: a rare bird in Hokkaido! On the way back, we scanned several areas where cormorants were resting, but were unable to find our target (the red-faced cormorant), though pelagic cormorants and Temminck's cormorants were seen in large numbers.

NORTHERN SHOVELER Anas clypeata

SIBERIAN STONECHAT Saxicola saurus stejnegeri

GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL Larus glaucescens

GLAUCOUS GULL (3rd from the left) Larus hyperboreus

HARLEQUIN DUCK Histrionicus histrionicus

PELAGIC CORMORANT Phalacrocorax pelagicus

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Four

Once more, we left early in the morning for our next destination: Lake Furen Lodge. Along the way we got close views of several species we'd seen in the drive to Rausu: white-tailed eagles, slaty-backed gulls, black-tailed gulls, goosanders and even a few female Harlequin ducks were all seen.   A new bird for the trip was a single winter-plumage black-headed gull, in a flock of the previously mentioned gulls. Closer to the lodge, we stopped to see 2 red-crowned cranes and some distant flocks of ducks.

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE Haliaeetus albicilla

SLATY-BACKED GULL Larus schistisagus

BLACK-TAILED GULL Larus crassirostris

RED-CROWNED CRANE Grus japonensis

We settled in at the lodge before I walked up to the nearby dike. The lake held several large flocks of waterfowl, along with many grey herons. I was able to get distant views of Eurasian wigeons, mallards and Northern pintails. While walking back to the lodge, I found a great spotted woodpecker in the garden.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER Dendrocopos major japonicus

Mr. Take, our host, recommended a nearby boardwalk for getting good views of these flocks. We headed out to a surprise: the waterfowl flocks that had previously been feeding in the centre of the lake were now resting next to the boardwalk! Many Eurasian wigeons, Northern pintails, mallards and common teal were present. In the grassland around the boardwalk were a few Pacific golden plovers, white wagtails and buff-bellied pipits, along with some approachable Sika deer.

EURASIAN WIGEON Anas penelope

NORTHERN PINTAIL Anas acuta

COMMON TEAL Anas crecca

SIKA DEER Cervus nippon

BUFF-BELLIED PIPIT Anthus rubescens japonicus