Hello Kantorians,

Somehow, May didn't turn out to be as exciting as I'd thought it might be. Though there were migrants around most of the time, it certainly took a lot of time out searching to find just a few. Perhaps the weather was too "nice"; very little rain, mild temperatures; comfortable for birders, but maybe most of the northbound birds decided just to press on and not stop near us.

There were two surprise overshoots in our area. One was the Black-billed Magpie which appeared at Shiriyazaki on the 23rd, and the other, also near Shiriyazaki, was the two Japanese Yellow Buntings, which stayed at least a week from the 16th through at least the 23rd. Identification of these birds was problematical until we got our hands on a photographic field guide, which depicted the birds exactly as we'd seen them, somewhat dissimilar to anything we'd seen illustrated.

The season encouraged us to stray somewhat from our usual coastal route (Misawa to Shiriyazaki), into the inland "mountains" (elevation up to 1000 meters) near Towada-Ko and the Yagen Valley. Birds noted only in these areas are prefixed by a '@'. A '*' prefix means confirmed breeding, while '*?' means probable or suspected breeding. The Eurasian Tree Sparrows in our garage fledged on the 31st, while I saw my first fledgling Black-backed Wagtail today, June 2. Before we know it, nesting season in our area will be over. But nesting in the inland areas seems to have barely begun.

One of the highlights of the month for us was provided by a bird neither rare nor range-restricted. The peregrines nesting at Shiriyazaki are feeding two nestlings, which hatched sometime in mid-month. They are still covered only with white down. The last weekend of the month, a strong wind kicked up (foiling my plans to take a raft over to the island where the Spectacled Guillemots are nesting). The peregrines, who normally are fairly placid, just resting near the nest or on high utility towers, took advantage of the wind to get in some flying time. Shrieking almost constantly, they dive-bombed the Slaty-backed Gulls and Temminck's Cormorants which were trying to go about the business of nesting. They continued this tirelessly for hours.

Another highlight was the flock of White-throated Needletails we encountered a bit west of Towada-Shi, driven low by storm clouds. It was exciting to have these big swifts (bigger than any North American species, I think), knifing back and through the air at high velocity right by us.

The hoped-for shorebird migration didn't materialize into much, except for Gray-tailed Tattlers. I guess we'll have to wait until August ...

May 1998


  
*?Little Grebe				Kaitsuburi		Podiceps ruficollis
Eared Grebe (5/9)			Hajiro-kaitsuburi	Podiceps nigricollis
Horned Grebe (5/2(10))			Mimi-kaitsuburi		Podiceps auritus
*?Great Crested Grebe			Kanmuri-kaitsuburi	Podiceps cristatus
Streaked Shearwater (5/2->(50/15min))	O-mizunagidori		Calonectris
leucomelas		
Short-tailed Shearwater (5/2 20/15min)	Hashiboso-mizunagidori	Puffinus
tenuirostris
*?Great Cormorant			Kawa-u			Phalacrocorax carbo
*Temminck's Cormorant			Umi-u			Phalacrocorax filamentosus
*Pelagic Cormorant			Hime-u			Phalacrocorax pelagicus
Great Egret				Dai-saga		Egretta alba
Little Egret				Ko-sagi			Egretta garzetta
Gray Heron				Ao-sagi			Ardea cinerea
Mute Swan				Kobu-hakucho		Cygnus olor
Whooper Swan (2 disabled)		O-hakucho		Cygnus cygnus
Bewick's Swan (1 disabled)		Ko-hakucho		Cygnus bewicki
@Mandarin Duck				Oshidori		Aix galericulata
Karu-gamo                 		Anas poeciloryncha
Common Teal (->5/16)                	Ko-gamo                  Anas crecca
Falcated Duck (->5/6)              	Yoshi-gamo               Anas falcata
Eurasian Wigeon (->5/23)            	Hidori-gamo              Anas penelope
Northern Pintail (->5/31)           	Onaga-gamo               Anas acuta
Northern Shoveler (->5/23(1))          	Hashibiro-gamo           Anas clypeata
Pochard (5)                    		Hoshi-hajiro             Aythya ferina
Tufted Duck (100+)                	Kinkuro-hajiro           Aythya fuligula
Greater Scaup (50+)              	Suzu-gamo                Aythya marila
Common Scoter (5/2(100))              	Kuro-gamo                Melanitta ??
Velvet Scoter (5/2(50))       		Birodo-kinkuro           Melanitta ??
Harlequin Duck (20)             	Shinori-gamo             Histrionicus histrionicus
Smew (->5/2(2))               	        Miko-aisa                Mergus albellus
Common Merganser (5/2,23(1))  		Kawa-aisa                Mergus merganser
Osprey (8)                    		Misago                   Pandion haliaetus
@Honey Buzzard (5/30(1))       		Hachikuma                Pernis apivorus
*Black Kite (100)              		Tobi                     Milvus migrans
Northern Goshawk (5/15(1))    		O-taka                   Accipiter gentilis
Eurasian Sparrow Hawk (3)     		Hai-taka                 Accipiter nisus
*?Common Buzzard (10)           	Nosuri                   Buteo buteo
*?Asian Marsh Harrier (5)             	Chuhi                    Circus spilonotus
*Peregrine Falcon (4)          		Hayabusa                 Falco peregrinus
Merlin (early 2)                    	Ko-chogenbo              Falco columbaris
Green Pheasant (5)            		Kiji                     Phasianus colchicus
Water Rail (5/23(1))          		Kuina                    Rallus aquaticus
Moorhen (1)                   		Ban                      Gallinula chloropus
*?Eurasian Coot (200)           	O-ban                    Fulica atra
Little Ringed Plover (5)      		Ko-chidori               Charadrius dubius
Kentish Plover (5/16,22(3))   		Shiro-chidori            Charadrius alexandrinus
Mongolian Plover (5/23(2))    	        Medai-chidori            Charadrius mongolus
Ruddy Turnstone (5/16(10),31(1))  	Kyojo-shigi        	 Arenaria interpres
Red-necked Stint (5/23(1))    		Tonen                    Calidris ruficollis
Dunlin (5/16(1))              		Hama-shigi               Calidris alpina
Sanderling (5/16(2))          		Miyubi-shigi             Crocethia alba
Spotted Redshank (5/2(19))    		Tsuru-shigi              Tringa erythropus
Gray-tailed Tattler (5/16(60),24(78),31(4)) Kiashi-shigi         Tringa brevipes
Common Sandpiper (5)          		Iso-shigi                Tringa hypoleucos
*?Latham's Snipe (4)            	Oji-shigi                Gallinago hardwickii
Red-necked Phalarope (5/16,5/23(100/15min)) Akaeri-hireashi-shigi Phalaropus lobatus
Herring Gull (5/2(1))         		Seguro-kamome     	Larus argentatus vegae
*Slaty-backed Gull (100)       		O-seguro-kamome       	Larus schistisagus
Glaucous Gull (5/2(1))        		Shiro-kamome            Larus hyperboreus
*?Black-tailed Gull (300)       	Umineko                 Larus crassirostris
*?Spectacled Guillemot (55)     	Keimafuri               Cepphus carbo
Rhinoceros Auklet (->5/23(25/15min))    Utou                    Cerorhinca monocerata
Rufous Turtle Dove (40)       		Kiji-bato               Streptopelia orientalis
Common Cuckoo (5/24(2H)->)       	Kakko                  Cuculus canorus
@Oriental Cuckoo (5/24(2H)->)     	Tsutsudori             Cuculus saturatus
@White-thr. Needle-t. Swift (5/25(70)) 	Hario-amatsubame       Chaetura caudacuta
@White-rumped Swift (5/25(5))  		Amatsubame             Apus pacificus
Common Kingfisher (3)         		Kawasemi               Alcedo atthis
@Japanese Green Woodpecker (5/26(1)) 	Ao-gera                Picus awokera
Great Spotted Woodpecker (15) 		Aka-gera               Dendrocopus major
@White-backed Woodpecker (5/25,26(2))   O-aka-gera             Dendrocopus leucotos
@Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (6) 		Ko-gera                Dendrocopos kizuki
Skylark (20)                  		Hibari                 Alauda arvensis
Bank Swallow (late 100+)           	Shodo-tsubame          Riparia riparia
Barn Swallow (10)             		Tsubame                Hirundo rustica
*?Asiatic House Martin (50)     	Iwa-tsubame            Delichon dasypus
Gray Wagtail (20)             		Ki-sekirei             Motacilla cinerea
*Black-backed Wagtail (100)    		Haku-sekirei           Motacilla lugens
Japanese Wagtail (3)          		Seguro-sekirei         Motacilla grandis
Indian Tree Pipit (5/23(8))   		Binzui                 Anthus hodgsoni
Brown-eared Bulbul (50)       		Hiyodori               Hypsipetes amaurotis
*Bull-headed Shrike (100)      		Mozu                   Lanius bucephalus
@*Brown Dipper (5/25,30(12))    	Kawagurasu             Cinclus pallasi
@*Wren (15)                     	Misosazai              Troglodytes troglodytes
*Blue Rock Thrush (15)         		Isohiyodori            Monticola solitarius
*?Brown Thrush (40)             	Akahara                Turdus chrysolaus
Dusky Thrush (100->5/23(1))  		Tsugumi                Turdus naumanni
Bush Warbler (50)             		Uguisu                 Cettia diphone
Short-tailed Bush Warbler (5/23(2),5/24(1)) Yabusame	       Cettia squameiceps
*?Japanese Marsh Warbler (15)   	O-sekka                Megalurus pryeri
*?Black-browed Reed Warbler (25)	Ko-yoshikiri	       Acrocephalus bistrigiceps
*Great Reed Warbler (20)       		O-yoshikiri            Acrocephalus arundinaceus
Crowned Willow Warbler (5/23(5)) 	Sendai-mushikui        Phylloscopus occipitalis
@Pale-legged Willow Warbler (5/30(1H)	Ezo-mushikui	       Phylloscopus tenellipes
@Narcissus Flycatcher (5/23->(25))	Ki-bitaki	       Ficedula narcissina
@Blue-and-White Flycatcher (6)		O-ruri		       Cyanoptela cyanomelana
*Long-tailed Tit (5)           		Enaga                  Aegithalos caudatus
@Willow Tit (2)                		Ko-gara                Parus montanus
*?Coal Tit (10)                 	Hi-gara                Parus ater
@*Varied Tit (15)               	Yama-gara              Parus varius
*Great Tit (20)                		Shiju-kara             Parus major
@*Nuthatch (5)                  	Goju-kara              Sitta europaea
Japanese White-Eye (50)       		Mejiro                 Zosterops japonica
*?Meadow Bunting (20)           	Hojiro                 Emberiza cioides
*?Japanese Reed Bunting (12)    	Ko-jurin               Emberiza yessoensis
Gray-headed Bunting (12)      		Hoaka                  Emberiza fucata
Japanese Yellow Bunting (5/16(1),5/22,5/23(2))	Nojiko         Emberiza sulphurata
*Black-faced Bunting (20)      		Aoji                   Emberiza spodocephala
Reed Bunting (20)             		O-jurin                Emberiza schoeniclus
Brambling (5/2(1))            		Atori                  Fringilla montifringilla
*Oriental Greenfinch (200)     		Kawara-hira            Carduelis sinica
Red Crossbill (5/23(25))      		Isuka                  Loxia curvirostra
Japanese Grosbeak (5/5(4),5/22(1)) 	Ikaru                  Eophona personata
Hawfinch (early 20,->5/30)              Shime                  Coccothraustes coccothraustes
*Eurasian Tree Sparrow (100)   		Suzume                 Passer montanus
*?Red-cheeked Myna (20)         	Ko-mukudori            Sturnus philippensis
*Gray Starling (100+)          		Mukudori               Sturnus cineraceus
Jay (10)                      		Kakesu                 Garrulus glandarius
Azure-winged Magpie (8)       		Onaga                  Cyanopica cyana
Black-billed Magpie (5/23(1)) 		Kasasagi               Pica pica
*Carrion Crow (50)             		Hashiboso-garasu       Corvus corone
*Jungle Crow (200)             		Hashibuto-garasu       Corbus macrorhynchos
 

Mike and Lee

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mikexlee@heronet.or.jp
011-81-176-53-2365
Misawa, Japan

U.S. mail address physically located here:

Mike Danzenbaker & Lee Hung
PSC 76  Box 6193
APO AP 96319-6193
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