Fri, 7 Aug 1998 21:01:24
After sometime in the second week of July, the sun did not make any substantial appearances for the rest of the month. It didn't actually rain all that much; it just stayed dark and dreary. At least there weren't any glare problems. The humidity was remarkable. Some of our outdoor clothing that we keep around our foyer to put on as we're leaving became moldy by the end of the month, and that's without our even wearing it out into the elements. August isn't shaping up to be any dryer (it's raining outside my window right now). July was a month of minimal film usage.
This July had one thing that last July didn't - some signs of fall migration. This is probably because we tried some new spots along the coast which seemed a little better for shorebirds (but still impoverished by coastal North American standards). Predictably, every shorebird we saw was an adult. Also harbingers of fall, Gray Starlings and Red-cheeked Mynas are forming large flocks, staging for a move.
On the same beach as some of the shorebirds were two each decomposed Northern Fulmars and Laysan Albatross, one of the latter tangled in some kind of cord.
Another interesting thing was the abundance of cuckoos. This is interesting in light of an apparent decline elsewhere in Japan. Last July we didn't see or hear a single Little Cuckoo, and this month we heard them calling in many places. Granted, last year we didn't know what a Little Cuckoo sounded like, but the song is so loud and persistent that I don't believe it would have gone unnoticed. Same with Oriental Cuckoo, though not so numerous. Common Cuckoos were commonest of all.
And Chinese Little Bitterns appeared towards the end of the month. They eluded us completely through mid-July, but later, and into August, they've been almost easy to see, requiring just some waiting before one flies across the reedbeds.
Eurasian Tree Sparrows started working on their third brood in our garage. I can usually hear them while on the computer in the daytime. Bull-headed Shrikes (also numerous this year) nested outside our house, and the fledglings beg noisily. In the rice paddies, Japanese Reed Buntings fledged many young, but the reed warblers were still feeding nestlings, and even building new nests. Little and Great Crested Grebes were escorting young as well.
The most surprising and puzzling bird of the month was a Merlin which dashed through residential Misawa sometime in the middle of the month. That bird shouldn't have been anywhere near here.
As always, the area is the 90 km stretch of coastline between Misawa and Shiriyazaki. Species verified nesting locally are preceding by a '*', while others seen only during a quick trip inland on July 4 are prefixed by '@'.
*Little Grebe Kaitsuburi Podiceps ruficollis *Great Crested Grebe Kanmuri-kaitsuburi Podiceps cristatus Laysan Albatross (2 dead) Ko-ahodori Diomedea immutabilis Northern Fulmar (2 dead) Furuma-kamome Fulmarus glacialis Streaked Shearwater Mizunagidori Calonectris leucomelas Short-t Shearwater Hashiboso-mizunagidori Puffinus tenuirostris *?Great Cormorant Kawa-u Phalacrocorax carbo *Temminck's Cormorant Umi-u Phalacrocorax filamentosus Chinese Little Bittern (2) Yoshi-goi Ixobrychus sinensis Black-cr. Night Heron (12) Goi-sagi Nycticorax nycticorax Gray Heron Ao-sagi Ardea cinerea *Mute Swan Kobu-hakucho Cygnus cygnus Whooper Swan (3 disabled) O-hakucho Cygnus olor Bewick's Swan (1 disabled) Ko-hakucho Cygnus bewicki *Mandarin Duck (25) Oshidori Aix galericulata Mallard Ma-gamo Anas platyrhynchos *Spot-billed Duck Karu-gamo Anas poecilorhyncha Eurasian Wigeon (7/4(2)) Hidori-gamo Anas penelope Pochard (2 disabled) Hoshi-hajiro Aythya ferina @Honey Buzzard (2) Hachikuma Pernis apivorus Black Kite Tobi Milvus migrans Eurasian Sparrow Hawk (3) Hai-taka Accipiter nisus Common Buzzard Nosuri Buteo buteo Asian Marsh Harrier (2) Chuhi Circus spilonotus Peregrine Falcon (3) Hayabusa Falco peregrinus @*Northern Hobby (2) Chigo-hayabusa Falco subbuteo Merlin (1) Ko-chogenbo Falco columbaris Green Pheasant Kiji Phasianus Water Rail (1H) Kuina Rallus aquaticus *Eurasian Coot (250) O-ban Fulica atra *Little Ringed Plover Ko-chidori Charadrius dubius *Kentish Plover (12) Shiro-chidori Charadrius alexandrinus Mongolian Plover (7/12(1)) Medai-chidori Charadrius mongolus Red-necked Stint (10) Tonen Calidris ruficollis Sanderling (4) Miyubi-shigi Crocethia alba Gray-tailed Tattler (4) Kiashi-shigi Tringa brevipes Common Sandpiper (7/13(2)) Iso-shigi Tringa hypoleucos Bar-tailed Godwit (7/12(1)) O-sorihashi-shigi Limosa lapponica Latham's Snipe (2) Oji-shigi Gallinago hardwickii *Slaty-backed Gull O-seguro-kamome Larus schistisagus *Black-tailed Gull Umineko Larus crassirostris *Spectacled Guillemot Keimafuri Cepphus carbo Rufous Turtle Dove Kiji-bato Streptopelia orientalis Common Cuckoo (20) Kakko Cuculus canorus Oriental Cuckoo (1) Tsutsudori Cuculus saturatus Little Cuckoo (10) Hototogisu Cuculus poliocephalus White-thr. Needle-t. Swift (25) Hario-amatsubame Chaetura caudacuta Pacific Swift (2) Amatsubame Apus pacificus *Common Kingfisher Kawasemi Alcedo atthis @Japanese Green Woodpecker (7/3(1)) Ao-gera Picus awokera Great Spotted Woodpecker Aka-gera Dendrocopus major @*?Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Ko-gera Dendrocopos kizuki Skylark Hibari Alauda arvensis *Barn Swallow Tsubame Hirundo rustica *Asiatic House Martin Iwa-tsubame Delichon dasypus *Gray Wagtail Ki-sekirei Motacilla cinerea *Black-backed Wagtail Haku-sekirei Motacilla lugens Japanese Wagtail (3) Seguro-sekirei Motacilla grandis *Brown-eared Bulbul Hiyodori Hypsipetes amaurotis *Bull-headed Shrike Mozu Lanius bucephalus @Brown Dipper Kawagurasu Cinclus pallasi @Wren Misosazai Troglodytes troglodytes @Red-flanked Bluetail (7/3(1H)) Ruri-bitaki Tarsiger cyanurus Blue Rock Thrush Isohiyodori Monticola solitarius *Brown Thrush Akahara Turdus chrysolaus Bush Warbler Uguisu Cettia diphone *?Japanese Marsh Warbler O-sekka Megalurus pryeri *Black-browed Reed Warbler Ko-yoshiki Acrocephalus bistrigiceps *Great Reed Warbler O-yoshikiri Acrocephalus arundinaceus @Arctic Warbler (7/3(1H)) Meboso-mishikui Phylloscopus borealis @Narcissus Flycatcher Ki-bitaki Ficedula narcissina @Varied Tit Yama-gara Parus varius *Great Tit Shiju-kara Parus major Japanese White-Eye Mejiro Zosterops japonica *Meadow Bunting Hojiro Emberiza cioides *Japanese Reed Bunting Ko-jurin Emberiza yessoensis Gray-headed Bunting Hoaka Emberiza fucata *Black-faced Bunting Aoji Emberiza spodocephala Reed Bunting O-jurin Emberiza schoeniclus *Oriental Greenfinch Kawara-hira Carduelis sinica Japanese Grosbeak (7/15(2)) Ikaru Eophona personata Hawfinch (7/25(1)) Shime Coccothraustes coccothraustes *Eurasian Tree Sparrow Suzume Passer montanus Red-cheeked Myna (200) Ko-mukudori Sturnus philippensis Gray Starling (500) Mukudori Sturnus cineraceus Jay (3) Kakesu Garrulus glandarius Azure-winged Magpie Onaga Cyanopica cyana Carrion Crow Hashiboso-garasu Corvus corone Jungle Crow Hashibuto-garasu Corbus macrorhynchos
Good Birding, Mike