18/10/10: Clear skies with a North 1 breeze at dawn slowly increasing to N3 by dusk. We witnessed a pre-dawn arrival of Thrushes (with a male Japanese Grey Thrush seen on a track near the toilets) and an early morning northbound movement of 800 Siskins. A Mealy Redpoll was present near the drinking pool though a male Red-flanked Bluetail proved the highlight on the walk back to breakfast. We then again tried unsuccessfully for the Booted Warbler although we saw a Black-browed Reed Warbler there and flushed a Short-eared Owl from the west coast marsh and found a first-winter Mugimaki Flycatcher near the lighthouse and 2 Middendorff’s Grasshopper Warblers at the Antenna Field. Then to Tsukasa Fields where we struck gold finding 2 Pallas’s Reed Buntings and also saw our only Russet Sparrow of the trip as well as a vocal Eastern Yellow Wagtail and 20 Siberian Buff-bellied Pipits that proved our maximum count of the species. On a check of the south a Waxwing trilled from atop one of the piles of rocks and a Kittiwake appeared offshore. Daurian Redstarts proved at their peak with 75 present on the island. We again tried the Observation Platform at dusk where a male Japanese Robin appeared in the drinking pool at 4.55pm – a brilliant end to the day that had delivered two new species for us.
Arctic Warbler
Siberian Stonechat in the South west enclosures
Male Siskin along the Western track
First-winter Amur (White-faced) Wagtail M.a. leucopsis at the Lighthouse
Of the forms of White Wagtail occurring in Japan the pale sides to the head and neck and the absence of a blackish eye-stripe eliminate the possibility of this individual being a first-winter ocularis or lugens. Both first-winter leucopsis and baicalensis are very similar but pointers to this individual to being leucopsis are the small blackish spots on the lesser coverts (and the hint of such on the mantle) and its virtually unmarked malar patches (generally prominent blackish in baicalensis). Alstrom & Mild 2003.
Grey Wagtail at Tsukasa Fields
Chestnut-eared Bunting at Tsukasa Fields
Pallas's Reed Buntings at Tsukasa Fields
Partially leucistic Brambling along the South east shore
Male Japanese Robin at the Drinking Pool
Species noted:
Streaked Shearwater 500
Eastern Reef Egret 2
Grey Heron 6
Mandarin Duck 12
Mallard 10
Spot-billed Duck 1
Black-eared Kite 2
Japanese Sparrowhawk 1
Sparrowhawk 6
Peregrine 1
Black-tailed Gull 100
Slaty-backed Gull 1
Kittiwake 1
Japanese Woodpigeon 1
Rufous Turtle Dove 11
Short-eared Owl 1
Skylark 5
Olive-backed Pipit 1
Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit 20
Eastern Yellow Wagtail 1
Grey Wagtail 2
Amur Wagtail 1
Black-backed Wagtail 2
Brown-eared Bulbul 3
Waxwing 1
Japanese Robin 1 male ex.
Red-flanked Bluetail 1 male
Daurian Redstart 75
Siberian Stonechat 3
Blue Rock Thrush 3
Japanese Grey Thrush 1 male
Pale Thrush 12
Dusky Thrush 65
Japanese Bush Warbler 6
Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler 2
Black-browed Reed Warbler 1
Pacific (Arctic) Warbler 7
Goldcrest 10
Mugimaki Flycatcher 1 first-winter
Japanese White-eye 4
Eastern Rook 6
Large-billed Crow 4
White-cheeked Starling 2
Russet Sparrow 1 male
Brambling 100
Oriental Greenfinch 20
Siskin 800
Mealy Redpoll 1
Hawfinch 10
Black-faced Bunting spodocephala 1
Masked Bunting 1
Chestnut-eared Bunting 1
Elegant Bunting 30
Rustic Bunting 8
Little Bunting 2
Reed Bunting 2
Pallas's Reed Bunting 2 ex.
