Much as I would like to spend another 24 hours awake writing up a long blog about what a great day I had - and I did, even if I didn’t break any listing records - I do need to get a little sleep before I use the two hours of available time tomorrow by making a quick visit to the local temple and its woods and gardens. Which means I’m going to use few words and post a pile of photos instead. I’ll update the post properly when I get home, but suffice to say I got up early, caught a train from Narita to the fishing port of Choshi, then a cab down the road to Cape Inubo (to check the rocks along the coast), then hopped a little electric train back up to Choshi, and walked my ankles to the bone looking for gulls and ducks along the sea-wall. I finally managed to get a cab back to the railway station at Choshi, and just made the return train to Narita - where I walked back to the hotel, plugged in the computer, sat down to work, and that’s right where I am now.

Incidentally, for the record my first bird(s) of 2008 were a group of Large-billed Crows flying out of the gloom and over the railway station at 06:20. And the first time I thought “I’m too old for this”? About 10:20 as I went back up a long flight of steps up the cliff at Cape Inubo after failing to find any wintering Rock Sandpipers on the rocks at the bottom of said cliff - though the good views of a pair of Harlequin Duck (the only ones I saw) diving in the surf was a pretty good compensation)…

Anyway, without further ado I give you my Jan 1st in pictures…

 

 

Pacific Reef Egret Egretta sacra

 

Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus

 

Mixed gull flock, Choshi harbour
(there are four gull species in the image: anyone like to guess what they are?)

 

1st winter Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris

 

Non-breeding Adult Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus

 

1st winter Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus (left) and Adult Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens (right)

 

Non-adult Common Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

 

Non-breeding Adult Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla pollicaris
Globally the most abundant gull species, pollicaris is the race found in the Pacific; nominate tridactyla breeds in the Atlantic east to the Tamyr River.

 

Flock of mostly Greater Scaup Aythya marila, outer seawall

 

Black (American) Scoter Melanitta americana
This species was recently split from “Common Scoter” M. nigra, it’s European/Russian counterpart.

 

Female Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius phillipensis

 

Pacific Diver Gavia pacifica 10+; Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus c)20; Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis 2; Slavonian/Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus 6; Temminck’s Cormorant Phalacrocorax capillatus c)200; Pelagic Cormorant Phalacrocorax pelagicus 3; Pacific Reef Egret Egretta sacra 3; Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 4-5; Great Egret Egretta alba 3; Little Egret Egretta sacra 2; Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhyncha c)20; Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 2; Gadwall Anas strepera c)20; Common Pochard Aythya ferina 30+; Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula c)50; Greater Scaup Aythya marila 300+; Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus 2; Black (American) Scoter Melanitta americana 2; Black(-eared) Kite Milvus (migrans) lineatus 6; Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus 1; Eurasian Coot Fulica atra c)20; Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris 1000+; Common Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis 10+; Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens 3-4; Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus 1; Vega Gull Larus vegae 100+; Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus 20+; Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 200+; Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla pollicaris 4-5; Black-backed Wagtail Motacilla lugens c)6-8; Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens japonicus 1; Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus 1; Feral Pigeon Columba livia +; Rufous Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis c)10; Brown-eared Bulbul Ixos amaurotis 20+; Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 2; Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius phillipensis 5; Dusky Thrush Turdus naumanni eunomus 20+; Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus c)10; Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 1; Grey-headed (Oriental) Greenfinch Carduelis sinica c)20; Carrion Crow Corvus corone 10+; Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos 20+; Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 30+; Grey Starling Sturnus cineraceus c)20

Day Total: 45
Life Birds: 0
Year Total: 45