秋诗篇篇

 還記得以前背著白背包，邁著輕快的步伐，天真無邪地不知道天涯海角，也不知道離愁別緒是什麼滋味.

那時候的我就像浮雲一樣，到處遊蕩，行囊里裝滿了對家鄉的思念。雖然努力的向前走，但鄉愁就像影子一樣，連在夢里也揮之不去。

青春歲月里，我聽過很多關於秋天的歌，那些歌陪伴著我度過了那段懵懂無知的時光。

可惜，我來自熱帶，只能聽歌，卻無法真正體會那冷冷的秋，那足以讓人心情低落、悲傷的季節。

想起當時那顆小小的、充滿希望的心，希望有一天能親身體驗那些描寫秋天的詩句。

我想聽聽秋風如何把春水吹涼，看一看綠葉如何被染成金黃。

誰說秋天就一定愁眉苦臉呢？

煙波林野，也自有它的幽靜之美。

花落紅，花落紅，楓葉紅了，楓葉紅了，總歸是秋天到了。春天走了，夏天也走了，秋天來了，秋意濃濃。

Winter Garden Bird of Hokkaido

Took me longer time than usual to record my this Hokkaido trip... was told that snow has started in Hokkaido last night. I better finish of my last post on Hokkaido.

I place all the common birds that I seen in the garden around Tomakomai in this post. I visited several garden over 3 days and these are the most common birds there in the garden.

I will start with the big bird! I was lucky enough to see this large Black Woodpecker in winter.

Slightly smaller than the Black woodpecker, I was equally thrilled by this Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The first time I seen this Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was more than a decade ago when I first visited Japan. Is good to see a familiar one.

We don't get to see all the cute flying squirrel during winter except this Eurasian red squirrel.

Japanese Tit aka Eastern Great Tit that usually flew in flock together with Willow & Marsh Tit.

I prefer Varied Tit more may be due to the more colourful appearance.

Not difficult to spot an Eurasian Treecreeper.

Another bird that you will not missed is this Eurasian Nuthatch.

I seen this Eurasian Wren before during my trip to Netherlands. Same bird but now with snow as background.

Dusky Thrush foraging for food in the snow.

Another Grey Heron that has adapted to stay during winter here in Hokkaido.

Common Goldeneye can be seen swimming in the lake.

A pair of Greater Scaup swimming side by side.

The most common duck in the garden is Mallard.

Winter is coming again soon and have no idea when we are able to travel again. Hope to be able to travel again soon.

Goosing around in Hokkaido

From Rausu to our next destination Tomakomai is few hours drive. I'm always excited whenever travel to new location. Very high chance that whatever we see, it will be my first time seeing it.

We stop our car when we saw some goose flying at a distance in-front of us. It looks like a White fronted goose.

Among them, I saw some familiar yet seem different. I am sure there are more than one species of goose in this flock. We try to follow them by following their flight direction and stop about 10km away at an open field.

First spotted this Taiga Bean-Goose.

There is a mixture of greater & lesser White-fronted Goose!

That's not all... another new bird species for me. Is a Lesser Canada Goose! They are consider very rare in Hokkaido and we are lucky enough to see them. 

The snow start to fall down from the sky, what a beautiful scene! Another happy day at Hokkaido!

Red Fox of Hokkaido

 One of the item on the checklist for most nature visitors to Hokkaido must be the Red fox.  

After meeting my very first red fox in Notsuke Peninsula , I am more than happy to see them again in the coming days of my stay in Hokkaido.

Red fox of Hokkaido or Ezo red fox are slightly larger than Japanese red fox that can be found in other part of Japan. Beside larger in size, another difference is their outer part of the ear and the limbs are  black.

Of my one week in Hokkaido, I am lucky enough to see them in the garden.

I also spotted one at the sea side.

I saw them in the forest too.

Several occasions, I saw them in the open field when we were traveling on the highway. I never get enough to watch and photograph them in action. Do you?

Roadside Bird Watching in Hokkaido

After spending 2 days in Rausu, is time we move back to West of Hokkaido. Since it will be a few hours of driving to Tomakomai, our next destination. We made few stop along the way whenever we see some movement on the trees. 

Eurasian Nuthatch is one of the very common bird we encounter in Hokkaido.

Willow Tit that looks almost identical with Marsh Tit with only subtle difference.

One of my target in Hokkaido is this Long Tailed Tit.

The trip is not complete without this not so common Snow Bunting!

Another surprise is this Asian Rosy Finch! Is been great so far for our trip to Hokkaido so far. Good weather and good sightings almost everywhere we went. Hope for more excitement for the remaining destination in Hokkaido.

Exploring the coast of Rausu

After and eventful morning on the frozen sea and traditional Japanese breakfast. We explore the coastal area around Rausu to try and spot some ducks.

The very first bird that I saw is this Japanese wagtail running on the ice surface.

Spotted a flock of very shy Harlequin Duck. They are consider one of the most beautiful duck.

Among the Harlequin Ducks, saw some Goldeneye  too.

Nearer to the shore, spotted some Lesser Scaup.

Is my first time seeing Red-breasted Merganser. Male on top follow by female.

Also at the same area, spotted this Goosander, also known as Common Merganser.

Another first for me is this Black Scoter. Not a bad morning so far before we make our way to another part of the Hokkaido later...