Hokkaido 1 Mar 2018 (Day 7)

After a long wait, the same pair of owls came three times, however, I only got one decent shot due to my camera problem.

anyway, this is a great experience to watch one of the largest owl so well

I was back to the room at 4am, after short sleep, we had our breakfast and time to leave Rausu.

goodbye Washi-no-yado

Before going to Yoroushi, where we would stay, we revisited Notsuke peninsula again. On the way, we also checked the shore.

 Common Goldeneye not Crested Aukelet

more Common Goldeneye

the commonest Slaty-backed Gull, pale iris with much darker mantle and primaries

Glaucous-winged Gull, note the dark iris and pale primaries

Notsuke peninsula

Notsuke peninsula

but the visibility was low to see the mountains

a heritage

Notsuke peninsula

White-winged Scoter, or say the Siberian Scoter after the split

a perching White-tailed Eagle

a far loon species, probably Red-throated?

and we saw the snowballs again! Snow Bunting

one of my favorite buntings, Snow Bunting

Spectacled Guillemot

and deer were very common in the peninsula

deer

and deer

as in the video, the weather was getting worse, we knew snow storm were coming so we better left as early as possible

this made a simple day again. Chips in Hokkaido are good!

simple lunch

my favorite

with natural ice

watch this.. beautiful snow, but not good for birding

and we arrived

Yoroushi is my favorite hotel in this trip, everything was excellent. You can enjoy great food, great hot spring and also the Blakiston's Fish Owl here. In winter time, also chances for Solitary Snipe but we did not see any this day due to heavy snow. A very comfortable hotel in Japanese style, highly recommended! More info here: http://www.yoroushi.jp/english/

feeders here, attracting small birds in daytime and big owl at night

we decided to dinner first at 530pm

the menu, a great one!

my favorite too

after 2 hours dinner (too much excellent food), we started to wait for the owl

unfortunately, the snow storm came, so we did not think the owl would come...

crested ibis with the owl place, i eventually gave up the owl (as ticked), and I went for the hot spring!

after a super comfortable bath, I checked the spot again, still no owl but snow

then ended this relaxing day with a can of Classic beer!