Gear Review - ROLANPRO Canon Extender EF 2X III

I got my first ever 2X extender today, for around 3000 HKD. I haven't tried (or even connected to any camera and lens) yet. For the extender, I bought the protective cloth weeks ago. And finally I could 'open box' today.

my first lens cloth bought from Taobao, 30 RMB for one (exclude shipping). More details here: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.43e62e8dhO1mUA&id=38705074308&_u=e29jkhelae2c

the cloth was shipped to HK less than a week, as here, this is just a piece of simple cloth.

my first 2X extender, the version III

the clothing fits the extender very well. There are other colors can be chosen as the link above.

cons: the clothing blocks the red dot for connecting camera, and without any indication on the clothing.

but I realize (suddenly), the pit pattern can help indicating the red dot... 

and for the lens connecting part, the red dot on mount as usual.

Generally, this clothing is worth buying for around 40 HKD (include shipping), but it will be better if the clothing is more water-proof.

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!

Hokkaido 28 Feb 2018 (Day 6)

After a short sleep, we returned to the photo spot. At around 4am, we saw a pair of Blakiston's Fish Owl visiting the feeding pond.

one of our major targets

Blakiston's Fish Owl

we saw two showing very well, include courtship feeding

a pair of Blakiston's Fish Owl

we could recognized the individual by the ring, WW, which was born in 2014 

and this one, NN, an unknown?

The owls only showed one round, then we headed to Rausu harbour for our Eagle ferry which departed at 5am immediately.. So we were quite lucky to saw the owl at 4. For the owl, you need a special shutter speed at 1/80s, making photographing challenging.. (more details here: http://fishowl-observatory.org/blakistonsfishowl.html ) 

For the eagles, I took tons of photos of both eagles and other birds during the ferry, I need time to edit and probably publish another post later..

there were many boats for eagle, we all gathered before 5am

and met the drifted ice, and eagles before sunrise 

eagles, gulls, crows. sun

eagles and ice

eagles and sunrise

White-tailed Eagle

Steller's Sea Eagle, my bird of the trip

one photo to conclude what were we doing during the ferry

The ferry costed us JPY 10,000 each, which is quite expensive but highly recommended, as in this video, this is one of a life-time experience!

After the ferry, we were back to Washi-no-yado and had a nice breakfast and took a short break.

Brown Dipper, outside the dining room

Brown Dipper

our breakfast

Day 6 is an easy day, we were tired after the owl and eagles, so we just checked the shore and harbor later, and the river in Rasus. Then lunch, checked again.. and we were back to Washi-no-yado.

Harlequin Duck, a beautiful male

then an immature male

Glaucous, Slaty-backed and a hidden Mew

my only photo of Tufted Duck of this tirp

hillside in Rausu

lunch in seafood market

my favorite

my favorite too

hillside in Rausu again, sadly we could not find any hawk eagle..

Crested Kingfisher is not rare in Hokkaido, reminding me I missed the HK one recently...

female Harlequin

male Harlequin

Mew Gull

this one caused us an ID problem, because of the smaller size, different jizz etc.. but turned to be just a Slaty-backed Gull

you can see how small when this compared to other Slaty-backed

and a first winter Glaucous-winged Gull

final bird of today, a group of Whooper Swan

the final dinner in Washi-no-yado in this trip

and this night, the end of Day 6, would be a long night. As the owls not coming as frequent as before (due to breeding season?), I was going to stay here overnight!