Some of you have asked for me to post a few picks relating to my last blog post, I am no photographer, but here are a few shots taken by my partner Sally.
9,500 mixed cranes of five species at Arasaki, on Kyushu in southern Japan. Hooded cranes and white-naped cranes dominate by far, but look very closely and you might be able to pick out two Common Cranes, three Sandhill Cranes and two rare Siberian Cranes. Good luck! In actual fact, I only know for sure that of those three scarcer species, only Siberian is in there somewhere!
The next shot shows a close up, the Siberian is the white one, an adult. There was a sandy-colored juvenile with it, somewhere.
The other crane shot are Japanese Red-crowned Cranes at a different place - east Hokkaido island, north Japan.
Other shots are a Steller's sea eagle sat on a post and a mixed group of Steller's and white-tailed eagles sat about on the ice, just a few of what was a scattered flock of hundreds of eagles, sat on the ice or sitting around in trees nearby.
Hope you enjoy them.
Richard Thaxton - Loch Garten site manager