4:15-10:45 Cloudy-misty-cloudy. Windy and cold!

 Black-tailed Gull
 Slaty-backed Gull
 Black-footed Albatross 3
 Laysan Albatross 14
 Streaked Shearwater 1
 Sooty Shearwater 150+
 Fulmar 2
 Pomarine Skua 1
 Rhinocerous Auklet 1
 Guillemot sp. 10
 Auk sp 1
 Red-necked Phalarope 50
 Common Tern 10
 Rufous Turtle Dove(Hitch-hiker!)
 Cormorant sp
 Teal

Much colder than I thought it would be and very few birds.
Between 5.30 and 8.00 I only saw gulls and the occasional albatross.
About an hour and a half away from Tomakomai Sooty Shearwaters ( I think that's what they were mostly but I still have no great confidence about separating them from Short-tailed Shearwarers) appeared in small groups. 

At Utonai lake the first Yellow-breasted Bunting of the year had been reported that morning but I didn't find it!

Tomakomai-Sendai 21/5/01

 4.30-8.30 Cloudy,occasional drizzle and mist

 Black-tailed Gull
 Slaty-backed Gull
 Grey Phalarope 1,500+
 Red-necked Phalarope 100+
 Phalarope sp.500+
 Streaked Shearwater 30
 Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater 1,500+
 Rhinocerous Auklet 4
 Ancient Murrelet 2
 Auk sp 2
 Diver sp 6
 Pomarine Skua 1
 Bull-headed Shrike 1 ( Hitch-hiker )

Going back was much more exciting -birds all the way back well into Matsushima bay.
Immediately started seeing lots of phalaropes which I presumed were Red-necked at first but then realized they were almost all Grey.
They were in flocks of up to several hundreds at regular intervals and in smaller numbers in the spaces between.
I think 1,500 is a conservative estimate.
The shearwaters appeared constantly in loose flocks and it was hard to keep track of the numbers ( especially with all the phalarope activity ) but there were probably many more than the 1,500 figure I settled on.
I thought most of them were Sooty at first but saw more Short-tailed types the closer we got to Sendai.
I'm sure both birds were present but ended up losing confidence and gave up trying to estimate numbers of each -Help !!!!
Hardly any Streaked Shearwaters until Matsushima bay.
When and where is it possible to see Storm Petrels!!!!!!