Richard Dunn, Ian Fisher, Anne Middleton & Martin Davidson
Japan was a country that was on my wish list of places to visit, so when I heard that Ian Fisher was planning a trip there, I sent an email to him; when are you going? Have you got space? Can I come? And now that I’ve been, what a fantastic place, from the amazing scenery to the technologically advanced toilets with their heated seats. And the birds are astounding, superb close encounters with eagles, both Steller’s and White-tailed, six species of crane, including Siberian, the zoo that is the Snow Monkey. The only down side was that before we went Sterling collapsed against the world currencies and it made our trip to the land of the rising sun a bit expensive.
Ian Picked me up from home and we met Martin and Anne at Newcastle airport for our KLM flight to Amsterdam, where we transferred to the Tokyo flight, and then we just settled down to watch films and listen to Ipods for the direct ten and a half hour flight through the night.
February 19 2009 Thursday
Arrived at Narita on time and eventually found the car hire desk where they told us to stand at a particular bus stop where we would be collected and transferred by bus to the depot, where the car that we were allocated was far too small, so we had to upgrade to a bigger model. The next 10 minutes or so was spent programming the satellite navigation system (we called her "Doris"!) We were quickly into our stride and onto the expressway and then just as quickly we took a wrong turn and off the expressway and into Tokyo. All was not lost and Doris saved the day by a deft bit of rerouting we were soon back onto the right road and off we went again. The expressway passes through suburban Tokyo and it is a grim place, no sign of anything that looks oriental, just tower blocks and golf driving ranges. Fortunately we do not have to linger here and we soon passed through. A comfort break was called for, so we stopped at the first convenient service station, which was at Miyoshi (these co-ordinates show on Google Earth where we were (35°50'27.69"N 139°30'9.04"E). As we drove in, before the car was even stopped, a Dusky Thrush was seen foraging on a verge, the first of the trip. More importantly our first new species, Brown-eared Bulbul, a pair not showing too well and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, shows much better. Also in the car park are Oriental Turtle Dove and White Wagtail of the lugens “Black-backed Wagtail” race.
After the stop we carried on and took the turn off the expressway for Karuizawa, where the road we needed to take was closed so with a bit of planning with the road atlas a different route was taken which took us past an area of golf courses with a small car park which gave us a good view of the smoking Mount Asama (36°17'54.50"N 138°38'38.32"E). A stop was called for so that pictures could be taken, and while stationary we did some birding. Meadow and Rustic Buntings and a stunning male Long-tailed Rosefinch were the pick of the short stop.
Driving through Karuizawa we managed to take another wrong turn this one saw us driving through the shopping area of town, but good ole trusty Doris soon had us re-routed onto the right track again and as we were driving up the road a glance to the right into a side street gave us a couple of Snow Monkeys crossing that road.
We arrive at Edohara Pension (36°22'35.32"N 138°35'10.44"E) which was to be our base for the next couple of days. There was no evening meal tonight so we dined out at the Cowboy Grill just down the road; not very impressive might be an understatement.
If you are planning a trip to Japan, put Edohara Pension on your itinerary, even if you don’t plan to head this way, it’s a fantastic place to stay and the folks are very friendly.
Overnight at Edohara Pension
February 20 2009 Friday
I awoke middle of night, probably due to the time difference, and unable to get back to sleep I take a look out of the window and see that it has been snowing a little. Eventually I got back to sleep but on awakening in the morning the snow was still falling and it’s about 8 inches deep.
A short walk before breakfast, just down some of the tracks next to the pension gave us a female Red-flanked Bluetail and another couple of Long-tailed Rosefinch, but not much else. After breakfast we drive down to Hoshino Onsen (36°21'42.33"N 138°35'20.90"E) to walk the tracks through the woods. First stop was the nature centre at the entrance, where they have a selection of feeders and an array of species coming to feed, the highlight here was Japanese Woodpecker, a bit like a our Green Woodpecker, but different. A nice bird, of which many pictures were taken. Other new birds here are Brown Dipper, just like our Dipper but brown, Common Bullfinch of the race rosacea, Eurasian Nuthatch of the race roseillia and Varied Tit. That could have been my bird of the day if it had performed as well as the woodpecker. We drove on and found some lunch, nothing special, just some rubbish from a seven eleven store. We then drove some of the back roads to the nearby villages (36°18'43.37"N 138°35'39.69"E) (36°19'46.55"N 138°35'51.02"E) (36°17'49.39"N 138°37'20.91"E). Doing this we managed to see Green Pheasant, Pale Thrush, Bull-headed Shrike, another Long-tailed Rosefinch and our only Azure-winged Magpies of the trip. We eventually head back to Edohara Pension where we have a fantastic meal, which includes our first Sashimi, Salmon, and it was excellent. After dinner I tried the Onsen, which is basically a hot tub. To do this, first you shower and then you get into the bath and soak, and afterwards you have another shower, and its job done. While here, we had our first try of the all singing, all dancing toilet, with strategically aimed jets of water, try not to experiment with the wrong buttons or you have water jets aiming at places… least said about that the better, and blasts of warm air. It’s an experience!
My hard drive for downloading images decides that today is a good day to stop working; it just packs in and refuses to download anymore. Dice from the Edohara Pension lets me use his laptop to see if the images are on the hard drive and even downloads some software to look at the pictures. (Back home the hard drive will work as a hard drive, I could get the stuff off that was on, but it won’t work for the purpose of its design)
Fortunately, Anne has a large capacity hard drive and she lets me use that to download my pictures onto.
Overnight at Edohara Pension
February 21 2009 Saturday
Early morning before breakfast we head back to Hoshino Onsen where we walk the trails again, this time we see a Copper Pheasant, a nice close female, which sadly didn’t hang around. After breakfast (we had Pale Thrush from the table) we head for Oneyama Shinrin Koen (36°21'10.14"N 138°44'15.09"E), part of Mark Brazil’s site 18, and on the way stopping for a brief look at Sakomato reservoir (36°21'16.01"N 138°42'25.24"E). At first nothing outstanding, just Dusky Thrush and Daurian Redstart and when Ian found a troop of Snow Monkeys we all wandered over to have a look, and then we found our only Japanese Accentors of the trip, three birds, and these didn’t hang about either, they moved off quicker than the monkeys. At Oneyama Shinrin Koen and its feeders we had a nice cup of tea that the caretaker made for us and while we were drinking this, he had put out some more food which brought in lots of birds: Yellow-throated & Rustic Bunting, a big flock of Brambling, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and Willow, Japanese and Varied Tit. Driving back down through the woods four Asian Rosy Finch feeding on the roadside under the trees were a bit of a surprise, these were flushed by a large unidentified raptor which I thought was a Ural Owl, it was gone in a blink of an eye, so it’s a one that got away.
Further down the track an unseen reason (probably a dump) had a large gathering of Black Kites of the form lineatus “Black-eared Kite” and also a couple Common Buzzard of the japonicus form.
We stopped at Yokokawa (36°19'59.32"N 138°44'32.25"E) for a Bunto box, bought from a service station and then driving on to a spot by the river where we had our lunch. At the river there was a couple of Japanese Wagtail, more Green Pheasant (can’t get excited about these) and Dusky Thrush. Further on at Myogi-ko (36°19'6.39"N 138°44'38.75"E) a reservoir, there were 20 or so Mandarins in with the Mallards, Spot-billed Ducks. As we headed back from here we made a brief stop to photograph a couple of Bull-headed Shrikes which were next to the road. And then acting on information from the Kantory web site we went twitching.
Back to Karuizawa, and then on to Kose. Once we found the stream we set off crunching through the frozen snow looking for the Solitary Snipe (36°23'18.75"N 138°37'3.62"E) that is said to be regular here. I was tailing along at the end of the line when I got my eye onto the snipe in its best “you can’t see me” pose, I tried to get the others’ attention but the snipe knew it had been rumbled and it was off, flying upstream, straight past the others.
On the way here a Wild Boar piglet stopped us in our tracks as it came trotting along the road on its way to who knows where. Heading back towards the pension we stopped to take more pictures of the still smoking volcano.
After dinner we went out in car back down to Hoshino Onsen where we drove the forest tracks towards Kose, coming out where we had parked for the snipe twitch, and it was very worth while; we had two Ural Owls (36°23'3.05"N 138°36'19.29"E). We had taken some torches from the pension, but we saw them first in the headlights of the car.
Overnight at Edohara Pension
February 22 2009 Sunday
Early morning before breakfast we head back to Hoshino Onsen where we again walk the trails, this morning we see a nice male Copper Pheasant, which sadly didn’t hang around. They seem to stand around motionless until you’re nearly on top of them and then they’re off at speed. Driving back up to the pension we turn off into a side street to try and get a view of Mt Asama with no wires obscuring the scene, but it didn’t happen. But we did see Meadow Bunting on the street and at a small pond (36°22'15.21"N 138°34'54.05"E), Wigeon, Teal and Spot-billed Duck.
Today is a travel day, moving on down to the coast via Jigokudani (36°43'53.73"N 138°27'41.52"E), the home of the famous Japanese Macaques; you know the ones that get into the hot water when it’s cold. What they don’t tell you is that it’s a zoo, and that they get into the water because some guy throws food in there! There are hundreds of macaques, most of them very photogenic, if you can find a view without somebody else in the background. It was an experience and I’m glad that we did it, but if I go back to Japan, I’ll try not to visit here again! Bird wise, very little, Coal Tit and a fly over Jay are all that we see here.
And most of the late afternoon we are on the road, with three of us asleep in the car for a large portion of the drive.
Overnight Castle Inn Kanazawa (36°34'42.21"N 136°39'8.77"E). Heavy rain overnight.
February 23 2009 Monday
As we set off it’s still raining but it’s clearing as we get near to our destination, Katano Kamo-ike (36°19'21.08"N 136°17'36.42"E), site 24 in Brazil’s guide. We park the car and head into the visitor centre just as a party of school kids arrive, big sigh, oh dear, this will be noisy! Well it wasn’t, the kids were very well behaved hardly a peep out of them. We spend a couple of hours in and around the reserve area, seeing: Baikal Teal, Falcated Duck, Osprey, Bull-headed Shrike and another Long-tailed Rosefinch, amongst others. But, no geese on site at all. A word with the warden and we had a mark on the map as to where they might be feeding, so we head off to look for geese. The place marked was Sakai-shi (36°11'24.31"N 136°10'30.74"E) and after a bit of searching, driving up and down little roads through the rice paddies we found 60 or so White-fronted Geese of the frontalis race. Other things here: White-cheeked Starling, Japanese Wagtail and a couple of Hen Harriers, which were hunting between the houses, garden birds!
From here a change of scenery as we drive to Mikuni harbour (36°13'13.39"N 136° 8'13.77"E) with its fine selection of gulls: Slaty-backed, Black-tailed, Kamchatka and Vega (aka Herring) Gull (how can this be a separate species?). Japanese, Pelagic and Great Cormorant were added to the list as was a fantastic Blue Rock Thrush of the philippensis race “Red-bellied Rock Thrush”. From here its just a short drive to Mikuni Headland (36°14'10.29"N 136° 7'37.95"E). We had our lunch here, we had bought it at a cheap Japanese supermarket and it was cheap we got; some of it got fed to the Black-eared Kites that were hanging around. The best bird by far here was Pacific Reef Egret, two being seen. Other birds here include Peregrine, Dusky and Pale Thrush and a steady offshore movement of gulls, mostly Black-tailed. Time was now getting on so we doubled back and went back to Katano Kamo-ike, we had said to the warden that we would come back to see the geese coming in to roost, he would stay back and wait with us. We arrived just after the official closing time of 5 o’clock and were met in the car park by a slightly “eccentric” Japanese woman, who I’m sure meant well, but in the end we just walked away from her to get into the building; she followed us in but sat with her hubby at the other end. The warden came over and explained that the geese would arrive at 6 o’clock and from which direction they would come. So we just waited and all was quiet until Mrs “Eccentric” starts getting all excited at the other end, a Racoon Dog had just emerged and was just having a bit of a poke around, until her excited shrieks became too much for him and he was gone.
It was after 6 o’clock when they came, hundreds and hundreds, in the end 2000 or so came in. Where they had been we do not know, but it’s a lot more than we saw earlier. And right at the very end, the last birds to arrive and land just in front of the hide, seven Lesser White-fronted Geese, if they had landed anywhere else on the water we would not have seen them, and we only saw them because the warden came and told us as soon as they had landed.
So it’s now dark and we need to get to Komatsu as we are flying from there tomorrow morning. We have satellite navigation, that all you have to do is put in a telephone number and the car will be guided to the destination, and we have a telephone number for the car hire office, excellent, it’ll be a breeze, what could go wrong? We follow the sat nav to within a kilometre of the destination when we find a hotel so that’s where we decide to spend the night.
Stayed overnight at the Hyper Hotel at Komatsu (36°24'8.81"N 136°27'7.28"E)
February 24 2009 Tuesday
After a leisurely breakfast we left the hotel and resumed following the sat nav directions and in no time at all we arrived in a covered market. We realised quite quickly as we drove through this covered area that it had all gone horribly wrong, but we gave “Doris” another chance and she still insisted that we were in the right place! Back to basics; get the map out. We headed back out of town towards the airport where the car hire office was quickly found and we were soon in the terminal and checked for the flight to Fukuoka. Today’s little adventure over. We spent a short hour at the airport and flew on time to Fukuoka.
We arrived and had to trek across roads to get to the car rental office where the car provided looked good until we tried to get the bags in. In some of them went, only to come back out again, try a different arrangement, that didn’t work either, lets try something else… All of this happened just outside the car rental office window and they must have been watching and took pity on us, they gave us a free upgrade to a Mazda 6 (I asked for Mazda at the information desk and was told that it was Matsuda) and all the bags went in no problem.
We were soon on our way (our navigator was “Janet” and she was not very good!) and travelling to Yatsoshiro (32°28'37.03"N 130°33'31.94"E). Stopping at the estuary one of the first birds seen was Black-faced Spoonbill with four not too far from our vantage point. A bit further on, at a different view point, with identification boards so we could identify what we were looking at there were at least 25 Saunders’s Gull in the flock of gulls but alas no Great Black-headed Gull. A large flock of Wigeon was on the mud flats. Waders include Common Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and Eurasian Curlew but nothing of an eastern nature.
Among the small birds here are Eurasian Skylark, called funnily enough, “Japanese Skylark”, Buff-bellied Pipit and Chestnut-eared Bunting.
From here we travelled on to Arasaki (32° 6'9.32"N 130°16'30.99"E) where we stayed at the Minshuku that is right in the middle of the cranes. We arrived after dark and didn’t see any, but we could hear them. They were waiting for us at the Minshuku and tea was served almost immediately and plenty of sashimi (raw fish) was on the (fixed) menu. After the meal a nice soak in the hot tub was had before I went to bed and drifted off into sleep to dream about the active volcano that we had driven past, which “Janet” had been good enough to point out.
Overnight Arasaki
February 25 2009 Wednesday
I awoke at 00:01 and I was probably about six inches in the air, because I came down with a bump! A very loud bang had woken me from my dreams of volcanoes and I was up and running, I was at the window, ready to get out and go, when a flash of lightening revealed all. It wasn’t a volcano after all just a prolonged thunder storm which seemed to last all night. We spent the last moments of darkness trying to see cranes in the flashes of lightening! The rain that came with it was very heavy so for a while we just watched from the room window. Doing this we managed to see Hooded, White-naped and Common Crane and best of all, two Siberian Crane, an adult and a juvenile, before it even got light; fantastic place. Breakfast included fish, not my favourite meal of the trip. As it got light the weather improved so we ventured out with the cameras and took many, many, photographs.
Before we moved on we had a drive around checking some of the other areas that the cranes use, doing this we saw at least four Sandhill Cranes (32° 6'28.02"N 130°17'19.05"E) and we found a large flock of Russet Sparrow (32° 5'59.13"N 130°16'54.51"E) about 1500 birds on wires with a good sized flock of Brambling. Other birds in the area: Bean Goose, of the middendorffii race, flocks of Osprey, Northern Goshawk, Peregrine, Long-billed Plover and we managed to just see a Japanese Bush Warbler.
We then set off on what seemed like a marathon across Kyushu; 236km, about 4 hours travel. Travelling at first through the hills on a very poor road (we had a Green Pheasant doing typical pheasant like things, running along in front of the car) where a roadside pool (32° 3'58.88"N 130°39'27.39"E) had us stopping for a look and well worth it, it was. 20 Mandarins were on the pond with the Wigeon and Mallard. We carried on, onto the expressway and eventually arrived at Hyuga where we stayed at the first hotel we found, the Hotel Hygata (32°26'55.14"N 131°38'19.66"E).
February 26 2009 Thursday
Out at first light to get to Kadogowa (32°28'42.77"N 131°39'29.53"E) fishing port. The species to see here is Japanese Murrelet and after only a short while Ian had found two at the other end of the pier to where the rest of us were at, so we set off to go there only for the birds to take off and fly right past where we had been stood and they promptly disappeared in the bay. After a bit of searching they (or some more) are found way off next to a sea wall at a park so we head back to the car and drive to the park and look from the sea wall; no sign, the little blighters are giving us the run around. A nice Blue Rock Thrush and Daurian Redstart make up for the lack of Murrelet. While over this side we take advantage and visit the fishing port. The most numerous birds are Black-eared Kite with at least 100 on show. A wander around the buildings and into the fish market where tuna is being sold; Blue-fin and Yellow-fin, the Yellow-fin being much bigger than the Blue-fin. There are also some very peculiar looking things there as well, they certainly don’t look edible! More birding in the area; Red-necked Grebe holboellii, Little Egret (lots) and as we drive away, twenty plus Barn Swallow gutturalis and an Asian House Martin.
Lunch is had at a greasy spoon diner and we are the only customers.
Then we head back the way we came, on another long drive, this one 200km, and taking about three and half hours going via Mi-ike (31°53'10.23"N 130°57'59.19"E). By the time we got here the light was poor, still a while till it got dark but poor light all the same. We parked the car and went walkabout down to the lake edge at the campsite. The main target bird here is Ryukyu Minivet, formerly a subspecies of Ashy Minivet, but now a species on its own. After a little bit of searching a single was found high in the trees that showed reasonably well, later Martin had a bit wander and found some more. Another good bird to get here was White-bellied Green Pigeon. This took a bit more effort before a single was seen poorly. A target bird for the area is Grey Bunting and this really did require some work and the views were very poor for me and non-existent for Anne. We probably could have done with getting here earlier and spending a bit more time here.
We left here and drove on to Kagashima where I insisted that we drive to the car hire office before finding a hotel, just in case. As it was the car hire office is almost within sight of the (expensive) Airport Hotel (31°48'6.02"N 130°43'1.35"E). Heavy rain after dark.
February 27 2009 Friday
This morning, it’s still raining, but that’s not a problem as today is a travel day, with no birding at all. The only birds seen are all at airports; Carrion Crow and some pipits, probably Buff-bellied.
We flew from Kagoshima to Tokyo Haneda, then a change of gates, to the other end of the airport, to Kushiro on Hokkaido.
Flying into Kushiro it was very obvious that it would be cold, a blanket of snow across the countryside. We collected our baggage and picked up hire car, after upgrading again, we were on our way and after been let down by "Janet" we were delighted to find that again "Doris" was our navigator.
Stayed overnight at Lodge Furhen run by Takeyoshi (Taki) Matsuo (43°16'10.39"N 145°28'19.95"E).
February 28 2009 Saturday
Up and out for first light and one of the first birds we see is an adult White-tailed Eagle, perched on a bush just over the road, its just over the road! A look out the back and eagles can be seen on the trees over the lake, and as the light gets better, large white shoulder patches can be seen; Steller’s Sea Eagle. Coming back to the lodge for breakfast a small flock of Asian Rosy Finch are found just up the road. As we are having breakfast we are told that a restaurant just down the road (43°15'49.59"N 145°27'44.51"E) puts food out for the eagles at 08:00 every morning. At the allotted time we are on site and two guys are dragging tubs of fish out onto the ice and the eagles are just sitting there on the ice waiting for them to move away. Everywhere you look there are eagles and kites, 94 Steller’s Sea and 80 White-tailed Eagle just yards away all squabbling over who has what bit of fish, and if any thing is left to settle a dispute, one of 80 plus Black-eared Kites is in and away with the fish.
Leaving here we head off along the Nemuro peninsular towards Cape Nosappumisaki (43°23'3.82"N 145°48'53.89"E) visiting the fishing ports of Hanasaki (43°16'44.19"N 145°33'59.73"E) and Habomai (43°20'19.82"N 145°45'17.81"E) along the way. Hanasaki is first and it has lots of sea duck in the harbour; Black and White-winged Scoter, Harlequin, Long-tailed Duck and a large flock of Greater Scaup. Also in here is Ancient Murrelet, some of them close in to the side. Gulls are Black-headed, Kamchatka, Slaty-backed, Vega, Black-tailed, Glaucous-winged and Glaucous. There are a couple of Steller’s Sea and White-tailed Eagles in the area; we saw a Steller’s Sea Eagle fly between houses like a Sparrowhawk would back home and White-tailed Eagles perched on street lamps waiting for their chance.
We left here and travelled straight up to Rausu hardly stopping (on the drive up a couple of Red-crowned Cranes fly over the road, but we don’t stop as they go over some trees and out of sight) just so that we could get to Inn Washin-yado (44° 2'2.44"N 145°12'30.12"E) before it got dark and too late. There is only one attraction here; Blakiston’s Fish Owl. The deal is that you stay at the Minshuku or have an evening meal (there was a large party of Taiwanese photographers here who were not staying but they had the meal and they wouldn’t stay in the vehicle and out of sight, making plenty of noise) and you get to see the bird, don’t stay here and you don’t see the bird. It’s not a nice place, well past its sell by date and in need of a major overhaul. Dinner was a whole King Crab of which there were a few on the tables, we had two between the four of us (and Ian and Anne don’t eat crab), and you sit on the floor at low tables Japanese style. After dinner you retire to the comfort of your vehicle with all the windows open, no engine so no heat and you wait in the dark and freezing cold. There is a small pond built into the stream that the owner of the Minshuku stocks with fish every night. We had been in the car over two hours when Martin saw a Blakiston's Fish Owl fly over the car and behind us, we waited a little longer and then it was there in a tree, massive. It flew down to the pond and sat there as all the photographers, me and Ian included, started blasting away, loads and loads of flashes. After a short while, when it had caught a couple of fish, it flew off upstream. That was fantastic, so we continued sitting the car waiting for it to come back, which it did after an hour, and caught a couple more fish before flying off again. This time everybody had had enough, we all packed in, we headed for bed and the Taiwanese headed off. We had to be up at 04:00 to catch the boat trip to the pack ice so 23:00 was bed time.
Tonight while downloading images onto Anne’s hard drive, I managed to break it. One of my compact flash cards was playing up and when inserting it into the drive it bent a pin, that’s another hard drive that I have to replace. Ian has some space on his hard drive so some of my shots go there.
Overnight at Inn Washin-yado
March 1 2009 Sunday
We are up at 04:00 to catch the early boat to the pack ice, we had hoped to be on the 09:00 boat but Taki from Lodge Furhen had been arranging it for us and when he phoned last night we were on the early boat. We motor north for 2 hours from the harbour of Rausu, breaking through the ice which had formed overnight, until we arrived at the pack ice. It got light before we arrived at the ice so we didn’t get the sunrise shot with the eagles, but a nice sunrise it was, in this land of the rising sun! The open ocean (this is the Pacific) ends at a straight line of ice as far as the eye can see, its not solid ice. What the boatmen do is to slow right down and then just force the boat into the ice until the boat is completely surrounded. Then stop the engines and they start throwing fish onto a large iceberg (44°19'39.36"N 145°23'4.47"E). The peak count was 80 White-tailed Eagle and 50 Steller’s Sea Eagle. Most were a little wary and kept their distance, but one or two of both species were brave enough. The boatman stepped off the boat onto the ice, a berg about 20 feet across, he was on one side and a White-tailed Eagle was on the other. A White-tailed flew in just over head height over the back of the upper deck of the boat and landed about 15 feet away; fantastic. There were hundreds of gulls here; mostly Slaty-backed but the Glaucous stole the show for me. Also our only Raven of the trip was here on the ice with the many Large-billed Crows. It was hard to take it all in and a couple of times when we were out there I just stopped looking through the camera or the bins and just looked. Motoring back a few Brunnich’s Guillemot are seen but the highlights aren’t birds; Killer Whale, a small pod showing briefly and then just as briefly, Baird’s Beaked Whale, ID courtesy of a woman on the boat.
We head back to the Minshuku were we have breakfast, and although we are assured that the eggs are hard boiled, Anne manages to break a raw egg all over herself, the table and the floor. In the daylight, the stream just outside has Brown Dipper which is happy to pose for the camera and a selection of ages of Steller’s Sea Eagles are in the trees in the valley. Just along the road at the harbour where they stream flows into the sea, are Smew, Whooper Swam, Harlequin, Glaucous-winged and Glaucous Gull.
A steady drive back with a detour to look for Ural Owl. Driving through Nakashibetsu towards a Ural Owl stakeout (43°32'3.35"N 144°57'23.60"E), a call to stop from Ian as he had seen something (43°33'10.72"N 144°58'54.70"E), and as I was exiting the car he shouts “Waxwing, Japanese Waxwing” all of a sudden I can’t get out of the car quick enough. There were three waxwings, two Japanese and a single Bohemian and with them Bullfinch of the race griseiventris “Grey-bellied Bullfinch”. The waxwings were dropping to the ground to collect fallen berries and one of them was approachable as it sat on piled snow at a car park entrance; I would like to know what the woman thought as she turned her car into the car park to be confronted by a photographer on his knees in the middle of the road, with a big telephoto lens, seemingly taking pictures of snow? Just up the road is the owl stakeout, a large tree with a nice owl sized hole at the back of a restaurant car park, but sadly no luck, the Ural Owl is not on view. We retrace our route back to the coast road with its many signs telling of “Safety Zone for Tsunami” and then to Odiato where we stopped at the Swan feeding area. Whooper Swan and Northern Pintail at your feet, Glaucous, Glaucous-winged and Slaty-backed Gulls hanging around. No sign of the Pine Bunting that was reported here.
Called in at a centre just up the road from Lodge Furhen, it overlooks the frozen Lake Furhen, and I can’t remember what it’s called, something like “Swanito”, anyway, three Long-tailed Tits of the race caudatus flew over the car park.
Overnight at Lodge Furhen
March 2 2009 Monday
Today we would just bird the Nemuro peninsular, calling in at the harbours and at the cape. But first I needed to go shopping at Nemuro. I had asked the question of Taki last night “is there a camera shop in town?” And he replied yes. We looked and looked and looked but we couldn’t find one. We asked at the information centre and they pointed us in the direction of an electrical store, which although it sold cameras, they were just point and shoot, and more importantly they didn’t sell hard drives! So we asked did they sell compact flash cards, and the answer was yes, but they wanted £48 for a 2GB card when they can be bought from the internet for £10 I wasn’t going to pay that and nor was anyone else. What to do? As I was leaving the shop my eye was caught by a deal, I just nipped out to the car and said “I’ll not be long, I’m just going to buy a "cheap" laptop”. It was a price reduced 160GB hard drive small note book. With no other easy option and nowhere to store images, this was the way to go. Anne had a card reader in her camera bag, we were back in business. The only downside was that it was all in Japanese! Not to worry at least that could be sorted later, but for now we had a hard drive. Last night as the last of the images were being downloaded onto Ian's hard drive we checked the status, and it replied full.
We drove down to the harbour at Hanasaki and had a look, no close sea duck or murrelets today, but a Falcated Duck was on a slipway and we could get close to that. We drove off the slipway after taking some shots of the ducks and went round the block to take some shots of gulls, and as I got out of the car, I could hear a hissing sound. Closer investigation (bend down and have a listen) revealed that we had a puncture. So we jumped back into the car a drove off back in the direction of Nemuro and just up the hill is a filling station, with a small attached workshop. Literally 10 minutes later we were back on our way, £8 lighter in the pocket and the puncture fixed; Japanese efficiency.
Habomai harbour was next, and it was lifting with duck, Black Scoter and Harlequin the most numerous. A few of the Harlequins were approachable so plenty of shots of them, sadly the best, the closest, has fishing net on its leg. More Steller’s and White-tailed Eagles are patrolling the harbours or just loafing around on the breakwaters, waiting.
By now it’s lunch time so we head for Cape Nosappumisaki, where there is a greasy spoon café. As we sit having our food the snow that has been off and on all morning, becomes heavier and it looks like we are in for an eventful afternoon, so we have a dessert of Ice Cream!
Out on the cape the wind is blowing the snow and it is very cold. Sheltering from the wind behind the lighthouse, a scan of the sea reveals hundreds of Pelagic Cormorants, nearly as many Harlequin Duck and a good number of Spectacled Guillemot. A Hen Harrier tries to slip past under our feet as it flies by low over the rocks and then a small group of waders are seen by Anne; eight Rock Sandpipers are up and flying, flying away from us over the bay and out of sight around the corner.
Just up the road is a small rock stack that has a gathering of cormorants and as we scan through them a couple of Japanese birders are doing the same and they are kind enough to let me look through their scope to see the Red-faced Cormorant that they have just found. We spend a bit longer looking and find two more on the ice covered rock. After this we search the rocky areas till dark for the Rock Sandpiper, but with no joy.
Overnight at lodge Furhen.
March 3 2009 Tuesday
Leaving Lodge Furhen, we travelled west to the crane reserve at Akan (43° 8'38.08"N 144° 8'59.98"E), the main centre for Red-crowned Crane on the Kushiro marsh. There was c100 Red-crowned Crane on view, from a viewing area that is slightly lower than the birds. The lower viewing area was full of photographers, lots of mucho expensive camera gear on display, and even a guy from the BBC (I think) who was just filming things just in case. Martin knew him from a film he had made about Northern Goshawk. The birds are close but not very photogenic, it’s almost impossible to isolate a single bird from the flock to get a clean species shot. And it all seems a bit “plastic”, at one stage a pair of cranes walk past Ian and I at about 10 foot distance, between us and a greenhouse, not a very wild looking set! In with the cranes are 70 Whooper Swan and a handful of Mallard.
As we paid our entrance fee the cashier told us that the cranes would be fed at 14:00! Ok that’ll be exciting, I thought. What he failed to mention was that it was live fish and that Steller’s Sea and White-tailed Eagles would come in to steal the fish. Another fantastic display from the eagles.
From here we drive down Kushiro where we dump the car and catch the train to Minami-Chitoes which takes about three hours and then we have to change trains and tracks to get to Tomakomai (42°38'22.02"N 141°35'49.02"E) where we get a taxi to the port (42°38'13.18"N 141°38'0.50"E) to catch the ferry to Orari. The boat leaves at 01:00, we’re allowed on at 22:00 its now 20:30. The restaurant has closed early, nowhere else to go so we buy some beer and stock up on tat from the shop, have a drink and when the time comes, board the ship.
The purser shows me the rooms while the others wait, and when we all show up, he takes one look at three dirty dishevelled blokes and Anne and immediately upgrades her to the next cabin, which was empty. I don’t think he realized that she was with Martin, so those two had a cabin to themselves.
Showing Anne around, the purser pointed out the bathing area, so after she shows us later on, I take advantage of the hot shower, bath and sauna.
Overnight, on the ferry.
March 4 2009 Wednesday
Up and out on deck early and we birded all day from the ferry. Birds came in fits and starts, many quiet periods followed by intense action. Highlights of the crossing: nine Laysan Albatross, 35 Streaked Shearwater, 12 Least Murrelet and 40 Rhinoceros Auklet. That’s the birds; the mammals include Killer and Minke Whale, Steller’s sea lion and Northern Fur Seal. (GPS from the crossing; 40°37'39.26"N 141°53'46.88"E, 40°19'43.39"N 141°57'14.17"E, 39°31'57.14"N 142° 7'37.73"E, 39°21'48.09"N 142° 4'51.52"E, 38°14'0.75"N 141°38'6.50"E)
Mid afternoon there was heavy rain, so we took the opportunity to have something to eat. Micro-waved, frozen food from a vending machine, exquisite! We land at Orari where the information desk would give us a telephone number for a taxi, but wouldn’t phone for us, so we non-Japanese speakers had to phone and try to get a taxi to come to the port to pick us up. In the end Anne grabbed a young lad who spoke a little English to convey the message to the taxi dispatcher. The taxi arrived and took us to Mito, where we stayed overnight at the Sannomaru Hotel (36°22'19.07"N 140°28'39.94"E).
March 5 2009 Thursday
Today was a day devoted to gardens, and specifically one. It was bright and sunny this morning, just the kind of day to visit Kaikuren (36°22'32.17"N 140°27'10.57"E); it’s in the top ten of the “100 Gardens to see before you die” and its pretty amazing. 800 Plum trees all in blossom at the same time is a spectacle you should see. The garden starts on a hillside and continues down to a large lake. We left the hotel and took a taxi from just over the road to the main gate, where straight away we found a Brown-headed Thrush, feeding on the ground under the plum trees. A flock of small birds turned out to be Rustic Bunting, a Daurian Redstart sat watching us watching it and Oriental Turtle Doves were scratching through the leaf litter. A little further into the garden and Dusky Thrush was all over the place and one in particular was very approachable. I was happily photographing it when I became aware of a group of people bearing down on me, I glanced around to have a look and the Japanese version of Ant & Dec have a TV crew with them and the next target for an interview is: ME. Ian, Martin and Anne had seen them coming and they had done a bunk; I was too engrossed with the Dusky Thrush. Anyway a few questions from them and a few proper broad Geordie answers from me and they were on their way. I guess the interview will end up in the bin, because they won’t be able to understand what I said, unless they had some one translate from Geordie into English into Japanese! Other birds here include very obliging Hawfinchs; every one we see seems to want its picture taken, so I take pictures of them all
By now the time was getting on and the crowds are starting to arrive, there were thousands of people here, so after Anne had been for a look around the house, we had a bit wander, found the food stalls and had lunch. After lunch we walked down the hill to the lake (where there are some Little Grebe of the poggei race) and continued all the way round back into town. A brisk walk through the town centre and up the hill and we arrive at the Kadogan (36°22'32.21"N 140°28'37.80"E), it’s another garden, not as good as Kaikuren, but this one has an old style Japanese house in it. I didn’t go into the house; too busy taking pictures of a photogenic Brown-eared Bulbul. Birding was excellent today. Later I managed to lose most of today's photos while transferring them from the cards to the laptop, so all of the cards I used today got put away. Back home I use some image recovery software to get all the shots back.
Overnight Sannomaru Hotel.
March 6 2009 Friday
First thing, Martin and Anne head off and pick up another hire car, this one is just for the day. After they get back, we load the car and drive to Choshi. And its gull heaven; thousands of them. Unfortunately, it’s raining very hard, so most of the birding is done from the car.
Black-headed, Kittiwake, Glaucous-winged, Vega, Glaucous, Slaty-backed, Kamchatka and Black-tailed. Juvenile to adult, all species, lots of variation, and all of them right beside the car.
We left at lunch time and stopped for a meal at Coco's, a chain restaurant that was just up the road, we gave the hard core Sashimi food outlets a miss, I for one was totally fished out!
It was raining very heavily as we drove on towards Narita. When we arrived we stopped in the town centre and went to Naritasan Koen Shrine. A large temple complex, with some nice gardens, at least they would be nice if it wasn’t still very heavy rain. We wandered around in the poor light but it was worth it as we found a small flock of Grey Buntings. This time I got a decent view and Anne got to see them, and then that’s it, we’ve had enough, we’re soaking, then rains not letting up, it’s time to quit.
So the sat nav is programmed one last time to take us back to car hire office number one, where it all began. And it nearly became a nightmare, the sat nav tried to take us into the cargo area of the airport, we had to be directed out through locked gates, all under the watchful eyes of armed guards. We continued up the road we were on and found a petrol station, filled up the car and tried again with a different phone number, and the nav tried again to take us to the wrong place. Ian had the map and a map from the car hire company and picked up a road number from it and we jammed lucky and found ourselves almost on the right road. Once that was sorted we soon found the car hire office and in no time at all we were at the hotel for the night, The Hilton! It was a good deal from the internet, cheap rooms. However everything else cost a fortune. And that was it, all that remained to do was get on the hotel bus tomorrow morning and then catch a flight. Trip over.
Species
Pacific Diver (Gavia pacifica)
Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica)
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis poggei)
Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena holboellii)
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis)
Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis)
Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis rodgersii)
Streaked Shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas)
Continental Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis)
Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus)
Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus)
Red-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax urile)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea jouyi)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
Pacific Reef Egret (Egretta sacra)
Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)
Bewick's Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii)
Taiga Bean Goose (Anser fabalis middendorffii)
White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons frontalis)
Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata)
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
Falcated Duck (Anas falcata)
Gadwall (Anas strepera strepera)
Baikal Teal (Anas formosa)
Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca crecca)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila mariloides)
Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
Black Scoter (Melanitta (nigra) americana)
Asiatic Scoter (Melanitta deglandi stejnegeri)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Smew (Mergellus albellus)
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Goosander (Mergus merganser merganser)
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Black-eared Kite (Milvus migrans lineatus)
White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Steller's Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus)
Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus cyaneus)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
Japanese Buzzard (Buteo buteo japonicus)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Merlin (Falco columbarius)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Copper Pheasant (Syrmaticus soemmerringii)
Green Pheasant (Phasianus versicolor)
Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus)
Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis canadensis)
White-naped Crane (Grus vipio)
Common Crane (Grus grus)
Hooded Crane (Grus monacha)
Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis)
Common Coot (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Long-billed Plover (Charadrius placidus)
Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Solitary Snipe (Gallinago solitaria)
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)
Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
Pomarine Skua (Stercorarius pomarinus)
Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Saunders's Gull (Saundersilarus saundersi)
Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Vega Gull (Larus vegae)
Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)
Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus)
Kamchatka Gull (Larus canus kamtschatschensis)
Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris)
Brunnich's Guillemot (Uria lomvia)
Spectacled Guillemot (Cepphus carbo)
Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus)
Japanese Murrelet (Synthliboramphus wumizusume)
Least Auklet (Aethia pusilla)
Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia ''feral'')
Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)
White-bellied Green Pigeon (Treron sieboldii sieboldii)
Blakiston's Fish Owl (Bubo blakistoni blakistoni)
Ural Owl (Strix uralensis momiyamae)
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis bengalensis)
Crested Kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris lugubris)
Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos kizuki ijimae)
Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos kizuki seebohmi)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major japonicus)
Japanese Woodpecker (Picus awokera)
Japanese Skylark (Alauda arvensis japonica)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica gutturalis)
Asian House Martin (Delichon dasypus dasypus)
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni hodgsoni)
Buff-bellied Pipit (Anthus rubescens japonicus)
Black-backed Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)
Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis)
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea robusta)
Ryukyu Minivet (Pericrocotus divaricatus tegimae)
Brown-eared Bulbul (Microscelis amaurotis amaurotis)
Brown-eared Bulbul (Microscelis amaurotis hensoni)
Brown-eared Bulbul (Microscelis amaurotis matchiae)
Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus centralasiae)
Japanese Waxwing (Bombycilla japonica)
Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii pallasii)
Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes dauricus)
Japanese Accentor (Prunella rubida)
Dusky Thrush (Turdus (naumanni) eunomus)
Brown-headed Thrush (Turdus chrysolaus)
Pale Thrush (Turdus pallidus)
Red-bellied Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius philippensis)
Northern Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus cyanurus)
Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus auroreus)
Japanese Bush Warbler (Cettia diphone)
Asian Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris hensoni)
Willow Tit (Poecile montanus restrictus)
Varied Tit (Poecile varius varius)
Coal Tit (Periparus ater insularis)
Japanese Tit (Parus major minor)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus caudatus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus trivirgatus)
Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea asiatica)
Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea amurensis)
Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus japonicus)
Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus bucephalus)
Japanese Jay (Garrulus glandarius japonicus)
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyana japonica)
Oriental Magpie (Pica pica sericea)
Rook (Corvus frugilegus pastinator)
Oriental Crow (Corvus corone orientalis)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos japonensis)
Common Raven (Corvus corax kamtschaticus)
White-cheeked Starling (Sturnus cineraceus)
Russet Sparrow (Passer rutilans rutilans)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus saturatus)
Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)
Asian Rosy Finch (Leucosticte arctoa brunneonucha)
Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra japonica)
Oriental Greenfinch (Carduelis sinica kawarahiba)
Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula rosacea)
Eurasian Bullfinch “Grey-bellied” (Pyrrhula pyrrhula griseiventris)
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes japonicus)
Japanese Grosbeak (Eophona personata personata)
Long-tailed Rosefinch (Uragus sibiricus)
Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides ciopsis)
Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata fucata)
Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica rustica)
Yellow-throated Bunting (Emberiza elegans elegans)
Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala personata)
Grey Bunting (Emberiza variabilis)
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus pyrrhulina)
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