Japan Birding Tour Highlights

Of course, during our winter tours in Japan, particularly in Hokkaido, birds that are highlights are those such as the dancing and calling Red-crowned, or Japanese, Cranes, the gatherings of Steller's and White-tailed Eagles, the flocks of Whooper Swans, and the large & rare Blakiston's Fish Owl.
All of those we experienced again during our Jan/Feb 2009 Japan Tour in Hokkaido. In fact, that tour was the 20th FONT birding & nature tour in Japan during which we've seen the Blakiston's Fish Owl. (We've never missed!)

But, during the tour, there were other birds too - a number of them, including some not as well known outside Japan, such as the Brown-eared Bulbul and Olive-backed Pipit, in photographs below taken during the tour. The Brown-eared Bulbul is nearly endemic to Japan.

Brown-eared Bulbul, photographed during the FONT
January/February 2009 Tour in Japan
(photo by Karl Frafjord, of Norway)

Olive-backed Pipit, photographed during the FONT
January/February 2009 Tour in Japan
(photo by Karl Frafjord, of Norway)

The following account was written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

Our 30th FONT birding & nature tour in Japan took place January 8-21, 2008. During that tour, again, as there have been during such tours in the past, a number of nice birds were seen, and memorable experiences were had, as we traveled about the countryside. Those travels were on the three main Japanese island of Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu.

Highlights were many. Foremost among them were, as always, the cranes and the eagles on both the northern island of Hokkaido and the southern island of Kyushu. Many Steller's and White-tailed Eagles, and the Japanese, or Red-crowned Cranes were enjoyed by our group on Hokkaido. On Kyushu, we were treated to 4 species of Cranes (White-naped, Hooded, Common, & Sandhill) and a single rare Eagle for Japan, a Greater Spotted.

But tour highlight that was probably the best of them all was our experience on Hokkaido with the very big & very rare Blakiston's Fish Owl.
At dusk, one day, we were where we should have been to see this owl named after Captain Thomas Wright Blakiston. We were ready.
Mr. Blakiston was a consul and a businessman from England who went to Japan, specifically southwest Hokkaido, in the mid-1800's, immediately after the "opening" of Japan to foreigners. During about 20 years that he was there, Blakiston enthusiastically pursued an interest in describing the avifauna and the zoological features of that northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. In Japan, the owl named after Blakiston, only occurs on Hokkaido, where, due to its habits and habitat, it is very rare. Another population, also small, occurs on mainland Asia in Siberia.

The Blakiston's Fish Owl is very large, with a wingspan of about 2 meters (that's 6 feet). It's been said that the female is the largest of the world's owls. As big as 71 centimeters in length, it's larger than the Eurasian Eagle Owl. And bigger than these other large owls elsewhere in the world:
the Verreaux's Eagle Owl, of Africa, up to 65 centimeters,
the Pel's Fishing Owl, of Africa, up to 61 centimeters,
the Shelley's Eagle Owl, also of Africa, also up to 61 centimeters,
and the Tawny Fish Owl of southern Asia, up to 58 centimeters.
As noted, the huge Blakiston's Fish Owl is also very rare. In Japan (Hokkaido only), there may be population of 100 to 120 birds. On mainland Asia, there may just be a few hundred.
So, as I said, late that day on Hokkaido, as darkness was falling, we were ready to see it. We had already experienced, the previous day, a flock of over a hundred Red-crowned Cranes walking about in stately fashion on the snow. Earlier, during the same day that we were in place to see the owl, we had seen some magnificent Steller's Sea Eagles. That is certainly an appropriate adjective for that huge and striking bird that comes to Hokkaido during the winter from the Siberian wilderness to the north. And so, yes, even we had already seen some wonderful sights, we were ready for the third part of the Hokkaido "Avian Big 3", the owl.
As ready as we were, however, that day it was not to be. As we waited, and as the sky got darker, a Ural Owl flew by us. And it was the only owl that we saw that day.
Therefore, we opted to stay an extra day on Hokkaido, which was fine as that island does offer some of the best wintertime birding anywhere. During our additional day, we continued to have good experiences, again with Steller's and White-tailed Eagles, and with a fine assortment of waterbirds (such as Whooper Swans, various ducks, and gulls). The settings in which we saw these birds added to the experience. The winter scenery was superb.
As the day ended, we were back again at the same place where we had hoped to see the Blakiston's Owl the previous day. Would it be different?
Even though we stuck with pretty much the same strategy, it was quite different. All of a sudden, a big Blakiston's Owl appeared, near us, on the top of a utility pole. Then, there was another! A pair of the owls was with us, a female and a male (the male is large, but female is larger). We got out of our vehicle and stood quietly outside. Both of the owls flew right above us, with their big forms against the beautiful twilight sky. The owls, though, to us, were more beautiful. To be by such creatures was a thrill. Like the eagles, they were also magnificent! But, the experience was all the more outstanding, as we had missed the bird the day before.
The owls stayed with us, as they were perched nearby on posts and branches. We could see well their features - their feathers, their tufts, their eyes, their talons. And we heard them too. The pair called in duet, with the voice of one deeper than than that of the other.
We were so glad that we had opted to stay that extra day on Hokkaido.

With our January '08 experience, the Blakiston's Fish Owl has continued to be found during every late-fall & winter FONT Japan tour. Our record is now 19 sightings during 19 such tours.

Seen during every FONT tour in Hokkaido, Japan, has been the Red-crowned Crane, the second rarest of the 15 species of the world's cranes, after the Whooping Crane of North America. Mention has already been made that we saw over a hundred of these tour and elegant birds during our stay in Hokkaido, as they walked about on the snow. We also observed them as they flew and as they fed. We watched and listened as they made their loud calls, as cranes do. We saw them occasionally dance about on the snow. Although during winter the cranes form flocks at places where they feed, it was apparent that in the group of birds, as we watched, that there were paired adults and some adults still with their young birds of the year.
We had a very nice afternoon with the cranes.
A young man at the "crane interpretive center" gave us (in English) a tremendous amount of information about the birds.
An older man, at about 2pm, wandered out on the snow among the cranes, and as he's done for years, he threw small fish onto the ground. The cranes there also feed on some grain, but it was apparent that they looked forward to the man's daily walk with the fish. Prior to it, there was, among those birds, notable anticipation (even though none of the older birds were wearing a watch, and none of the younger birds had a mobile phone with a digital clock!).
Other birds in the area also anticipated the afternoon feeding. White-tailed Eagles appeared, as if on cue. They swooped down to the ground, snatching up some of the fish. Black Kites did as well. Whooper Swans, that were on the snowy ground near the cranes, flew away when the man, with the bucket of fish, entered the field.

The cranes, by the way, held their own, with the eagles. Both of them, of course, are large birds, but we could see that the cranes were not intimidated by the eagles.
No Steller's Sea Eagles came in to the afternoon spectacle of birds at feeding time, but both adult and juvenile were seen, as they flew by.
Large-billed Crows, when seen on their own, appear large - not only their bills being so, but overall. However, when in the company of eagles, cranes, kites, and swans, the crows that were on the scene seemed rather small.
It was a wonderful afternoon for us, during that day in Hokkaido, at the crane site.

And it was particularly nice when we reflected that the beautiful creature that we were seeing, the Japanese Crane, was at one time so very close to extinction. Back in the 1920's, the total population of Red-crowned, or Japanese, Cranes in Japan was only about 20 individuals, all of them in southeastern Hokkaido. Today, in Japan, they are still only in that one part of the country, but now the population numbers about 1,000 birds. They are Hokkaido residents, that throughout much of the year occur mostly in marshy places where they breed. Pairs have their sizable territories. In the winter, they form flocks (as we saw during our tour) at a few (3 or 4) particular places. It has been the winter-time feeding, over the years, of grain and fish, as noted above, that has caused the increase in the population, also just noted, during recent decades. Another significant factor has been the removal of high tension lines in areas frequented by the cranes.

Just over 15 years ago, at the time of the first FONT tour in Hokkaido, Japan, in 1992, the total number of Japanese, or Red-crowned, Cranes was 557. As of this year, that population has nearly doubled. In 2006, the number of these cranes counted in Hokkaido was 1,013. When I first visited Hokkaido in 1982, and saw my first Japanese Cranes, the population was a mere 320 birds. How good it's been that the bird's numbers have increased since! And, for me, personally, each time that I've seen them since, it's really been a thrill.

Also thrilling, during each visit to Japan, has been every encounter with cranes in the winter at the opposite end of country, on the southerly island of Kyushu. Again, in January 2008, we had a good day there with the thousands of cranes that come each winter from mainland Asia. It's about 12,000 cranes that come annually. Of them, just over 10,000 are Hooded Cranes. About 2,000 of them are White-naped Cranes. Both are nice to see, but with their elegant appearance, the White-naped Cranes are especially so.

During the one census conducted of the Kyushu cranes during the '07-'08 winter, 10,973 Hooded Cranes were tallied. That's up a bit - and that's good, as nearly all the world's Hooded Cranes winter in that one portion of Kyushu.
The tally of White-naped Cranes, during that census, was 1,019. That's a bit down. But a few more may have come after that count done in December. A second and third winter census was not conducted in early '08 due to bad weather. But during the day that we were there, in January '08, the weather was wonderful - as was our day.

During our January '08 Japan tour, we had a good group,
with tour participants from California USA & Australia,
and we also met, as we have previously during our tours in Japan,
some nice local people along the way.
One such person is the man (in the photo above)
who feeds the Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido (in the photo below).

Another such person is the man (at left, in the photo below)
who operates a restaurant in Kyushu
where the cranes are there (in the bottom photo).
FONT tour leader, Armas Hill (at right, in the photo below)
has been to that restaurant numerous times.

During our time with the cranes on Kyushu, we saw 4 species in that family. In addition to the Hooded and the White-naped, we saw a Common Crane and 2 Sandhill Cranes. Every year, during the decade and a half that we've been seeing cranes on Kyushu, a few stragglers of these two species have been present. Both species come with the Hooded and White-naped Cranes from mainland Asia.
The Common Crane breeds at various places across the wide land expanse of Eurasia. There are two subspecies, basically one westerly, in Europe, and another further east, in eastern Asia. The second of these is the subspecies that occurs in Japan. It was described as a subspecies in 1894, over a hundred years after the nominate, or western, race was described by Linneaus in Sweden, when the modern-day system of avian classification began in 1758.

The Sandhill Crane is thought of as a North American bird, and that it is, but a fairly sizable do nest each year in Asia, in eastern Siberia. Nearly all of those birds, after breeding, fly eastward to North America. Actually, in general, those that nest the furthest west in Eurasia migrate the furthest south in North America, even as far south as Mexico. Every year, however, a couple Sandhill Cranes come south to Japan to spend their winter - not quite as "outcasts", but usually toward the edge of the large crane flocks.
The Japanese name for the Sandhill Crane is "Kanada-zuru". "Zuru" is a word for "crane". Of course, Sandhill Cranes are quite numerous in Canada, during their nesting season. However, those Sandhill Cranes seen about annually in Japan have most likely never been in that North American country. Two Sandhill Cranes were present with the other cranes in Kyushu in January 2008. We saw both. They were not together.

Not in Kyushu, Japan, during the winter of '07-'08, were either the rare Siberian Crane or the Demoiselle Crane. Both have occurred, and have been seen during FONT tours, in recent years. But so not this time.

After we enjoyed most of a day with the masses of cranes on Kyushu, we traveled a few kilometers south with the intention of seeing a rarity in Japan, a Greater Spotted Eagle. We had learned, at lunch, from the man in the photo above, at the restaurant, that a single bird was present there again, having been seen just a day or two earlier. From him, we got directions, and even though we didn't have much time, we were on our way.
The plan was to drive the 40 or so kilometers to the appropriate place and, during a short allocation of time, see the bird.

The Greater Spotted Eagle is a globally threatened species, classified as "vulnerable" by the Birdlife International. Its range is vast, across Eurasia, but there are not many birds. A recent estimate is of less than 10,000 adults. The breeding range is large, but highly fragmented. The species winters in over 30 countries, and occurs as a vagrant in another 20 countries, including Japan. The single, wintering bird which we sought in Kyushu may well have been the only Greater Spotted Eagle existing in Japan when we saw it!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Yes, we did see the eagle. After the drive, we were nearly sure that we were at the right place, but we wanted, as the afternoon was waning, to be absolutely sure. So we stopped at the post office, in the little town, to ask (bearing in mind, of course, that I speak mostly English, and the postal employees there speak mostly Japanese). But it was "no problem", as "they say", in that regard. When I inquired, with a bird book and body language, they immediately said "Washi", the Japanese word for eagle. All of the postal employees knew about the bird.
As I was in the post office, a car pulled up next to our vehicle in the parking lot. The people in the car also knew about the "Washi", and they told us to follow them to the proper spot to observe it. And that we did, and then within seconds, we saw the large bird, soaring about in the sky above a wooded ridge.
Actually, some of our group, had already spotted it from the post office parking lot, but from there it was further away. Thus, the Greater Spotted Eagle was just that - "spotted" - and it was one that was "greater" as well, as we only had but a few minutes. Being late in the afternoon, after 3:30, with the thermals over the hills disappearing, it was good fortune to have the fine look that we did of the rare raptor for about 10 minutes, as flew about in the sky.

During two previous FONT tours, we had seen the Greater Spotted Eagle, actually at the same place. But that was back in the 1990's. Yes, the place was the same, but was it the same individual bird? For a few years, it's been said that a single bird has wintered there. But how long does it live? In a nice new Japanese bird book (in English), there are photos of the Greater Spotted Eagle, both adult and immature birds, and both said to have been photographed at the place where we were in Kyushu.

Our quick visit was fun - to the little town where "everyone" knew of the eagle from Asia that comes each winter to the nearby hills. Again, it's known there as the "Washi". The complete Japanese name of the bird is "Karafuto-washi". That of the White-tailed Eagle that we saw well in good number on Hokkaido is "Ojiro-washi". That of the Steller's Sea Eagle, that was so great for us to see on Hokkaido as we did, is "O-washi". I think that's because whenever one sees that species well, one can't help but utter "O" something - usually "Oh, my!"
"O-washi" is a great name for a great bird. Steller's Sea Eagles are magnificent and impressive creatures to watch. Not only are they very big, and with a striking plumage, and with a huge yellow bill, they are truly symbols of the wild north. All of those that come to Hokkaido in Japan in the winter are from a rather restricted area of eastern Siberia, where they breed. Overall, the species is not common, as its estimated total population is said to be only about 5,000 birds and declining.
It was nice during our January '08 tour, to see 3 species of eagles, or "Washi"s, once again, as we did in Japan twice before, back in the last decade, when we also then saw the Greater Spotted.

(A note: During the FONT tour in Japan, just prior to Jan '08, in Dec 2007, we were fortunate to see 3 "big raptors" all on Hokkaido: the 2 Eagles, the White-tailed and the Steller's, and another large perched bird - a Mountain Hawk-Eagle.
The female that we saw, of the latter, was big. Females are about 20 per cent larger than males. And the Japanese race is about 10 per cent larger than the race on mainland Asia.
The length of the female Mountain Hawk-Eagle, in the same genus as the Ornate Hawk-Eagle in Latin America. is as much as 84 centimeters. That of the female White-tailed Eagle is 92 centimeters. That of the Steller's Sea Eagle is up to 105 centimeters. The length of the Greater Spotted Eagle, by the way, is as much as 71 centimeters.)

Many of the birds already noted in this narrative have been the "big ones", such as the eagles, cranes, and the owl. But during our January '08 Japan Tour, more of the smaller birds were seen than usual during on time on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Generally, not many such nor many individuals are seen there in the winter, particularly away from the coast. But in the "Passerine Department", aside from the Corvids (the 2 species of crows, the Raven, and the Eurasian Jay), we encountered over 20 species of smaller birds as we traveled about Hokkaido.
Notable among them were some flocks of Bohemian Waxwings, along with more Dusky Thrushes than usual, Asian Rosy Finches (at a few places), and a large flock of Common Redpolls, with about 200 of them in that one flock in some bushes and trees at the edge of a large farm field.
Also notable, and unexpected, was a single Eurasian Skylark with that flock of Redpolls. It was first Eurasian Skylark ever for us in the winter in Hokkaido. We assume that one bird came from further north, in Siberia, and that it was not a bird of the Japanese race.
Also, among the smaller birds for us in Hokkaido, was a single White Wagtail at a river mouth along the coast, and a flock or two of Grey-capped Greenfinches ( a bit unusual) on a coastal barrier island, where also, by some homes, there was a single Rustic Bunting. The Rustic Bunting, by the way, during our tour was therefore one of handful of birds seen on all three of the islands that we visited: Honshu, Kyushu, and Hokkaido. That's happened for us before with that species, but it's unusual.

Also in the small-bird category, the Brown Dippers that we saw on Hokkaido were expected, as were the various Tits: the Great, Marsh, and Varied, along with the Eurasian Nuthatch (a pale race on Hokkaido), and the Brown-eared Bulbul. The last of these (like the Rustic Bunting) was seen during our tour on "all 3 islands" as were the Dusky Thrush and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. But that's to be expected.
In the woods, not really unexpected, but nice to see, were a number of Hawfinches and Bramblings.
Hokkaido is a good place for woodpeckers. It's the only island in Japan with the Grey-headed Woodpecker that we saw. Also seen were the Great Spotted Woodpecker and the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker. The Black Woodpecker (only in Japan on Hokkaido) was heard.

Japan, in the winter, is a wonderful place for waterbirds, one of the best anywhere in the world. About 30 species of waterfowl winter in Japan, totaling several million birds. During our January '08 tour, we saw most of the species, and, indeed, many individuals.

Reference has already been made here to the winter-time feeding of the cranes in Hokkaido, with some other bird species also partaking in the banquet. Such feeding of birds has, for years, been a rather characteristic Japanese feature, and continues so today.

On the main Japanese island of Honshu, at the beginning of our tour, we visited a small pond in the countryside that in the winter is filled with waterfowl, mostly ducks, but also some Whooper Swans. During previous FONT tours, we had seen a few Baikal Teal there, but there was no such good luck for us there this time. Years ago, the Baikal Teal was a common winter visitor in Japan. During recent decades, however, that species has drastically declined in Japan, with it now being in just a few favored areas.
At the small pond, however, we did have the good fortune to see closely some Falcated Ducks, another species of waterfowl with the drake being a beautiful creature.

The feeding of birds just alluded to a moment ago takes place at that pond every afternoon. The feeding-time is 3pm, and, at that time, we were there. When those who throw the grain onto the water do so, there was bedlam among the birds, including not only noisy swans, but an assortment of ducks. In addition to the Falcated Ducks, there were many Northern Pintails and Eurasian Wigeon, along with some Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards. There were some other species too, and 3 drakes that appeared to be American-Eurasian Wigeon hybrids.
Some of this mass of ducks were so enthusiastic about eating, that they literally, and quickly, flew around us and other people at the edge of the pond in their fervor.
And it's interesting that these are really wild ducks - having come from places to the north, mostly in Siberia, that are truly quite wild, and where there are very few people. During most of their year, they probably encounter nearly no humans, and when they do, in Japan in the winter, they are people who feed them - every day at 3pm.
Another thing interesting, that we couldn't help but notice there at the pond, when the birds were being fed, was that the large number of Mallards there kept their distance, out on the water. They did not join in the feeding frenzy. Those Mallards appeared to be more "on the wild side" than many seen at other places in the world.

Further north, on colder Hokkaido, there were other places where we visited that bird-feeding was a daily activity.
On a large lake, away from the coast, there were dozens of Whooper Swans. As just noted, Hokkaido is colder than Honshu, but it (Hokkaido that is) can be even colder than it was for us in January '08.
It was a beautiful day for us at that lake with the Whooper Swans, with a blue sky, and nearly no ice. The lake can be (and has been for us during other tours) nearly completely frozen.
Famous photographs of the Whooper Swans on open water, in the mist, and with the snow, have been taken at that lake. Those hearty swans are only there in the winter. Their nesting grounds are in Siberia, as are those of so many of the birds that we see in Japan during our winter tours.
When the swans at the lake are fed, they call. And they call loudly. I guess, more aptly, they "whoop", as, after all, they are "Whoopers". When I hear them, I wonder (as odd it may be to do so) how it is that the swans of Eurasia are called "Whooper", while the cranes in North America, that give their loud call, are called "Whooping".

At another bird-feeding spot in Hokkaido that we visited along the eastern seacoast, there were also Whooper Swans, also loudly calling, and a number of ducks. The composition of the waterfowl was different than what there was at the small pond on Honshu. At the Hokkaido spot, there were, in closely, Common Goldeneye and Greater Scaup, in addition to Northern Pintails and Mallards.
The spot for popular for parents, bundled in clothing, to bring their children, smaller people also bundled in clothing, on a holiday, actually "Children's Day". As the bird-feeding was going on (it seemed continuous at this cold Hokkaido location), there was constant commotion among the birds. In addition to the swans and the ducks, there were Gulls, with Glaucous, Slaty-backed, and Vegas close at hand. I couldn't help but think of how in North America, birders would travel to get a look, even at a distance, of these birds, and that there, at this birdy Hokkaido spot, we could nearly touch them.
Nearby, on branches in some bare trees (and not within touching-distance), there were some White-tailed Eagles. Again, for us, we were at quite a place.

Some species of ducks just don't come in to the feeding - ever. Along that eastern coast of Hokkaido, always in the surf, there were Harlequin Ducks. Really no species of waterfowl is as boldly and colorfully patterned as the male Harlequin, That day, we saw many - scores of them.
Beyond the surf, we saw numerous scoters. Most were American Scoters, with the males having an all-black plumage, and an orange bill. Some were White-winged Scoters. It's interesting that while most of the Japanese waterfowl are of the Eurasian ilk, the two species of scoters are, instead, those of North America. The White-winged Scoter is a regional subspecies of the North American bird, called the "Stejneger's White-winged Scoter", named after one of the first western ornithologists to study Japanese birds, back in the nineteenth century.

Like the Harlequins and the Scoters, the Mergansers never come in to where the people feed the birds. Along the eastern Hokkaido coast, there were both Common and Red-breasted Mergansers.

At a particular place I knew to be good for another merganser, the Smew, we saw a pair. But it took some doing. The river where I've seen them in the past was frozen solid, all the way to the ocean. But nearby on the ocean itself, in the surf, the bright, mostly white, with some black, male was seen riding the waves with the red-capped female by his side. The pair was among a group other mergansers. When a White-tailed Eagle flew by in the sky above, the two Smews were the first ducks to fly away.

Many of the waterfowl species during our tour have now been noted. But a couple more notable species remain to be mentioned, one on Hokkaido, and one on Kyushu.

Probably the most exquisite of all the ducks we saw was the Long-tailed Duck. At a Hokkaido harbor, and with beautiful afternoon light shining upon it, a male Long-tailed Duck, close to us on still water, was superb. Even though there were so many extraordinary sightings during the tour, it was thought, at the time, that this was one of the best. What a brilliantly beautiful bird it was!
The late afternoon light in that part of Hokkaido was truly wonderful. It's a place on this Earth where the air is really so clean, being as far as it is from any pollution. And so, in that cold and clear environment, the features of the sky, both by day and night, can be vivid. In between, at twilight, the colors above us and around us were marvelous.

On the southernmost Japanese island that we visited, Kyushu, there was the other notable species of waterfowl of our tour. Along a particular river there, we saw, and yes - we enjoyed seeing, the Mandarin Ducks. All of the adjectives that have already been used in this narrative, in relation to waterfowl, can be used again pertaining to the Mandarin: "brilliantly beautiful; boldly and colorfully patterned; and exquisite".

"Mandarin", itself, is from the Sanskrit word "mantrin", meaning "counselor". In the mid-1500's, that word was applied to Chinese officials, as a term used by foreigners to describe the handsomely attired senior officers of the Chinese government.

The duck, itself, is truly of the "Far East". Its native range is only in easternmost Asia: in not just China, but further north, breeding in the Russian Ussurland and Kuril Islands, and in northern Japan.

The Mandarin Duck has been known as the "pearl of Manchuria". In Russia, it's known as "Manadarinka". It's called "Yuen Yang" in Chinese, while in Japanese it's called "Oshidori".
In Japanese art, as early as the 8th Century, the Mandarins were depicted, as they have been since on screen paintings, showing faithful males and females together.
While the Japanese, or Red-crowned, Crane in Japan symbolizes happiness and longevity, the Mandarin in Japan represents the enduring qualities of loyalty and fidelity. The Mandarin drake and hen have been believed to be strongly monogamous.

In China, nowadays, very few Mandarin Ducks are to be found in the winter. But, that's not the case in southern Japan, and particularly on Kyushu.
A few years ago I found that during the winter along the particular river, referred to above, in southeastern Kyushu, there were a least a few thousand Mandarin Ducks, along the upper reaches of that river in the wooded hills. The species was the prevalent, and, at some places, the only species of duck along that stretch of the river. And I found that those Mandarin Ducks were about as "wild" as ducks could be. The small groups of ducks, along that river, would immediately fly away, as people got out of a vehicle, on the road at a long distance from the ducks that were either swimming on the river or tucked on and under the branches by its edge. It happened every time, and the birds give would their distinctive calls as they flew.
These were not birds such as those in city parks. We used to visit the Mejii Shrine in Tokyo to see the Mandarins there at a pond in the park. But seeing the "wilder Mandarins", in large numbers, along the Kyushu river, has been so much more of an experience.
Those ducks in Kyushu may come each winter from the wilder areas of mainland Asia - in Ussurland, or from those northerly Kuril Islands. Or, maybe, they come from northern Japan. Wherever, they come from, there are many.

A census of Mandarin Ducks wintering in Japan in 1992 tallied a total of about 20,000 birds. The figures from that annual census in 1995 give the number of wintering Mandarins in the Miyazaki Prefecture of Kyushu as 796 birds.
The Kyushu river we've visited for the Mandarins is in that Miyazaki Prefecture. (A Japanese prefecture is rather like a US state.)
But the 800 or so birds just given for the entire prefecture must be a low figure, as along that one river, during one afternoon, during one of our tours, we counted about 3,000 Mandarin Ducks - and that was without doing, in any way, what would be a proper census.

It was wonderful to see Mandarin Ducks, along that Kyushu river, again, during our January 2008 tour! We didn't tally as many as 3,000, but we saw quite a few. Due to some construction along the riverside road, that would have caused us a significant delay, we didn't go as far upriver as we normally have.

Downriver, along that river in southeastern Kyushu. however, we saw, during our January 2008 tour, some other wonderful birds. Near where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean, there were both Black-faced and Eurasian Spoonbills. The combined flock, with both species, was about 10 birds. Both Spoonbills occur in Japan only in the winter. The Black-faced Spoonbill is one of the rarest birds in the world, with a total estimated population of about 700 individuals.

A bird rare for Japan was also seen during our January 2008 tour by the mouth of that Kyushu river. A single Pied Avocet was there, and with it, there was a single Black-winged Stilt. Both the Avocet and the Stilt were "new birds" for FONT for Kyushu, being numbers #196 & #197 for us for that island.

That was how we ended our tour. At the beginning of it, back on the main Japanese island of Honshu, we birded one day along another river. That day was a good one for us, there, for raptors.
We saw a nice number of Harriers, of 2 species: the Eastern Marsh, and the Northern.
They were in addition to numbers of Osprey, Black Kites, a Peregrine Falcon, Common Buzzards (the endemic Japanese subspecies, japonicus), and a single hovering Rough-legged Buzzard (as it's been known in the Old World). The Rough-legged Hawk (as it's been known in the New World) was a "new bird" for FONT for Honshu, #302 for us for that island.

Near where that river in Honshu flows into the Pacific Ocean, a small Japanese city is a major fishing port. And during the winter, by where the fishing boats dock riverside, there are huge numbers of gulls. We could get close to them there, as, in addition to being on the water, on long concrete walls, and in the air, the gulls were near us on boats, the payment, and rooftops. We saw, during our afternoon there, 7 species of Gulls in an variety of plumages: Vega, Black-tailed, Common Black-headed, Common (or Mew), Slaty-backed, Glaucous, and Glaucous-winged. Perhaps the most interesting observation was of a group of about 20 Common Gulls (of the "Kamchatka race") in a tight flock, as they floated in the air just above the river (so low to the water in fact that their dangling feet were touching it). When doing so, the birds dipped their bills into the water as they fed apparently on very small fish. The gulls appeared, in unison, to be walking on the water much as storm-petrels appear to do.

Not storm-petrels, but some gulls were seen during our pelagic trip onboard a large ferry-boat from Honshu to Hokkaido. It was an overnight trip, continuing as we traveled north on the Pacific Ocean during much of the next day. We've done such a trip many times, often seeing numerous seabirds, but unfortunately this time, there were not many birds. The boat itself was fine, and it really was nice experience to ride on the ocean toward Hokkaido.
But, just a few gulls of various species were to be seen, along with the most pelagic of gulls, the Black-legged Kittiwake. We saw a couple hundred of them. The previous month, during our December '07 tour, from the ferry we saw some Laysan Albatrosses. Not so, for us, in January '08.
The previous year, in January '07, from the ferry we saw numerous alcids: murres, murrelets, auklets, guillemots, and the like. Again, it was not so, for us. In fact, in January '08, not a single alcid was to be seen, even though we looked and looked.
But we were able to look ahead - to our good birding, that we certainly were to have, on the island of Hokkaido, with the cranes, eagles, and the owl.

It was on Hokkaido where we saw the 4 mammals of the tour: the Red Fox, Red Squirrel, Sika Deer, and the Harbor Seal.

For sure, it wasn't just the birds and the mammals, told of here, that made our January '08 the good tour that it was. The tour was also as enjoyable and interesting as it was due to our contact with the Japanese people and their culture.
At night, we either slept on a bed, or on a tatami, a mat on the floor.
In our hotels, we could wear a robe known as a yukata.
When we bathed, we used the O-furo, or "hot bath".
Our traditional Japanese towel was known as a tenugi.
At meals, we ate either with western utensils, or with O'hashi, chopsticks.
Sometimes we had our meals at a general-menu restaurant, known as a shokudo, with either Japanese or Western style dishes. Japanese food included various noodles, and those of us who wished to do so had raw fish and other fresh seafoods.
Other Japanese food included:
tempura (seafood and vegetables dipped in a batter, and deep-fried in vegetable oil),
yakitori (chunks of chicken and onion charcoal broiled on skewers and dipped in sauce),
tonkatsu (pork or other meat, breaded and deep-fried)
katsudon (cutlet with egg over rice in a bowl)
kamameshi (steamed rice in fish bouillon, seasoned with soy sauce, and laced with some bits of chicken, beef, or pork, and mushrooms, bamboo shoots, peas).
Bowls of rice were topped with such things as pork, beef stew, curry-flavored stew, and eggs were cooked with a slice of chicken, onions, and other vegetable tidbits.
Among the specialties we ate there were: Sweet potatoes, rice crackers (senbei), and chicken on a stick (yaki tori).
And of course, there was tofu and tea (green tea, that is).

And, lastly, it was how we traveled, on "back roads" into the towns, villages, and in the countryside, more often than not away from the cities, that made the tour for our group, very much the all-encompassing experience that it was.

The following account was written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

It all began for me at the airport in Philadelphia in the US. I was there, early, awaiting my flight to Chicago to connect to a non-stop flight to Japan that could go west over Canada, Alaska, and the Pacific.
At the last moment, the word came that there was a mechanical problem with the plane and that flight was cancelled. Those who were to connect to go to the Orient were directed to taxis to JFK Airport in New York, but without enough time to get there. No one, scheduled for the cancelled flight, would get to Japan less than a day late. Except me.
Rather than join the ill-fated venture to New York, I convinced the airline personnel to allow me to take a flight a few hours later in the opposite direction to Europe - to Frankfurt, Germany - and then continue on another flight, across mostly Russia, to Japan. Doing so, I arrived to meet our tour members, in Kyushu, Japan, just under 2 hours later than originally scheduled.
Those people, who became "our group" went to Kyushu from places such as California, Okinawa, and Thailand.

There have been FONT tour participants in Japan, over the years, from a number of countries throughout the world including: England, Scotland, the island of Jersey, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, South Africa, and Australia, in addition to Canada and the United States. Thailand, this time, was yet another country to be added to that list.

This tour, conducted December 10-18, 2007, was the 29th FONT birding & nature tour in Japan. 18 of those tours have been in the late-fall and winter. 11 have been in the spring.

As I was flying east, for hours across Russia, I couldn't help but think of how vast that land is - huge, actually, Eurasia, continuing further east, over Siberia. In days gone by, it took a very long time for the early explorers and scientists to get from places in Europe such as Germany, England, France, and western Russia, to the frontier of eastern Eurasia and beyond. In the 1700s, for people such as Steller, Pallas, and Bering, it was a lengthy trip indeed. What I did in hours, took them months.

I looked out the window of the plane and down upon eastern Siberia and then the rugged, cliffy coast of the Pacific north of Korea and Manchuria. I was looking down on a part of the world that's still a wilderness, with Siberian Tigers, rare Scaly-sided Mergansers, and the mainland Asian populations of Blakiston Fish-Owls and Red-crowned Cranes. And many other birds, too, occur in that region that we (our group from places as far away as the US and Thailand) were to see in Japan.

Such birds, in that category, avian travelers from Siberia to Japan, were to include: Steller's Sea Eagles (named after the George Steller just referred to), White-tailed Eagles, Whooper Swans, various ducks, Rough-legged Hawks, White-naped Cranes, and Hooded Cranes, among the larger birds, and others, smaller, such as the Daurian Redstart, Yellow-throated Bunting, Northern Lapwing, and Rook, that only winter in Japan.

The mainland Asian populations of the Blakiston's Fish Owl and the Red-crowned Crane, noted a moment ago, never mix with those now isolated on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. During our Dec '07 Japan tour, we saw both of those species.
The Red-crowned Crane is always great to see - tall and stately. There are now about 1,000 of them that are residents in Hokkaido - the only place where the species normally occurs in Japan. Even just 30 years ago, there were considerably less. That species was determined by votes, at the end of our tour, to be our favorite bird (the list of "top birds" is below).
The massive Blakiston's Fish Owl in Hokkaido (also only there in Japan) is not only very big; it's very rare. We saw it - again. I say "again" as we've seen that spectacular species during ALL of our 18 late-fall and winter tours in Japan. The rivers in Hokkaido where the owl occurs were not yet frozen when we were there, this time, in December. So, we were fortunate to have the good look at the big owl that we did, one day at dusk.

A number of the birds already mentioned are among the "top birds" of this tour, as voted by the participants at the end of it. Here's the list of those "top birds":

#1 - RED-CROWNED CRANE
2 - Steller's Sea Eagle
3 - White-naped Crane
4 - Mandarin Duck
5 - Blakiston's Fish-Owl
6 - Smew
7 - Black-faced (& Eurasian) Spoonbills
8 - Green Pheasant
9 - Harlequin Duck
10 - Mountain Hawk-Eagle
11 - Laysan Albatross
12 - Hooded Crane
13 - wagtails (3 species)
14 - Black Kite
15 - Common Kingfisher
16 - Great Spotted Woodpecker
17 - Daurian Redstart
18 - Meadow Bunting
19 - Rook
20 - Eurasian Wigeon
21 - Pygmy Woodpecker

All of the birds receiving Number #1 votes (except one) were cranes, with the Red-crowned Crane receiving 3 and the White-naped and Hooded Cranes receiving one each. The single exception was the Steller's Sea Eagle that sat so cooperatively, not far from us, atop a pole. Many times, such eagles don't allow close approach, but the one just referred to was so reluctant to leave its favored perch, as we stood nearby photographing the bird, talking among ourselves, and even moving about. We had to conclude that where that bird came from in Siberia there simply were not many people.

Another raptor that was seen perched in a big tree in Hokkaido was unexpected. It was the Mountain Hawk-Eagle. The subspecies that's resident in Japan, Spizaetus nipalensis orientalis, is larger than others that occur in mainland Asia, in southern China and west into the Himalayas. The bird that we spotted as we were traveling through hills in southern Hokkaido was big. It was unexpected because we've never seen it previously in Hokkaido. It has relatively recently been found to nest there. We have seen the species during previous FONT Japan tours in the mountains and hills of Honshu and Kyushu. Southern Hokkaido is the easternmost edge of the bird's extensive range.

Another raptor that was good for us to see on Hokkaido was the Roughleg. Now, that name is a compromise. In Eurasia, it's been called the Rough-legged Buzzard. In North America, it's been known as the Rough-legged Hawk. With whatever name, we saw a couple of them along the coast, hovering in the air. One was doing so right above us. It was a nice sight with the backdrop of a blue sky. Roughlegs in Hokkaido come from either the Kamchatka Peninsula or further north in Siberia, from the tundra.

Among other birds that come to Japan from Siberia to spend the winter, Whooper Swans are particularly notable (and hard to miss). On Hokkaido, we saw them at a number of lakes and inlets. But they are always fun to see, and to hear. They can be noisy. Hence their name. In that regard, someone during our tour asked "Why is one a Whooping Crane, and another the "Whooper Swan?" That's a good question.

Some of the other species of waterfowl during our tour were wonderful birds. Among them, the Smews that we saw were very nice. The male, with its distinctive white and black plumage, is truly striking. The red-headed female is dapper. All in our group were glad to see the Smews as well as we did. One person was particularly so, as she said that she's seen the word for years in crossword puzzles. Now, at last, she saw the bird.
Smews come to Japan in the winter from Siberia. They don't nest in Japan.
But Harlequin Ducks do. They occur commonly along the Hokkaido coast. No matter how common, they're always a treat to see. The male is downright gaudy.
The Falcated Duck is another attractive duck that we saw in Hokkaido. Long-tailed Ducks, there, along the coastline are also dazzlers.
Scoters, that breed further north in Siberia, were in numbers for us along the Hokkaido coast. We saw two kinds. The "Black Scoter" in Japan is actually the American Scoter, now split from the Black Scoter that occurs further west in Eurasia. The "Steininger's" White-winged Scoter that we saw is a subspecies of the White-winged Scoter of North America, rather than the Velvet Scoter of more-westerly Eurasia.

But maybe no species of waterfowl more exemplifies the Orient than the Mandarin Duck. It's similar to the Wood Duck of North America, but with a different coloration. A few years ago, we found during a FONT tour in southern Kyushu (the southernmost main Japanese island), a river that in the winter (only) is filled with them. Shy, these wild Mandarins are. They fly away quickly, calling as they go. These birds, that winter in southern Kyushu, breed either further north in Japan, or across the sea in mainland Asia, in places such as Korea and Manchuria. Again for us, in December '07, we saw hundreds of them. It was quite an experience.

Every winter, thousands of cranes come to southwestern Kyushu from mainland Asia. Mostly, they are of 2 species: the Hooded Crane and the White-naped Crane. Not to slight the Hooded, but a comment must be made that the White-naped Crane is really a most attractive bird.
Both of these cranes are, during the summer, spread out in the land that was below me when I was in the plane, on my way to Japan from Germany, over eastern Asia. They nest in Russia and Manchuria (and elsewhere in northern China). Like me, they fly to Japan. These cranes come to Kyushu, in southern Japan, by the thousands, arriving mostly in November and departing in February. In mainland Asia, as noted, they range across a rather large area, but in Japan, when they visit for the winter, they're restricted to just a few square kilometers.
We learned, during our December '07 tour, that a couple weeks earlier, the first count for the season of the cranes in that part of Kyushu was: 10,973 Hooded Cranes, 1,059 White-naped Cranes, 2 Sandhill Cranes, 3 Common Cranes, and 3 hybrids (between Hooded & Common Cranes).
It's quite a sight to see those cranes at Kyushu. The Hooded Cranes there are nearly the entire global population of the species. As to the White-naped Crane, a recent total population estimate was about 5,000 birds. Lately, about half have been wintering where we were in Kyushu.
We also saw, during our Dec '07 tour, one of the 2 Sandhill Cranes in the area. The Sandhill Crane is mostly North American, but actually it's also a breeder in northeastern Siberia. Most of those birds, after nesting, migrate east to Alaska and then south into North Carolina. But not all. As noted, 2 arrived in Japan in '07 to winter. The species has been an annual there in recent years.

Another bird that we saw on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu that came from mainland Asia for the winter was the rare Black-faced Spoonbill. The global population of that bird of eastern Asia only totals about 700 birds. It does not breed in Japan. The species nests mostly in Korea, with a few doing so in coastal China. We saw, in December '07, seven of these birds along with almost as many Eurasian Spoonbills on a mudflat by the mouth of the river where, upstream, we saw the hundreds of Mandarin Ducks. The Eurasian Spoonbill is a winter visitor (a non-breeder) in Japan, occurring in small numbers.

In an area of Tokyo, near the head of the Tokyo Bay, we stopped by one afternoon to see the shorebirds. They were there. Most were Dunlin. Also, in addition to 3 species of plovers, there were a couple Eurasian Curlews and a small grouping of Black-winged Stilts. Also stopping by that afternoon to visit the shorebirds was a Peregrine Falcon that rapidly stooped in causing the shorebirds to quickly take into the air, flying fast in one direction and then the other in tight formation. Watching a flock fly like that is always amazing.

A part of our December 2007 Japan tour was offshore, onboard a large ferry from central Honshu (the main Japanese island) north to Hokkaido. The ferry-ride was overnight, and then all-day. It's good that the ferry is large as, at times, the ocean was a bit rough. But during nearly all of the daytime portion of the trip, there were birds in view. By far, the most were Black-legged Kittiwakes. We saw thousands of them. It was easy to become very respectful of that bird as we watched them continually about fly in the strong winds. Of the two Kittiwakes in the world, the Black-legged is by far the most common. The other, the Red-legged Kittiwake, is rather rare, and generally a bird of the more-northerly Bering Sea. "The book" says that the Red-legged Kittiwake can occur in the offshore waters of Japan. Maybe so, but we never saw one (that we know of) among maybe 25,000 Black-legged Kittiwakes we saw that day at sea.
What we did see in nice numbers were Laysan Albatosses - at least 75 or so. It was fun to watch them in their arcing flight. Other seabirds we saw from the ferry, that December day (Dec 13, 2007) were: some Pomarine Skuas, both Streaked and Short-tailed Shearwaters, and both Fork-tailed and Sooty Storm-Petrels. With the storm-petrels, a Pterodroma quickly appeared - a Bonin Petrel. Then it quickly disappeared.
Gulls (other than the kittiwakes) were in lesser numbers than during our January trips, and alcids were considerably less, although some Japanese Murrelets were seen - "umisuzumes", in Japanese meaning "sea sparrows".

In an area of the ocean where there were many birds above the surface of the water, and apparently many fish below, there were Northern Fur Seals at the surface of the water busily catching the fish.

Mammals that were seen on land, during the tour, included: Sika Deer, Japanese Marten, Japanese Hare, and Eurasian Wild Boar in Kyushu, and Sika Deer and Red Fox in Hokkaido.

Not just were there birds and animals to be seen, enjoyed, and appreciated during our December 2007 tour in Japan. There was also the beautiful Japanese countryside, the culture, and cuisine, in addition to the Japanese accommodations with the "onsens" (Japanese baths), and the hospitality of our hosts at the various places where we were. And, of course, there was our group of travelers from far-flung places such as Thailand and California. Combined, all of these elements made our tour, simply put, a wonderful experience.

At the end of it all, I boarded a plane in Japan to continue the journey completely around-the-world by air, that was done in conjunction with this tour, flying to Dallas, Texas, and then back to Philadelphia and home.

In notes following our DECEMBER 2007 birding & nature tour in JAPAN:

"Thanks for a great trip. I hope to see you on one of your tours soon."

Dorothy Kakimoto
Alameda, California

"Thank you for a wonderful trip."

Alice Kakimoto
Garden Grove, California

"Dear Armas,

You are so much fun to travel with --- .
You are a good driver (on the left-side of the road in Japan), and a great bird-spotter.
Thank you for a safe, amazing trip in Kyushu & Hokkaido on roads less traveled.
I loved every moment.
What a great trip. Thank you."

Mitsu Wasano
San Jose, California

"Thank you so much for the tour - for the adventure, and the birds".

Somporn Pmasuk & Opapunn Sriyakorn,
Bangkok, Thailand

"In my list (at the end of the tour) of "top-birds", I chose those I did because I can now identify them by myself. Thanks for everything!"

Somporn Pmasuk
Bangkok, Thailand

The following account was written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

May is a wonderful month, almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. It's spring at its best, and, many places, birding at its best as well.
And some of the best birding, it's fair to say, anywhere on Earth in the spring, is on one very small island in the Sea of Japan, called Hegura.

During the spring of 2007, FONT conducted its 6th tour on Hegura Island, as part of our annual spring birding & nature tour in Japan. The tour, which took place May 6-20, 2007, was the 28th FONT tour in Japan, and our 11th there in the spring. During the tour, we visited 5 Japanese islands.

Two of those islands were the major islands of Honshu and Kyushu. We also went to the more-southerly islands of Okinawa and Amami.

But, the other island we visited was the small one, referred to here in the first paragraph. Located off the western coast of Honshu, it's called in Japanese Hegurajima, or simply, as noted in the first paragraph, Hegura.

Although that island is small (one can walk its perimeter in less than an hour), it was on Hegura that we saw the biggest number of birds: 111 of the 205 species found totally during the entire 2-week tour.

That tally of 111 species was our highest there (surpassing the 102 species that we saw in 2004).

Hegura Island is a place to see not only "Japanese" birds, but also some more common elsewhere in Asia. Such birds, that are vagrants or rarities in Japan, and nearly annual for us on Hegura, have included these, seen again during our tour in '07:
Mugimaki Flycatcher, Swinhoe's Robin, and Tristram's Bunting.
Other birds more of mainland Asia that we saw on Hegura in '07 were:
Little & Yellow-browed Buntings, Isabelline & Pied Wheatears, Chinese Grosbeak, Daurian (or Purple-backed) Starling, Black-naped Oriole, and the avian "star of the show" for the Japanese birders also on the island when we were, the Black Drongo.

Also on Hegura Island, we saw 2 Chinese Pond Herons.

Nearby, a day or so earlier, when we were on the mainland of Japan (that would be Honshu), on the picturesque Noto Peninsula, in a rural area, we saw a Chinese Egret on a wet ricefield, another Japanese rarity.

From the passenger ferry between the Noto Peninsula and Hegura island, we saw Japanese Murrelet on the water, and many Streaked Shearwaters in flight. (Yes it's a passenger ferry. On Hegura, there are no motor vehicles other than 1 small red firetruck and 1 small white ambulance.)

On the southern island of Okinawa (in a forested region called Yambaru), we saw both the Okinawa Rail and the Okinawa Woodpecker.
The former was "new to science" in the 1980's. The latter is very rare.
The rail we saw at dusk our first day on the island.
The woodpecker we saw the next morning at a nest.

Another very rare bird was seen during our stay on the island of Amami. It's an endemic, the Amami Thrush.
Also on that island we saw an animal that's seen only very rarely, the nocturnal Amami Rabbit of the deep forest in the hills, where also after dark, one night, we encountered at least 25 Ryukyu Scop-Owls. Most of them we heard; a few we saw.

Among the birds that we saw on Kyushu were the Fairy Pitta and the Copper Pheasant. Both of these are certainly "notables"!
The latter is a Japanese endemic, as is the Green Pheasant that we also were glad to see earlier during the tour.
These Japanese pheasants were really 2 of many sightings that we were happy to have in Japan in the Spring of 2007.

Given thus far, in capsule form, have been some of the highlights of the tour. Following, now, are some more of the details.

During our 2007 Japan Spring Birding Tour, as noted 205 species of birds were found. Nearly all of them were seen. Just a few (owls & nightjar) were heard in the dark of night on either Kyushu or Okinawa (Oriental & Ryukyu Scops-Owls on the latter).

Cumulatively, during the 11 FONT spring Japan tours, 301 species of birds have been found, including the following that were "added to the list" in May 2007:

Falcated Duck
Long-toed Stint
Spotted Redshank
Ural Owl (heard)
House Swift
TREE PIPIT
Bluethroat
ISABELLINE WHEATEAR
PIED WHEATEAR
RADDE'S WARBLER
DAURIAN (or PURPLE-BACKED) STARLING
BLACK DRONGO !!! (THE BIRD of "Japan Spring 2007")
YELLOW-BILLED (or CHINESE) GROSBEAK
Chestnut-eared (or Grey-headed) Bunting
YELLOW-BROWED BUNTING
LITTLE BUNTING

The capitalized birds in the above list were new for ANY Japan tour (9 birds). All of these capitalized birds are rarities in Japan.

Elsewhere in this web-site (from a link at the beginning of this narrative), there's a list of the birds that have cumulatively been seen during our 6 tours on Hegura Island. That list is now up to 172 species.
During May '07, we added 22. They were:

Little Grebe
Common Ringed Plover
Wood Sandpiper
TREE PIPIT
ISABELLINE WHEATEAR
Meadow Bunting
YELLOW-BROWED BUNTING
LITTLE BUNTING
BLACK DRONGO
YELLOW-BILLED (or CHINESE) GROSBEAK
Chestnut-eared (or Grey-headed) Bunting
Striated Heron
Ruddy Kingfisher
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Long-toed Stint
"Eurasian" Whimbrel
RADDE'S WARBLER
Varied Tit
DAURIAN (or PURPLE-BACKED) STARLING
Terek Sandpiper
Bluethroat
PIED WHEATEAR

Again, the species in capital letters were new for ANY FONT Japan Tour.

With the May 2007 tour, the cumulative list of birds during all of the FONT Japan tours is 388 species.

111 species of birds were tallied during our May 2007 tour on Hegura Island. That's the most we've ever had during a single visit.
Here's the breakdown of the number of species we've seen on Hegura over the years:

2001: April 16-17 (1 night)
2002: May 6-7 (1 night)
2004: May 15-18 (3 nights)
2005: May 19-21 (2 nights)
2006: May 10-12 (2 nights)
2007: May 9-12 (3 nights)

The 2 times that we topped 100 species were the 2 times that we were there 3 nights.

Here's a note pertaining to another record-high number for us during our May 2007 Japan tour:

There were 12 species of BUNTINGS, 11 of which were on Hegura Island.
The '07 Buntings were:
Grey, Black-faced, Japanese Yellow, Meadow, Chestnut-eared, Yellow-throated, Yellow-browed, Little, Tristram's, Rustic, Common Reed, and Japanese Reed.
The last of these was not on Hegura, but on mainland Honshu.
3 of these are rarities in Japan, being more-common on mainland Asia: the Yellow-browed, Little, and Tristram's.

2 Buntings not present in 2007 were found, however, during our previous tours on Hegura Island:
the Chestnut (in 2004), and the Yellow-breasted (in 2004 & 2005).
So, out of 14, this time there were 12, our most for 1 year!

As already notd, Hegura Island, in the Sea of Japan off Honshu, was not the only island that we visited during our May 2007 Japan tour.
We also went to the more-southerly islands of Okinawa, Amami, and Kyushu.

We had planned on 3 days on Okinawa in order to have the time, if we needed it, to find two birds that can be difficult to see.

One of these, the Okinawa Rail, is a flightless bird of the forest that's only been known to science for a couple decades. It's shy, and there's a reason why it escaped detection on a mostly populous island until the 1980's. We saw the species, during May '07, during our first afternoon on the island. We saw 2 of the rails along the side of a little road, "out in the country".

The second bird that can be difficult to find is the Okinawa Woodpecker, one of the rarest woodpeckers in the world. We saw it our first morning in the forested part of the island where it has a very restricted range. We quietly watched a parent woodpecker at a nest hole, feeding young. The adult woodpeckers, during nesting time, are also quiet. More audible were the young birds in the tree cavity.

Another nice bird to see in Okinawa was the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher. During a walk in the woods, we certainly enjoyed the adult male, with its long tail, on a branch above us.

Amami is a Japanese island that's quite special. Not many visitors go there, to an island "off the beaten path" as it were, but FONT has a number of times - well over a dozen.
We've gone, not just because it's a beautiful island covered with forested hills, or because there's more tradition and less neon lights than in most of Japan, but because there are some special birds to be seen.

Probably the most notable among them is the colorful Lidth's Jay. It's endemic to Amami and one very small nearby island. Colorful, yes, it's a rich chestnut and purple-blue.

There's another specialty of Amami that's not only endemic, but also very rare, and a skulker - in all, making it a difficult bird to see. It's the Amami Thrush, and we saw it our first day on Amami, when also we encountered our first Whistling Green-Pigeons and Amami Woodpecker - the latter has been considered a distinctive subspecies of the White-backed Woodpecker - but without very much white on its back. A species, or a subspecies, it's only on Amami.

Amami is at the north end of a string of small islands known as the Ryukyus.
On the island, we saw the dapper Ryukyu Robin (as we did on Okinawa, further south in Ryukyus), the Ryukyu Flycatcher (a recent split from the Narcissus Flycatcher), and one night we encountered about 25 Ryukyu Scops-Owls.

Also that night, at about midnight, in the forest, we came across a Ruddy Kingfisher perched at about eye-level on a branch. That bird is not only brightly colorful in then middle of the day. In the light from our vehicle, it also was brilliant in the middle of the night.

On Kyushu, the southernmost of the main Japanese islands, our primary avian objective was the beautiful Fairy Pitta, a bird with seven colors. We saw it.
In that forest, there was another pigeon and woodpecker duo, as there was in Amami.
It was another Green Pigeon, the White-bellied. The Woodpecker was the Japanese Green, an endemic to Japan. And there was another notable Woodpecker in that forest, the White-backed, with, in this subspecies, white in its back.

In another area of forested hills in Kyushu, birds for us included the brilliant Oriental Roller and one that could be called a true prize, the endemic Copper Pheasant!
When the pheasant was seen, It was on a remote road, as it walked slowly, but with determination, into the brush, not to be seen again.

We went back to that remote road again, however, late that night. Along it, we did not encounter any birds, but we did see as many as 6 species of mammals:
Raccoon Dog, Red Fox, Sika Deer, Eurasian Wild Boar, Large Japanese Fieldmouse, and True's Shrew-mole.
Also that night, but elsewhere, we did see a Japanese Scops-Owl, and we heard Ural Owl and Grey Nightjar.

The Copper Pheasant, just noted on Kyushu, was one of our tour highlights. But it was mot the only pheasant seen during the tour.
Earlier, on the main island of Honshu, we enjoyed another pheasant that's also endemic to Japan, the Green Pheasant.
It is, actually, the national bird of Japan. Depicted on their money, the 10,000 yen note, is the female.
But, the male, as the one we saw during our tour, is a wonderful bird to see. Even though it's called the Green Pheasant, that color is just one of a few in its plumage.

Among other birds we saw on Honshu, notable ones were:
the Long-billed Plover,
the Marsh Grassbird (an uncommon & local bird that's also been called the Japanese Marsh Warbler),
and attractive male Falcated Ducks.

During our travels, we looked over numerous rice-fields where we did see a number of birds. Some of these birds we saw many times, such as the Snipe and an assortment of egrets.
In eastern Honshu, the bird we saw most on rice-fields was the Pacific Golden Plover.
In western Honshu, the bird we saw the most on rice-fields was the Black-tailed Gull. Among the more unusual birds we saw on rice-fields were a flock of Spotted Redshanks mostly in breeding plumage, and, elsewhere, Grey-headed Lapwing.
But the prize of the rice-fields was the Chinese Egret (noted earlier) that we found, by itself, on such a field in rural, western Honshu on the Noto Peninsula. That species is a rarity in Japan, and is actually, a rather uncommon bird, overall.

We experienced another unusual sighting on the Noto Peninsula when, as we were driving after dark, a Eurasian Badger crossed a country road in front of us.

Given here have been just some of our notable sightings and experiences during 2 weeks in Japan. Mostly mention has been made of birds and animals - the nature of Japan, but we also saw and experienced the culture of the country, in so many ways, including the food, the places, and the people.

We had a wonderful tour, in May 2007 in Japan.

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After returning home, an e-mail was received by FONT from one of the people we met in Japan, Mr. Shogo Matsui, who was one of the authors of the bird book that we've used in Japan for so many years, "A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan" (in English), published by the Wild Bird Society of Japan in 1982 .

Parts of that e-mail, and one in response to him by Armas Hill, follow:

Sent from Japan 5/13/2007, from Japan:

It was my pleasure meeting you at Hegura-jima birding. We were all deeply impressed watching you and your tour members so eagerly, actively, and joyfully watching the birds. You are so energetic and active and have excellent knowledge of birds, and I would say you are really doing fine as a birding guide.
I think you've seen more birds than we did. I have not come up with the final figure but it is about 100 species, including 5 lifers for me.
We have returned home safely last night, after driving some 550km, stopping at another good spot in Nagano Prefecture.
I hope you enjoyed the rest of you tour, and made it home safely.

Shogo Matsui"

In response to Mr. Matsui's (or Matsui-san's) e-mail (in part):

Thank you so very much for the nice e-mail message that I found from you when I returned home from Japan (just over a week ago). And it was so very good to meet you when we were in Japan, visiting Hegura Island.
On the left-side of the home-page in the FONT web-site, the list of birds during our tour can be found from the link under "past tour highlights - 2007".
The number of birds that we saw on Hegura was 111. That's not much more than the 100 or so birds that you saw - 5 of which were "lifers" for you. By the way, during my visit to Hegura-jima in May 2007, 7 species were "lifers" for me.
The only bird that I think I forgot to tell you about (when I was there) was a Pied Wheatear that I saw in the corner of the island not far from the minshuku where we stayed. The Isabelline Wheatear we saw was at the other end of the island. And, of course, it looked different.

Another "lifer" for me was you. It was such an honor to meet one of the authors of the Japanese bird book (in English) that I bought and valued so much many years ago - in the 1980's - when I first started birding in Japan. By myself, in those days, I traveled around the country, looking for birds!
By now, I've done bird-watching in Japan nearly 35 times. During 28 of those visits in Japan in more than 15 years, I have been bringing other bird-watchers with me, as I've been leading tours there.
I've watched those bird-watchers so many times as they have been thrilled to see the birds such as the cranes, eagles, and Blakiston's Fish-Owl, in addition, of course, to the wonderful birds in the spring on islands such as Hegura, Amami, and Okinawa.

Japan Winter Birding Tour (to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, & Amami)
January 2007

During this, our January 15-30, 2007 Japan Winter Birding Tour, which was the 27th FONT birding & nature tour in Japan, and the 17th such tour in the winter, among the highlights, as always, were the cranes and the eagles.
During this tour, there were 5 species of Cranes (Red-crowned, White-naped, Hooded, Common, & Sandhill), and large numbers of both Steller's Sea-Eagles and White-tailed Eagles were observed.
And once again, as during every FONT Japan tour in the winter, we saw the big & rare Blakiston's Fish-Owl.
Other notable bird species during the tour included: Copper Pheasant, Solitary Snipe, Black-faced Spoonbill, Spectacled Guillemot, Long-billed Murrelet & other alcids, Laysan Albatross, Mandarin Duck, and Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle.

During the tour the 3 main Japanese islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu were visited. Lastly we went to the smaller island of Amami, where we saw the bird specialties (endemic or nearly-so) including: the Amami Woodcock, Amami Thrush, Lidth's Jay, and Ryukyu Robin.
During this tour Japanese Macaques (or "Snow Monkeys") were seen on 2 islands, Honshu & Kyushu.

The above paragraphs put in capsule form some highlights of the tour. A more descriptive narrative follows:

All of our Japan tours begin on the main Japanese island of Honshu. That's because the Narita International Airport, northeast of Tokyo, is the major gateway into the country. And so it's good fortune that the birding on Honshu can be extraordinarily good, no matter what season we are there. It's because Honshu is a large island, and with varied topography. There are open flat lowlands and there are forested mountainous highlands. Yes, there are people, many of them. But it's interesting that, throughout Japan, 80 per cent of those people live on 20 per cent of the land. And so, it's surprising to many who have traveled in Japan with us, over nearly 20 years, that one doesn't really have to go far from Tokyo (or Narita) to find countryside where there's nature and some good birding.

During our 2007 Japan Winter Birding Tour, after we arrived on Honshu, we went first to some open, flat lowlands, not very far from Narita. In a river valley, with islands with agricultural fields and areas of reed-beds, we saw a nice number of 2 species of Harriers (the Eastern Marsh, and the Northern, or Hen) hunting over the fields. In the reeds, we found 2 species of aptly-named Reed Buntings (the Common and the Japanese). The second of these we normally find in that area during our tours in the spring. It was warm that January day, seemingly almost as warm as when we visit in May. A Ruddy-breasted Crake was heard calling in the reeds.

We traveled downriver a bit to where it meets the ocean, and where there's a large fishing port. The riverbanks there are literally covered with birds. There are many cormorants and ducks, and almost more gulls than can be imagined. When we there in the afternoon, the fishing boats were coming into port. Above the dozens of boats with their catches, there were swarms of gulls, thousands of them - in the sky, on the water, on the ground, on roofs, everywhere. Even for those not as fond of gulls as they are of other birds, it was a spectacle to behold with much to observe as there were 8 species of Gulls in an assortment of plumages: Common Black-headed, Black-tailed, Kamchatka (or Mew), Vega (formerly Herring), Slaty-backed, Glaucous-winged, Glaucous, and Black-legged Kittiwake.

Just two of many gulls along the Japanese coast.
Vega Gull (left) & Slaty-backed Gull (right)

Some Japanese birders were looking for Thayer's Gull (at a traditional spot for it). They hadn't found it when we spoke with them (in a little English and a little Japanese), but they did tell us of a Black-faced Spoonbill on the other side of the river. We thanked them and went to the said-spot hoping to see the rare bird. And that we did. The Black-faced Spoonbill is one of the rarest birds in the world. It's total population is said to be under 700 birds that breed locally in Korea and China. Every year some winter in Japan, usually in the southern part of country. We've seen it during our winter tours previously in Kyushu, Okinawa, and Amami (1 bird once on the last of these). This was the first time (in 17 winter tours) that we saw the bird in Honshu.
Our afternoon at the fishing port ended by a sheltered cove, where we watched grebes and cormorants fishing in the clear water beneath us. The Cormorants were the Japanese (or Temminck's). The Grebes were of 3 species: Great Crested, Red-necked, and Horned. The small fish in the water there were plentiful. Oh yes, there were ducks there, too. Ducks, of a number of species, are also plentiful in the winter in Japan.

The next day we were in a completely different world. We were still on Honshu, but we had driven just over 2 hours to an area of forested hills. We spent the night in wonderful little hotel in the forest, with a Japanese hot bath (or onsen). As the day began, outside the window as we had breakfast, birds were at the feeders. Some light snow was falling. It was, simply put, a beautiful setting (and, as noted, one almost wouldn't believe that in this woods we were just a short drive from the sprawl of Tokyo). Among the birds at the feeders, there were a number of Japanese Grosbeaks and some Varied Tits. Stepping outside, when we'd put seeds into the palms, the Varied Tits would land on our hands to have their breakfast.
At another feeding station nearby, with not only feeders with seed and suet, there was some open water, much like a spring. There we were treated to good looks of the endemic Japanese Accentor, the Northern (or Winter) Wren, and the Yellow-throated Bunting by the water, in addition to the regular cast of characters including an assortment of tits, nuthatch, woodpeckers, and finches.

Between the two sets of feeders, out in the woods, a stream with open water flowed where otherwise there was snow on the ground and the trees were bare. From along the edge of that stream, a Solitary Snipe flew up into the sky. That species winters at such spots in the forested hills of Japan. Alone, as it is, after all, the Solitary Snipe. This one bird was the first for us (again, in 17 tours in the winter). The species is not in Japan outside the winter, as it breeds in places such as Siberia and Manchuria, not alone but only in pairs spread out with nests in remote locations. Ours was a nice bird to see. In the stream itself, there were Brown Dippers in the water, also nice to see. The Brown Dipper of eastern Asia, Cinclus pallasii, is named after Peter Simon Pallas, who lived from 1741 to 1811. He was the most eminent explorer-naturalist of his day. One of his journeys was a 6-year expedition (1768-74) across Russia, east from St, Petersburg to Lake Baikal and beyond. One can wonder if he ever encountered the Solitary Snipe where it breeds in that remote region "beyond".

During our time in hilly, central Honshu, there were a couple other notable sightings. Late in the afternoon, as it was getting a bit foggy, a Ural Owl flew in front of us as traveled along a road. It was seen nicely, but it would been good if we could have found nearby perched in a tree.
The next morning, when there was a bright blue sky, the treelimbs in the forest were covered with a layer of snow. It was a beautiful morning, which could have been better with just one thing. We were trying, before we had to leave the area, to see a bird that's always at or near the top of the "most-wanted list" for most birders visiting Japan. The bird: the endemic Copper Pheasant. On the fresh snow, at the edge of a side-road, we saw fresh tracks. And, then, shortly later, near that spot, it was as good as it gets when a male Copper Pheasant walked out in front of us, as we sat in our vehicle. For a while, the bird stood still, and thus, we got a long look at that exquisite bird with the long tail! Yes. it was as good as it gets.

The birds noted so far (after the first paragraph) were all on Honshu, where, yes, as it's been said, the birding can be "extraordinarily good". But, really, during our Japan Winter Tours, it's the birds of Hokkaido and Kyushu that normally get the top-billing - the cranes, the eagles, and the Blakiston's Fish-Owl.

To go from Honshu to Hokkaido, we have, over the years, taken an overnight ferry as a pelagic trip on the Pacific. And that we did again in January '07. The ferry is a large boat, on which after boarding we sleep, and then all-day offshore we can scan the sea for birds. We were this time as the boat has a good, big enclosed area in the front end of the boat, from which we could see the sea ahead of us.
In recent years, for whatever reason, we have not been seeing, during this trip, as many Laysan Albatrosses as we did in the past. In '07, however, that trend was reversed. Maybe it was because we could watch ahead of us continuously in comfort, but this time we saw about 50 Laysan Albatrosses flying in their distinctive style above the water.
And having the good area for observation certainly enabled us to see alcids better than usual (as it's always better to observe them in front of the boat). From our vantage point on the ferry, as we headed north, offshore from Honshu, and continuing into colder waters, the alcids we saw were: Common Murre, Thick-billed Murre, Spectacled Guillemot, Pigeon Guillemot, Long-billed Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, and Least Auklet. Most of these we saw in rather large numbers.

Hokkaido in January is a land of winter. It always has been for us, although January 2007 was warmer than usual. From eastern Hokkaido, there's a boat-trip that goes to the edge of the oceanic ice. It's a good way to see more alcids (which we did) on the water, while on the ice, Steller's Sea-Eagles and possibly other interesting birds can be seen. This year, the ice was too far from shore, so 1) the boat didn't go to it, 2) the trip cost a little less, but 3) we did see alcids again nicely on the water, particularly with good looks of the Spectacled Guillemot, a species that's rather restricted to the Sea of Okhotsk and comparable waters of northeast Asia.

Back onshore, along the eastern coast of Hokkaido, we were treated to flocks of colorful Harlequin Ducks, other Ducks including Falcated, Glaucous Gulls (usually very common in eastern Hokkaido), an Iceland Gull (rare in Japan), a Gyrfalcon that caused a swarm of gulls to fly into the air as it flew by, and the stars of the show, the Eagles - one of those stars is even called "Steller". Both the Steller's Sea-Eagles and the White-tailed Eagles were seen nicely and in good numbers during our tour.

In January '07, along the eastern Hokkaido coast, we saw a small and colorful bird that we don't normally see on Hokkaido in the winter: a male Daurian Redstart. Usually we see it further south. So, this time, we saw this species that only winters in Japan, on all 4 of the islands that we visited (north to south: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Amami).

During all of our 16 previous Winter Japan Birding Tours, we've seen the Blakiston's Fish-Owl. Localized in Japan only in Hokkaido, it is one of the world's rarest owls. (Occurring also in the wilderness of eastern Siberia, it's far from plentiful there also - in that land where the Siberian Tiger lives.) It's exciting to see the Blakiston's not only because it's rare, but also because it's huge, being one of the largest of the world's owls. At dusk, we were at the right spot. We heard first the deep call of the bird. Then, with their large wingspans, two of them flew in to perch in trees near us! For FONT, it was the Blakiston's Fish-Owl for the 17th time.

In the town where we spent a couple nights in eastern Hokkaido, there are some shops where local people sell woodcarvings that they've made of the Blakiston's Fish-Owl. After seeing the owl in life, it was nice to see (and buy) the woodwork in the store. Being in Hokkaido is such a great experience, so far away from the world in which most of us live.

Down the road, from the town with the shops, the Hokkaido experience is reinforced in the morning, as Whooper Swans swim and call enshrouded by mist in the waters of a big lake. Those noisy Whoopers are only in Hokkaido during the winter. When Hokkaido warms up, they go north to Siberia, where they breed.

The Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido, also vocal, are there, however, throughout the year. They don't leave. In the winter, however, they flock up together at certain places, where watching them is one of a birder's highlights of a lifetime. Also known as Japanese Cranes, these tall stately birds can be seen in the winter, against a beautiful snowy background, jumping into the air, and can be heard making their bugle-like sounds. In the first half of the 20th Century, that sound nearly became silenced when the species in Japan flirted with extinction. It was nearly as rare as the Whooping Crane of North America. How great it is that both species were not lost, when really they very well could have been. Today, there are about 900 Red-crowned (or Japanese) Cranes in Hokkaido (the only place in Japan where they occur). We saw at one place more than 200 of them.

Seeing the cranes in Japan is of course a wonderful experience, but it can enhanced by the reading of a book, published not that long ago in 2001, "The Birds of Heaven - Travels with Cranes", by Peter Matthiessen. There's a chapter in that well-written book about the Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido.

As good as it is that now there are nearly a thousand cranes in Hokkaido, in Kyushu during the winter, there are about 7,000. They come to one particular area there every year from mainland Asia, where in the summer their nesting area is spread across many miles of mostly Siberia. In the winter, however, they come to be together in a large grouping of about 5,000 Hooded Cranes and 2,000 White-naped Cranes. Adults and young of the year are seen together, among the large flocks.
For years, we've come, from other parts of the world, to see these birds. Again, as with the cranes on Hokkaido, it's quite an experience. Every year, a few cranes of other species are also in the flocks. Every year, we've seen Common Cranes and Sandhill Cranes, as we did again in January '07. Some years, there have been Siberian Crane and Demoiselle Crane. During the 2006-07 winter, birds of those 2 species were not in Japan.

Cranes are not the only birds that come to Kyushu, Japan from mainland Asia to spend the winter. Not far from the cranes, we saw some small birds in the reeds that did the same thing: Chinese Penduline Tits and Pallas's Reed Bunting (another Asian bird named after Peter Simon Pallas). Having done the same type of journey were the Daurian Jackdaws that we saw mixed in among the Rooks (also from mainland Asia) on the telephone wires. The Northern Lapwings and Temminck's Stints that we saw on the fields did the same thing. They, too, are only in Japan during the winter.

The cranes that winter in Kyushu are well-known in ornithological circles. Not as well known, in Kyushu in the winter are the large flocks of Mandarin Ducks present there only during that season. They are on the other side of Kyushu. We enjoy seeing them along a particular river in a valley surrounded by forested hills. During a day, we see at least a couple thousand of these beautiful ducks, with different colors but otherwise similar to the Wood Duck of North America. The Mandarins that winter in Kyushu are shy. The flocks fly up quickly from the aqua-blue water of the river. In a telescope, and with binoculars, observing the large number of Mandarins is yet another wonderful Japanese experience.

In January 2007, as we were having this experience, 2 Mountain Hawk-Eagles were soaring in circles overhead above the forested hills. Not far away that day, on the ground, there were Olive Tree Pipits walking about, and a White's Ground Thrush feeding. In trees, nearby, Japanese Grosbeaks were doing the same, eating berries. By a temple, during our time in Kyushu, there was more activity in trees as Japanese Macaques, also known as "Snow Monkeys" were moving about.

We had so many wonderful experiences during our January 2007 Winter Tour in Japan. Such experiences we plan to have again when we return to Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu, during our next Japan Winter Tour, to be later in 2007, December 9-18.

During the May 2006 FONT birding & nature tour in Japan (our 26th tour there; our 10th in the spring), there were thousands of Streaked Shearwaters seen from the ferry (an hour-and-a-half ride) to Hegura Island in the Sea of Japan. Also in flocks, were hundreds, as many as a thousand, Red-necked Phalaropes.

The water of the sea was smooth. And, as it was like glass, the alcids sitting on the water were relatively easy to spot. Most were Rhinoceros Auklets. There were also Japanese Murrelets, which are endemic to Japan, endangered, and attractive black-and-white birds with a nice Japanese name, "Kanmuri-umisuzume", It's pronounced as it looks.

The alcids breed on rocky islets by which the ferry closely passes. On the slopes of those small islands, thousands of Black-tailed Gulls were at their nesting sites. Many were seen flying close to the boat.

During the return ferry-ride from the island a couple days later, Streaked Shearwaters still abounded. The sea was not as calm, and there was more of a breeze. So more shearwaters were seen in flight, probably as many as 20,000. During the earlier trip to the island, with different conditions, an estimated 10,000 were seen. It was fun to watch so many shearwaters, in flocks lifting from the water and flying about. The species is actually incredibly abundant over oceanic waters around Japan, where the total population is said to be between 2.5 and 5 million.

As noted, our ferry-ride was to and from a place called Hegura Island (or Hegura-jima). That little island is one of the foremost places anywhere in the world to experience bird migration. For its size, it may well be the best piece of land on Earth for such migration, during the spring (and it's also good later in the year, in the late-summer and fall, although FONT has yet to be there then). Such statements are not exaggerations. As many as approximately 360 species of birds have been recorded on Hegura Island. And at least a new species is added every year.

Hegura Island is in the Sea of Japan, off the west coast of Honshu (the main Japanese island). And yes, it is small - only 1 kilometer wide and less than 2 kilometers long. One can easily walk the path around the entire coastline of the island in less than an hour.

Some people live on the island. But not many, about 150. There was a small store (no longer), an inn (where fortunately we can overnight and have meals), some homes, a school (just recently closed; there was an enrollment of 5), and 1 doctor. The most prominent structure on the island is a tall, white lighthouse. In the morning, the women of Hegura dive offshore for seaweed. Later in the day, if sunny, they put it out to dry. Men go out on boats to fish.

People, such as us during our Spring Birding Tour in Japan, go to Hegura to bird. During our 2006 tour, we were on Hegura May 10-12. It was our 5th tour to visit Hegura. 4 of the tours have been in the month of May. Once, we visited in April. In all, during those 5 tours, we've found a cumulative total of 151 species of birds on Hegura Island. A complete list of those birds is elsewhere in this website (there's a link above).

During spring migration, landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds occur on Hegura. Many landbirds, especially as they travel at night, on their way north, come across the small island in the sea. Given optimum conditions, in the spring, the island can be filled with birds. They're in the open on fields, or they're in bushes, small trees, under debris by the homes, or along the rocky coast. In short, they can be everywhere.

Birds that elsewhere can be notorious skulkers are often, on Hegura, more out in the open. In that category, for example, are the shy Japanese Robin, Siberian Blue Robin (*), and the White's Ground Thrush (*). (Those with an (*) were found during our May '06 tour.)

Routine migrants are enroute from where they've wintered in the Asian tropics to where they'll breed as far north as Siberia. These include: Siberian Rubythroat (*), Siberian Stonechat (*), and Yellow-breasted Bunting. (Again, those with an (*) were found during our May '06 tour.)

There are, on Hegura, birds migrating north that are generally more common on the Asian mainland along the Chinese and Korean coasts than they are in Japan. There are a number of birds in that category that we've seen during our 5 FONT tours on the island, including: Chinese Egret (*), Chinese Pond Heron (*), Purple Heron (*), Hoopoe, Richard's Pipit, White-throated Rock Thrush, Swinhoe's (or Rufous-tailed) Robin (*), Dusky Warbler, Mugimaki Flycatcher (*), Tricolored Flycatcher (*), Red-throated Flycatcher, Black-naped Oriole, Chestnut Bunting, and Tristram's Bunting (*). (Once again, those species with an (*) were found during our tour in May '06.)

In all, we saw 84 species of birds on Hegura Island in May 2006.

Among them, in addition to those already referred to above with an (*), we also saw:
both Temminck's and Pelagic Cormorants,
Japanese Sparrowhawk, Grey-faced Buzzard, Northern Hobby, and Peregrine Falcon,
Mongolian Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Stint, Green and Common Sandpipers,
Grey-tailed (or Polynesian) Tattler,
Common and Latham's Snipes,
Black-tailed, Vega (Herring), Slaty-backed, and Glaucous-winged Gulls,
Common, Oriental, and Lesser Cuckoos,
a Jungle (or Grey) Nightjar sitting still during the day on a fence, and asleep even as it was surrounded by people with cameras, binoculars, and telescopes (a photo of this bird is now on the home-page of our website: www.focusonnature.com)
the Dollarbird (a Roller),
Buff-bellied Pipit (the Siberian race) and Yellow Wagtail,
Ashy Minivet,
Red-flanked Bluetail (also called either Siberian Bluechat or Orange-flanked Bush-Robin)
Siberian Thrush, Japanese Grey Thrush, Eye-browed Thrush, Dusky Thrush,
Japanese Bush Warbler, Oriental Great Reed Warbler, Black-browed Reed Warbler,
Eastern Crowned Warbler, Sikhalin (or Pale-legged) Warbler, Arctic Warbler,
Blue-and-white Flycatcher (the males are beautiful), Asian Brown Flycatcher,
Siberian (or Dark-sided) Flycatcher, Grey-streaked Flycatcher,
Narcissus Flycatcher (this was certainly a favorite bird of our visit - the attractive males were so common and so tame, sometimes they were in bushes and trees, but other times they were on sidewalks in front of us, on fences beside us - just about anywhere!)
Japanese Paradise Flycatcher (what a gem!),
Brown Shrike,
Brambling, Eurasian Siskin, Hawfinch,
Japanese Yellow Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Rustic Bunting.

Among the most interesting aspects relating to the bird migration when we were at Hegura in May '06 was that there were 3 "special" egrets & herons among others at one corner of the island. With Little, Intermediate, and Great Egrets, and some Grey Herons at pools of water among the rocks by the shore, there were "the 3", 1 of each: Chinese Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, and Purple Heron. It was like a little piece of China at that one spot on the island. And all 3 were "new birds" for us, not just for Hegura, but for Japan.

The Chinese (or Swinhoe's) Egret, that breeds along the coasts of China and Korea, is one of the rarest egrets in the world. The population is estimated as being between 1,800 and 2,500 birds. Other heron-types that are more rare are also in Asia: the White-bellied Heron (of Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma, now Myanmar), the White-eared Night-Heron (of China), and the Japanese Night-Heron (breeds in Japan, winters in the Philippines).
The Chinese Egret is similar to the Little Egret of the Old World and the Snowy Egret of the New. It has a shaggy crest when in breeding plumage as our bird was, more so than a Snowy, and not with a plume as had by a Little. We enjoyed a good look at the rare bird.
Our look at the Chinese Pond Heron was nice, simply put, because in its breeding plumage (as our bird was), it was a nice bird to see. It was an attractive bird, with its head, neck, and breast a reddish-brown, its back black, and its belly white.
The Purple Heron is another attractive bird that is in some ways reminiscent of the Tricolored (formerly Louisiana) Heron of North America. It, the Purple Heron that is, ranges across Eurasia. The subspecies on Hegura was Ardea purpurea manilensis, the easternmost of 3 subspecies, occurring from Siberia to the Philippines, but only as a vagrant in Japan.

Two names of people have been referred to in this narrative in the names of birds, particularly the Swinhoe's Robin and Swinhoe's (or Chinese) Egret, and the Tristram's Bunting. Both of these men, Robert Swinhoe and Henry Baker Tristram, were British ornithologists and collectors in the 1800s. Robert Swinhoe collected specimens, that went to the British Museum in London, from China. Not only were the robin and egret named after him, so was a storm-petrel in the Far East.
Henry Baker Tristram traveled widely and collected specimens in North Africa and the Middle East (Palestine), also for the British Museum. He lived for a while in Bermuda, but during most of his life he lived in England. He collected specimens during a visit to North America in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. His collection of bird specimens, from around the world, was huge. In his early seventies, he printed a catalog listing 17,000 skins in his collection, of about 6,000 species! And during the 10 years of his life after that he accumulated another 7,000 skins that went to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia! Tristram contributed articles extensively to the ornithological journal, the Ibis. In addition to the Tristram's Bunting, a bird normally of mainland Asia and not Japan, mentioned here earlier (and that we saw - both male & female - on Hegura Island), a storm-petrel of the Far East was named after him, as one was for Robert Swinhoe.
During May 2006, we saw the Tristram's Bunting on Hegura Island, Japan, 100 years after Henry Baker Tristram died in March 1906.

When we've visited Hegura Island during our tours, we've always had the good fortune to share our experiences with a number of Japanese birders and photographers. Dozens of them have visited there when we have, also (like us) to see the birds, and of course to photograph them too. They journey from throughout Japan to encounter the birds on their journeys. One of the birds during our '06 Hegura tour was a particularly good and well-known traveler, the Peregrine Falcon. Known for its journeying, the bird even has a word synonymous with travel named after it, "peregrination".
One morning on Hegura, a large female Peregrine was sitting on a big rock, by the sea, along the shore. In front of it, there were about 2 dozen Japanese photographers and birders with cameras set up and binoculars lifted up. The Peregrine, resting during its trip probably from the tropics to the tundra, sat there tamely, aware of, but rather oblivious to, the people. When we left Hegura on the ferry later that day, the last bird on the island that we saw was that Peregrine in the distance, perched high atop the communication tower.

During our May '06 tour, nearly 80 (actually 79) species of birds were seen on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Some were particularly notable, including:
the Great Knot, a shorebird that breeds only in eastern Siberia, and winters in Australia and Southeast Asia,
and other shorebirds including Bar-tailed Godwits, Long-billed Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler at a number of locations (even inland), and a fine flock of Mongolian Plovers with many in their richly-colored breeding plumage (the last of these is also called the Lesser Sandplover).
There were some nice birds along streams, including: 3 species of wagtails, the Greater Pied Kingfisher, and the Brown Dipper.
In the forested hills of interior Honshu, we enjoyed Japanese Grosbeaks, the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, the Siberian Meadow Bunting, the local race of the Eurasian Jay, and the Varied Tit (along with other tits, Eurasian Nuthatch, Japanese White-eyes, and other birds).
On a reservoir, among waterbirds, a bird that was particularly enjoyed was an adult male Smew, that was in full-breeding plumage, but somehow did not go north to breed.
That Smew was somewhat unexpected, but even more so was another species of duck. After returning to Honshu on the ferry from Hegura, we traveled south along the picturesque coastline of the Sea of Japan with its rocks and cliffs. A fox was "new" for us, but the birds during the ride were those already seen, until, on coastal rocks, a flock of ducks was spotted. We were surprised, that time of year, and at that rather southerly location in Japan, to see 5 Harlequin Ducks, 4 females and a male. We've normally seen that species in Japan either on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, or further north in Honshu on the Pacific Ocean side of the island. Harlequins are a nice sight whenever and wherever they're seen.

Not easily seen (other than on Hegura), but continually heard throughout Honshu, was the loud, almost explosive call of the Japanese Bush Warbler. It's a small bird with a big voice. And the call is well known, as it's heard in many places as the bird hides in the bushes, even in thickets near where people live. The call is known well enough to be heard even inside. Let me explain. There are what are called " family restaurants" in Japan. One called "Joyfull" is similar, sort of, to "Denny's". In such restaurants there are buttons to be pressed on the tables where people sit and eat. A waiter or waitress comes, when one presses that button. When that's done, a chime rings throughout the restaurant. But in "Joyfull" when we pressed the button, there it was again! - that sound, yes, even inside - the loud, explosive call of the Japanese Bush Warbler on speakers throughout the restaurant. As birders when we heard it, we could not help but look.

It can be said that "if you find the restaurant, you find the birds". Well, with the recorded call of the Japanese Bush Warbler inside "Joyfull", not quite. But on Hegura Island, outside, it was true. The Japanese photographers and birders there would put a small pile of feed ( seeds or rice), for example, on rocks appropriately situated by the undercover. And, then, the birds would come out to "their restaurant", and views could be had and photos could be taken. We saw a number of birds in that way. As we stood ever so still, birds that would normally be skulkers, were nicely seen. Among them, these birds that have already been mentioned, but let's bring them back now for a final curtain-call: Siberian Rubythroat, Siberian Blue Robin, Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Thrush, Tricolored Flycatcher, Swinhoe's Robin, and Tristram's Bunting.
What a wonderful experience it was to see those birds as we did! And it was a wonderful aspect of our '06 tour in Japan in the spring.

Japan SPRING Birding Tour (to Honshu, including Hegura Island, Amami, Okinawa, & Kyushu)
May 2005

This tour, conducted May 17-30, 2005, was the 25th birding tour for FONT in Japan.

And it was our 4th tour to a place that's fascinating and fun for birds during their migration: a very small island, called Hegura, in the Sea of Japan, 50 kilometers (less than 30 miles) off the western shore of the main Japanese island of Honshu.

On that small island, interestingly, birds more of mainland Asia than of Japan, occur. During our '05 tour, we saw again, as we have during our tours in the past, birds in that category. Our previous birding tours on Hegura have been in late April, early May, and mid-May. In 2005, we were there May 19-21. Cumulatively, prior to this tour, we had seen 131 species of birds on the small island around which one could walk the perimeter in less than an hour.

During our May '05 tour, 10 species of birds were new for us on Hegura Island. Of these, 7 species were new for us for Japan. They were: Black-capped Kingfisher, Richard's Pipit, Dollarbird, White-throated Rock Thrush (a beauty that breeds on mainland Asia mostly in Manchuria and eastern Siberia, and winters in southern China - this bird was the first in Japan in a few years), Gray's Grasshopper-Warbler, Red-throated (which has been part of Red-breasted) Flycatcher, and Oriental Honey-Buzzard. Also new for us for Hegura were: Brown Hawk-Owl and Japanese Paradise-Flycatcher (the exquisite male of the latter with its long tail).

White-throated Rock Thrush, Monticola gularis,
during FONT tour on Hegura Island, Japan, May 21, 2005.
This species is quite a rarity in Japan. It is normally on mainland Asia,
breeding mostly in Manchuria and eastern Siberia, and wintering in southern China, and further south in Southeast Asia.
Note in this photo the white patch on the throat.
(photograph by Iwasaki Shohgo)

Other birds we saw on Hegura Island in '05, normally found on mainland Asia, included: Mugimaki Flycatcher (the Japanese name notwithstanding, this species does not occur throughout Japan), Black-naped Oriole, and Hoopoe.

When we visit Hegura, during the season when birds migrate, there's also a migration to and from the island of Japanese birders. Many of them criss-cross the small island, with their binoculars, scopes, and cameras (often big cameras). When an avian rarity appears, somewhere on the island, word spreads (quickly, now often on cellular phones and pagers).

During recent years, a number of bird species that were first records for Japan, have occurred on Hegura Island. The day before we arrived in '05, a Japanese first had been there for two days. That bird was an attractive Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, from China, not in any Japanese bird book. There's a notable bird migration on Hegura in the fall also. In the autumn of 2004, two Japanese firsts there included Common Redstart from Europe, and Gray-cheeked Thrush from North America.

It's very interesting how the bird migration on Hegura Island changes throughout the day. During one of our days there, in the morning, the islands seemed to be covered with cuckoos - in particular, at that time, Common Cuckoos. They really were common. As we walked around the island, they were in nearly every bush. There was the constant calling of the "Kak-ku". That's how the bird says its name in Japanese. Nearly all of those we saw were the gray morph. But, there was a cuckoo that we saw, of the rufous morph, that was exhausted, as it sat on stones on the ground right in front of us! Those stones were by the sea. The bird had apparently just come in to the island.
After lunch that day, as we walked, there were no cuckoos. But instead, flycatchers of a few species, seemed to be "everywhere". Mostly, they were Asian Brown Flycatchers, but also present were: Dark-sided (or Siberian), Gray-streaked, Narcissus, and Mugimaki, and a rarity - a single Red-throated Flycatcher, feeding on a big rock. Over all of the fields and at the pools along the rocky shoreline, there were flycatchers sallying for insects. At the end of the day, flycatchers were flying into the air catching bugs from nearly all of the small pine trees on the island. As the sun set below the horizon of the Pacific Ocean, the "green flash" was visible. Then, in one of those pine trees where flycatchers perched, a Japanese Scops-Owl called.

A complete listing of the now 141 bird species we've found on Hegura Island in the Sea of Japan is elsewhere in this web-site.

On the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, during our May '05 tour, we did very well with our 2 primary target-birds of the island: the very rare Okinawa Woodpecker and the Okinawa Rail, the latter only known to science for about 25 years. During 2 days, we saw 2 Okinawa Woodpeckers at their nests feeding young (that could be heard calling inside the tree cavities). The species is one of the rarest woodpeckers in the world. Though not as rare as the recently-rediscovered Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the United States, it is an extremely rare bird with very few breeding pairs restricted to a limited area of northern Okinawa.
The Okinawa Rail has a similar distribution in that same limited part of the island. By late afternoon, during our first day on Okinawa, we had seen 7 Okinawa Rails, normally a shy species hard to see. (That's why it was not formally identified until 1981.) One of the rails was seen very well as it stopped on a road in the forest, just in front of us, as we sat in our also-stopped vehicle.

The string of Japanese islands, that stretch to the south of the main islands, are known as the Ryukyus, including Okinawa, Amami, and others smaller. That word is an also adjective for some birds of that region that we saw during our tour: the Ryukyu Robin, the Ryukyu Flycatcher (a resident that was formerly considered a race of the migratory Narcissus Flycatcher), the Ryukyu Minivet, and the Ryukyu Scops-Owl (the last of these we saw in a puddle, apparently bathing, on a dirt road in an Amami forest, when it was still dark just before dawn).

On a beach in Amami, one afternoon, where from previous tours we knew that shorebirds stage in the late spring, we saw numerous Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, and other shorebirds (or waders) that included: Terek Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Red-necked Stints, and Mongolian Plovers. The Mongolian Plover is also known as the Lesser Sandplover. Among a flock of them, on that beach, there was a single Greater Sandplover (a rarity in Japan).

For more than a decade we have, during our more than 10 tours on Amami, seen, after dark, another "shorebird of sorts" that's endemic to some of the Ryukyu Islands, the Amami Woodcock. During the 1990's, we actually would see quite a few, and rather easily. However, in recent years, that has not been the case. For whatever reason, the species seems to have declined. During our tours just prior to May '05 (in Dec '04 & Feb '05), we were fortunate to see 1 during each tour. We've seen the species during our Amami tours in January, February, November, and December. We've not it during our tours in May. (Maybe at that time of year, they're even more reclusive in the dense foliage of the forest.)

What we did see in May '05, as we were combing the roads after dark for woodcock, were 3 Habus. The Habu, Trimeresurus flavoviridis, is a large, fierce snake in the family Viperidae. Habus have a length as long as 200 centimeters (that's nearly 7 feet!). The first one we saw (from our vehicle) as it was on the road, coiled into circles, extending out its tail, and raising its head (looking like a cobra)..

During our pelagic trip, onboard a ferry between Okinawa and Amami, we saw some Bulwer's Petrels, Streaked Shearwaters and Short-tailed Shearwaters, Black-naped Terns and Roseate Terns, and 3 species of dolphins, one of which was the Rough-toothed Dolphin, in a pod seen "porpoising", surrounded by more-numerous Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Both Okinawa and Amami, in the spring, were, for us, great places for butterflies as they were for birds. There were, during the middle hours of the sunny days, large numbers of butterflies. Those we saw included:
Papilio polytes, known as the Common Mormon,
Papilio protenor, the Spangle,
Papilio helenus, Red Helen,
Papilio bianor, a beautiful Fluted Swallowtail, mostly blackish with hues of blue and burgundy,
Papilio okinawensis, a species endemic to Okinawa,
Graphium sarpedon, known as the Blue Triangle, but mostly turquoise; also known as the Common Bluebottle,
Graphium doson, the Common Jay,
Colias erate,
Eurema hecabe,
Catopsilia pomona, the Lemon Emigrant,
Hebomoia glaucippe, the Great Orange Tip,
Artogeia rapae,
Anosia chrysippus, the Plain Tiger,
Parantica sita,
Argyreus hyperbius,
Cyrestis thyodamas, an interesting butterfly (mostly white with dark lines, bordered with some orange and brown) known as the Common Map,
Ypthima riukiuana,
and Melanitis phedima, posing like a brown leaf in the forest.

As beautiful as some of the forementioned butterflies are, the most beautiful creature during our May '05 Japan Tour was, yes, a bird! Near the end of the tour, in a forest in southern Kyushu, it was the Fairy Pitta! In the Japanese language is it called "Yairocho", meaning "the eight-colored bird". And absolutely brilliant some of those colors are: notably the turquoise on the wings, and the bright red on the belly and undertail. But also, as part of the package, are the green back, the brown cap, the black facial mask, the yellowish breast, and the white throat. That's 7 colors. Additionally, there are the pink legs.

The Fairy Pitta is not an easy bird to see. A few (just a few), assumedly less now, come to southern Japan, very locally, in the late spring to breed. The rare species also breeds, also locally, in Korea and China, including Taiwan. It winters in Borneo (where it is hard to find). As a migrant, it occurs in central Annam.
In Japan, there is but a narrow window of just over a week (in late May & early June) when there's a better chance to see it. What helps is that in early morning (mostly), it calls. When it does so, proclaiming it territory, from among the leaves of trees, it can be difficult to find. But when it feeds, on worms and the like, it's on the ground. Then, if one is fortunate, one can get a from a glimpse to a fairly good look.

During a full-day we spent in the forest of the pitta, over a weekend, there were many (over a hundred) Japanese birders on the trails, all hoping to be pitta-watchers. Some were. Many weren't, even though they tried. Some of the pitta-seekers were lucky enough to snap a photo or two. Most who saw the bird saw it quickly.

Late in the afternoon (presumably too late), we persisted in our effort to see the bird, after all of the Japanese birders had left. All of a sudden, from not that far away, the bird called. In response, I whistled a similar sound. The bird responded. We vocalized, back and forth, five times, until, wow, the bird flew in to the forest floor, just feet from us. And it stayed there for 10 minutes! With its head attentively up, and then, after a short while, the spectacular bird walked about on the ground. We saw it from every angle, and we saw every color - all 8 of them!

It has been said by many that the most beautiful bird in the world is the Resplendent Quetzal of Central America. Yes, it's true that the quetzal is beautiful and spectacular. But, of all the birds in Japan (and there certainly are some nice ones), the Fairy Pitta is the most beautiful. Granted, if one were to see any of the pittas of southeast Asia, they're all beautiful. But, even so, it can also be said that when one looked at the Fairy Pitta, as we did that afternoon, it was, at that time, the "most beautiful bird in the world".

We'll be going to Japan again in the Spring of '06, in May, with about the same itinerary as we did in '05. The dates are May 6-23.

Also in 2006, our annual Winter Birding Tour in Japan will be conducted in January/February. That tour will be in Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu, with an optional extension to Amami and Okinawa. Bird highlights will include Eagles (both Steller's and White-tailed Sea-Eagles), Cranes (with as many as 7 species possible), and the large & rare Blakiston's Fish-Owl.

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Japan Winter Birding Tour (to Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Amami, & Okinawa)
January-February 2005 (with some notes relating to the previous tour in December 2004)

Japanese, or Red-crowned , Cranes in Hokkaido, Japan
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour )

Okinawa is one of the southernmost Japanese islands. Most of it is heavily populated, especially the southern and central portions. But the northern part of the island is not. And it was in that area, just over 20 years ago, that a bird became newly-known to science. That bird, with its striking pattern of black, white, and brown, and a bright red bill and red legs, spends most of its time on the ground, and in dense undercover. That bird, not known to science prior to 1981, is the Okinawa Rail.

An Okinawa Rail photographed during our tour in February '05.
(photo by Martin Tribe of the UK)

There is now a new, and informative, feature elsewhere in our website entitled "Rare Birds of Japan", relating to birds that have been mentioned here, and others.
Whether you've seen the birds or not (or whether or not you ever will), it's interesting reading. And particularly so, in the "further notes" section, are the narratives regarding the Short-tailed Albatross (a bird that came back from very brink of extinction), the Siberian Crane (one of the most threatened of all birds), and the Blakiston's Fish-Owl (one of the most mysterious of birds, as it lives secretly in a remote area).

Also new in our website, there's another feature that's really worth a look. It's a "Photographic Sampling of Japanese Culture & Scenery", a series of photos taken by one of the Canadian participants on our December 2004 Japan tour. The photographs are not only beautiful, but quite interesting.

Here's the list of our "top birds" during the January-February 2005 FONT birding tour in Japan, as voted by the participants:

1 - OKINAWA RAIL
2 - Steller's Sea-Eagle
3 - Pallas' Rosefinch
4 - Ryukyu Robin
5 - Grey Bunting
6 - Japanese Accentor
7 - White-naped Crane
8 - Blakiston's Fish-Owl
9 - Lidth's Jay
10 - Japanese Grosbeak
11 - Asian Rosy Finch
12 - Mountain (or Hodgson's) Hawk-Eagle
13 - Green Pheasant
14 - Grey-headed Lapwing
15 - Crested Kingfisher

This tour (our 23rd birding tour in Japan) was a good one, with lots of nice birds, and some wonderful culture and scenery, in a land very different for most of us. We went to the Japanese islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Amami.

Between Honshu & Hokkaido, on the western side of the northern Pacific Ocean, on November 30th, overnight pelagic trip, onboard a large ferry. During our Japanese tours, over a dozen years, we've done about 15 such ferry-pelagics, mostly in January, but also in May, June, November, and December.

This time, there were no albatrosses (Laysan is nearly always seen, and both Black-footed and Short-tailed have also been), but there were a number of SEABIRDS.
The most common, this time, was the Black-legged Kittiwake. They occurred all-day. In all, there were thousands . Other Gulls included Slaty-backed, Glaucous-winged, Black-tailed , and Vega.
Pomarine Jaegers were with us throughout the day.
In one area, there was a nice number of Shearwaters, mostly Streaked, but also Short-tailed.. Other oceanic birds were: Northern Fulmar, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Pacifc Loon, and both Pelagic and Temminck's Cormorants.
Alcids were the Rhinoceros Auklet and Ancient Murrelet.

During another pelagic trip, along that ferry-route earlier this year, in January, off the northern coast of Honshu, in a blustery wind, a Gyrfalcon flew by the boat. This time, in the same area, on November 30th, a day much calmer, a Short-eared Owl flew toward us and circled the boat, before continuing on its migration south.

In January 2004, we conducted out 21st birding tour in Japan. Once again, it was our annual winter birding tour that we've been done since 1992. Each year, during the tour, there's been a pelagic trip onboard an overnight ferry on the Pacific from Honshu north to Hokkaido.

The ferry, during part of the trip, was only a couple miles offshore from the rugged, hilly northern coast of Honshu (the main Japanese island). That region of the island is nearly unpopulated (in contrast with other places, to the south, that are filled with people).
Late in the morning off that coast, all of a sudden in the strong wind, there was, in front of us, a large falcon, that flew in closely, from our right to left, upward into the sky, before it turned in a circle down toward the water, and continued in a direct flight, just above the water's surface, toward the rugged coast.
In the strong winds, we had just watched Laysan Albatrosses arc high in the sky. We watched gulls battling the winds. Kittiwakes gained our respect as they flew just above the water, between big waves, into the wind. We saw kittiwakes that day into the thousands, and also many alcids, with their short wings beating as they flew in the wind: about a hundred Ancient Murrelets, some Least Auklets (even smaller), and both Thick-billed and Common Murres. There were also fulmars and Short-tailed Shearwater gliding and beating their wings in the wind.
But no bird that we saw that day in the gales had the power in flight as did the large falcon, the Gyrfalcon that had come from the frigid north. So incredibly powerful were its wings in the wind, the bird was truly a sight to behold.

The next day we were on land, on the very wintry northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, where our tremendous birding continued in the snowy land with cranes, eagles, and an owl.
We saw as many as 120 Japanese (or Red-crowned) Cranes at once. Some were "dancing", jumping up from the snow. Others were calling, holding their heads up high. As others flew against the background of a clear blue sky, they were a beautiful sight.
Just over 50 years ago (in 1952), there were only 33 Red-crowned Cranes in Japan. This year, there are about 900. A wonderful story, that of the increase in the number of cranes.
At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a man of 73 years, who has spent nearly his whole life tending to the cranes, walked out among them, sprinkling small fish onto the snow. The cranes ate the fish, as did White-tailed Eagles that swooped in from nearby trees. Black Kites and crows also came in for a meal. It was intriguing to think that it was when that now 73 year-old man was 21, the total Japanese Crane population in Japan was 33.

The next day, during our Japan 2004 tour, we saw about a hundred eagles along the eastern Hokkaido coast. They were about evenly divided between White-tailed and Steller's Sea-Eagles. The latter, absolutely spectacular birds to see.

Another bird that eats fish ended that great January day for us on Hokkaido. It was another bird spectacular to see, the Blakiston's Fish-Owl. We saw 3 of them, very well. We were looking at their orange eyes, within an hour after the orange ball of the sun was about to set. The Blakiston's Fish-Owl is among the largest and the rarest of the world's owls.

The snow in Hokkaido has already been mentioned. During our '04 tour , scenes of snow in the trees were exceptionally beautiful, as was, at a large mostly-frozen lake, another winter spectacle of birds. Flocks of Whooper Swans were there, in the mist that rose from the water. They called loudly as together they performed a variety of gyrations.

The next day, after an airplane flight and a bullet-train ride, we were, back on the main Japanese island of Honshu, at a very big lake with many waterfowl. Falcated Teal, Spot-billed Ducks, Tufted Ducks, Pintails, and Pochards were common. Eurasian Wigeon were abundant. But the nicest flock was that of a tight group of mergansers fishing above where there was apparently a tight school of fish beneath the surface. Some of the flock were Goosanders (known in North America as Common Mergansers). Others in it were Smews (a merganser that does not normally occur in North America). Many of the Smews were males, with their striking white-and-black plumage. As many as 50 Smews were together, diving as they fed on the fish.
Probably the "duck of the day" was one on a small nearby pond, a drake Baikal Teal. At that small pond, Common Teal were that. There were hundreds. But there was only one Baikal, which was enough to make us happy. The Baikal Teal of Asia is rare and threatened species.

A day or so later, on the southernmost of the main Japanese islands, Kyushu, we had, in the afternoon, yet another waterfowl spectacle. In a valley in a particularly rugged area of the island with steep rocky gorges, there were Mandarin Ducks by the hundreds. The water of the river was close to an emerald green. The colorful plumages of the male Mandarins were extravagant. The wild Mandarins were in scattered flocks along the river where it was slow-flowing. Of all the masses of the waterfowl we saw during our '04 tour, these masses of Mandarins in Kyushu were by far the most wary. One simply could not get close to them, as one would, along the road, get out of the car. "City park ducks" these were not.
When they were on the water (and we could observe them nicely in scopes), the Mandarins were quite vocal. In this strikingly beautiful, and otherwise quiet, setting in Japan, it was for us a wonderful experience. At the end of the day, the Mandarins flew up high in flocks to go roost in trees (as their counterparts in North America, Wood Ducks do.)
Along that river valley, where the water was more fast-flowing, there were Brown (or Pallas') Dippers, Grey Wagtails, and Crested Kingfishers. In bushes, there were Yellow-throated Buntings.

Birds have just been mentioned along one particular river in Kyushu. On every river on that island, in '04, especially near the sea, there were many ducks (other than Mandarins). The most numerous were Wigeon (all Eurasian, no American).

Among gulls along the Kyushu coast during our tour, the best was the rare Saunder's Gull, a dainty gull that breeds nearly exclusively in China (only sporadically on the west coast of Korea). When we visit Okinawa in the winter, we see a few. On Kyushu, over the years, we've seen less.

But it's the cranes that are the primary avian attraction on Kyushu in the winter. Nearly the entire global population of Hooded Cranes (5,000 or so birds) winter there, as does a high proportion of the world's White-naped Cranes (about 2,500 birds). Their congregation from late-November thru mid-February is a true spectacle. Among them, each year, there are some crane vagrants. In '04, we saw 3 Common, or Eurasian, Cranes, a rare Siberian White Crane, and 1 Sandhill Crane (the last of these in Japanese is called "Kanada-zuru", with "zuru" their word for "crane"). (Actually, although many Sandhills nest in Canada, some do so in Siberia. Most of them winter in North America south to Mexico. Those seen in Japan annually, usually 1 or 2, probably come from Siberia.) Most of the many Hooded Cranes breed in Siberia, as do the Common Cranes (some Hooded-Common hybrids occur in Japan in the winter). The White-naped Crane nests mostly in northern China, with some in Mongolia. The rare Siberian White Crane nests in far-northern Siberia, with most wintering in China.
Some winters there are as many as 7 species of cranes in Japan. In 2004, there were 6, and we saw them all: the Hooded, White-naped, Siberian, Common, and Sandhill in Kyushu, and the Red-crowned (or Japanese) Crane, as noted earlier, in Hokkaido.

When we first arrived in the area of the cranes in southern Kyushu, an area where nearby there are citrus groves, there was, during January 21, '04, snow! At first, during the blinding snow, we could not hardly see the cranes. We could hear them. We learned through a Japanese translator with us that it was the first such snowfall in that lowland area in 40 years (or so)! There are no snow-plows or snow-shovels in that part of Japan. People were "shoveling" with cardboard. A couple hours and about 4 inches of snow after our arrival, the sun broke through for a while, and somehow, during about an hour or so, we saw all 5 of the crane species present. We were most fortunate to have a close and very good look at the Siberian White Crane, as it fed in a field with the White-naped and Hooded.

During our last morning of the tour, back on Honshu, in the area of shrines and temples in Narita (northeast of Tokyo), we saw, during the final act before the curtain closed at the nearby airport, a last nice assortment of Japanese birds. In the woods and by ponds and a stream, there were: a pair of Japanese Wagtails walking on thin ice, a flock of two of colorful Varied Tits and Japanese White-eyes, a large flock, higher in the trees, of Long-tailed Tits, a Japanese Grey Bunting on a stone at a shrine, and Pygmy Woodpecker and Great Tits along with Hawfinches, Pale Thrushes, and Brown-eared Bulbuls.
To and from the shrine, we walked along narrow streets where shop-keepers and restaurant owners were beginning their days. It was a more than interesting, a fascinating, walk surrounded by Japanese culture. There were so many things to be eaten, but not recognized. Among those memorable, however, were chestnuts roasting in water in small pots. It was a nice last morning for us in Japan.

During our January 2004 Japanese Winter Birding Tour, we had some wonderful experiences with birds and otherwise, that we'll always remember.

A total of 356 species of birds have cumulatively been seen during FONT tours in Japan. The fore-mentioned Gyrfalcon, in '04, was number 356. A complete listing of birds during FONT Japanese tours is in our web-site.

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January 2002 - Winter Birding the length of the Country
Tour JA-1: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu: Jan 15-26
Tour JA-2: Amami, Okinawa: Jan 26-31

with:
Blakiston's Fish-Owl
cranes, eagles, and much more

Written by the leader, Armas Hill, following the
16th FONT Japanese birding tour.

Bird highlights during the tours were many, ranging from 2 Blakiston's Fish-Owls, close at hand, to 5 rare Pryer's Woodpeckers. There were 7 of the world's 15 species of cranes. There were both of the Eagles of Hokkaido, the White-tailed and the Steller's. Baikal Teal was sought and found. The most Mandarin Ducks for us, ever, were seen. Whooper Swans were enjoyed, calling on water of a cold lake enshrouded in mist. Not just Blakiston's, but other owls provided experiences not to be forgotten. And yet another bird of the night provided quite a show, the rare Amami Woodcock.

As we birded the country of islands, from one end to the other, from cold Hokkaido to warmer Okinawa, each day, being different from the others, had highlights unto itself. Day by day, descriptions follow.

We began in Tokyo on January 15. In the "green island" of trees in the city, at the Meiji Shrine, we saw our first Varied Tit, Japanese Bush-Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail, Dusky Thrush, Japanese Pygmy-Woodpecker, Hawfinch, and a flock of about 50 Mandarin Ducks. A good way to start. A Sparrowhawk flew quickly overhead. Large-billed Crows made their assortment of calls. Earlier in the day, we saw our only Azure-winged Magpies of the tour. The subway rides to and from the shrine were fun, and enjoyable to see at the shrine was a wedding. Our first day in Japan was actually a national holiday ("Coming-of-Age Day"), and we saw a number of Japanese ladies in attractive kimonos.
In the afternoon, at another Tokyo park, we saw our first Kamchatka Gull, Smew, and numerous other ducks. At night, north of Tokyo, we boarded a ferry headed for Hokkaido, on which we soundly slept.

During January 16, our pelagic day on the Pacific Ocean, off Honshu, nearly 40 Laysan Albatrosses were tallied. An immature Short-tailed Albatross was seen, but not by all. There were numerous Common and Thick-billed Murres. As the ferry plowed north, all of these murres (or guillemots as they are otherwise known), were apparently unable to fly, as they scurried away from us on the water. Other alcids included: Ancient Murrelet, Crested Auklet, and Tufted Puffin. Kittiwakes were plentiful. Northern Fur Seals were seen floating on the surface of the ocean.

Onshore this evening, nestled away in the woods of Hokkaido, we enjoyed our first, and one of our best, traditional Japanese dinners.

The morning of January 17 began with snow gently falling. Tree branches and the ground were covered with a few fresh inches making a beautiful sight and a nice backdrop for some birds that would be attractive anyway, Common Bullfinches with their subtle rosy-and-gray coloration. Five species of tits, a nuthatch, and a jay, were enjoying their breakfasts at bird feeders outside the windows of a room where we were enjoying ours. In nearby trees, there were White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers. In the afternoon, we travelled east across Hokkaido. Animals along the way included Sika Deer, Red Fox, and Arctic Hare.

On January 18, we spent a good part of a very good day with as many as 180 Red-crowned, or Japanese, Cranes, as they were calling, leaping, and sometimes just standing gracefully on the snow. That afternoon, a man dispersed some small fish on that snow, and the cranes were joined by a number of White-tailed Eagles and Black-eared Kites. The raptors flew in close to us, as they lowered their talons to the ground grabbing the fish.

Our day ended with a close look at 2 huge Blakiston's Fish-Owls, shortly after sunset. They both perched in a bare tree not far from us. As a light shone on them, we saw them so very well. Happy we were, sleeping that night so very well.

On January 19, we saw as many as 120 Harlequin drakes and ducks along the shoreline of the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido. Also that day, along that wintry coast, our tally of magnificent Steller's Sea-Eagles was 170, both immatures and adults. Birding doesn't get much better, anywhere, than it was for us this and the previous day.

The 19th of January began with some flocks of Whooper Swans along the edge of a large lake. The large white birds would be obvious enough, but they made their presence all the more known with their loud calls.
Also white were the estimated 2,400 Glaucous Gulls we saw this day along the seacoast. But that species was not the most numerous. We estimated about 9,000 Slaty-backed Gulls.
In the air, Rough-legged Hawks hovered. On the ocean and bays, there were many ducks (Common Scoters were common), and other waterbirds such as Pelagic Cormorant and Red-necked Grebe.
Small birds this day were few (that was fine with all the good big ones), but notable were our first Brown Dippers, in frigid waters of streams. We were to see these little dapper dippers on three islands during our stay in Japan.

January 20 was a travel day - in a van, on a plane, in a bus, on the bullet-train, and then another van. We went from Hokkaido back to the main Japanese island of Honshu. We passed by many people this day as we traveled, but where we ended up was an uncrowded and quite beautiful place on the shore of the large Lake Biwa.

On January 21, we saw over 200 Falcated Ducks among the many waterbirds (ducks, grebes, cormorants, and gulls) at Lake Biwa. On a small pond, nearby, we saw another species of duck that's "a must" during a winter visit to Japan, the Baikal Teal. Formerly common, now overall the bird is a rarity. The drake, boldly patterned, is a sight. Other waterfowl this day included Bewick's Swans and Bean Geese.
Little villages by the lake, with narrow streets and characteristic architecture, were "so very Japanese". Birds there included Japanese Wagtail, Daurian Redstart, and on fancy roofs, Blue Rock Thrush.
Nearby, we saw Japanese Macaques, also known as "Snow Monkeys". We actually saw them in times of drizzle and sunshine, but when we went higher into the hills, they were amidst flurries of falling snow.

January 22 began with the red round ball of the Sun rising over the opposite shoreline Lake Biwa. Japan is "the Land of the Rising Sun".
Later, high in a clear sky, a Mountain (or Hodgson's) Hawk-Eagle was the first of two "firsts for FONT tours". The other "new bird" for FONT Japanese tours would be later in Kyushu.
Also in the area of Biwa-ko (as Lake Biwa would be in Japanese), there were, on the ground, Grey-headed Lapwings and Long-billed Plovers. Both Japanese Green Woodpecker and Japanese Green Pheasant were seen, the latter a lone male in a field. It was the only "Kiji" during the tour. This native pheasant is the national bird of Japan.

After over-nighting in Kyoto, we flew on January 23 to Kyushu, where we had our first taste of birding on that most-southerly of the main Japanese islands. Along a stream, there were a few Mandarins, a dipper, and a Crested Kingfisher. Then, there were CRANES - many of them!

On January 24, participants on our tour saw 6 species of cranes wintering in the area of Izumi, on Kyushu. There were about 5 thousand Hooded Cranes and over 2 thousand White-naped Cranes (the bulk of the world's population of these 2 species). With them were some Common, or Eurasian, Cranes (we saw 2), Sandhill Crane (some of us saw 1), a lone Siberian White Crane (which we saw well on the ground - once much a loner, by itself - and heard it call in flight above us), and last, but certainly not least, a pair of stately Demosielle Cranes sharing a field with some Hooded and White-naped.
We experienced daybreak with the cranes. As the sun rose, the cranes called. Flocks flew about.
Among other birds we saw this day were the rare Black-faced Spoonbill, a Ruff, Daurian Jackdaw, and a flock of nearly 25 Chinese Penduline-Tits. The last of these winter in Japan, coming from somewhere in China.

In the morning on January 25, we saw the second of the two birds during the tour "new for FONT in Japan". There were 2 Pallas', or Great Black-headed Gulls, where we also saw 3 Saunder's Gulls. All of these came to winter along the western Japan coast from mainland Asia.
Later in the day, in highlands, we saw Yellow-throated, and other Buntings, Japanse Grosbeaks, and Bramblings.
Along a river in the hills, in eastern Kyushu, that afternoon we had a rough count of 200 Mandarins. On the blue-green water, the colorful ducks were absolutely beautiful. Had we been able to stop more often along the road in the valley, we may well have seen even more of these fine birds. In that region, in the prefecture of Miyazaki, during a mid-winter waterfowl count in 1995, a total of 796 Mandarin Ducks were found. That winter, in all of Japan, 18,703 were counted.
But the Mandarins were not all there was to see along that road in the river valley. Late in the afternoon, there was a Ural Owl perched, roadside, on a wire. After we turned around, we stopped and got out of our vehicles, and then saw the dark owl in our scopes. Yes, it stayed - in fact, it was reluctant to leave. When it flew it was just for a short distance to another place on the wire. It was a great way to end our day, and our Kyushu birding.

On January 26, some of us said good-bye, and others continued south on the next tour segment to include Amami and Okinawa.

On January 27, on a beach on the island of Amami, at one time in front of us, there were 7 species of plovers. As the tide was coming in, the birds got closer and closer. There were about 500 Kentish Plovers, and nearly 400 Mongolian, or Lesser Sandplovers. With them was one Greater Sandplover. Thus there was a fine comparison of the Greater and Lesser. Also in the mix along that shore were 2 Long-billed Plovers (unusual that far south), a number of Little Ringed Plovers, about 70 Pacific Golden Plovers, and 25 or so Grey, or Black-bellied, Plovers.
Earlier in the day, elsewhere on Amami, we saw the colorful endemic Lidth's Jay.
And later, on January 27, after darkness fell, we observed a Long-eared Owl hunting along a dirt road in the forest. Animated it was, with its orange eyes wide open. But it was using its ears more than it eyes as it tilted its head at various angles. From our vehicle, we watched the owl, in front of us, hover over the road across which mice ran.
A little later yet, that night, in front of us in our stopped vehicle, we watched an endemic Amami Woodcock, standing on the road. It was in no hurry to go. In fact, after wandering for a moment off the road, it came back, giving us yet another tremendous look at a threatened species.

Early the next morning, on January 28th, along a dirt road in the forest, we had a look at the rarest of the Amami endemics, the Amami Thrush.

In the Okinawa forest, on January 30, 5 Pryer's Woodpeckers were seen. It is said that over the years the population of this species has ranged from 40 to 100 birds. Thus, assuming the Ivory-billed Woodpecker to be extinct, this woodpecker endemic to northern Okinawa could well be the rarest woodpecker in the world. It's quite a bird, with its large, bright bill.
The Okinawa Rail eluded us this time. Sometimes we see it, usually we hear it, but in January 2002 for us it was not to be. Incidentally, that forest rail eluded science until 1981.
Among birds that we did see on Okinawa, however, were some good ones indeed. In a paddy, both female and male Painted-Snipe were seen nicely. As with phalaropes, female Painted-Snipes are the more colorful - very nice to see. Also in areas of paddies, we enjoyed looks at the bright Cinnamon Bittern, Pacific Golden-Plovers in various plumages, and among many Common, or Fantail, Snipe, there were 1 or 2 Pintail Snipe. These were among about 25 species of shorebirds, or waders, we saw on Okinawa. Also notable among them were both Eurasian and Far Eastern Curlews, Red-necked and Long-toed Stints, and Grey-tailed Tattler. Again, as on Kyushu, there were 3 Saunder's Gulls from China.

Also from China, or elsewhere in Asia, some vagrant starlings were visiting Okinawa when we were. At one farm pasture (and there aren't many in Okinawa), there were with some Grey (or White-faced), a single White-shouldered (or Chinese), and a few Common Starlings.
(The next day, there were also 3 Silky, or Red-billed, Starlings). None of these routinely occur on Okinawa - in fact, during our tours in the past, we've never seen a starling of any kind on the island.
During our Okinawan nights and early mornings, as we were out and about, we had good looks at what's now called the Japanese Scops-Owl (formerly included in the Collared Scops-Owl).

As you've read, our January 2002 Japan Tour was a good one for owls - and many other birds as well!

The "Top Birds", as voted afterwards by the dozen or so tour participants, were:

# 1 - Blakiston's Fish-Owl
# 2 - Red-crowned (Japanese) Crane
# 3 - Steller' Sea-Eagle
# 4 - Amami Woodcock
# 5 - White-naped Crane
# 6 - Pryer's Woodpecker
# 7 - Ural Owl
# 8 - Long-billed Plover
# 9 - Siberian Crane
#10 - Mandarin Duck
#11 - Demosielle Crane
#12 - Greater Painted-Snipe
#13 - Whooper Swan
#14 - Baikal Teal
#15 - White-tailed Eagle

Now, that's good birding!

The following comment came in a letter after the tour by participant, Mr. Sandy Gordon, of Cardross, Scotland:

Dear Armas,

Having got back home from Japan, I would like to thank you for taking such good care of us during the tour.
I took back with me a host of memories of the birds, of the landscape of the country, and the companionship of my fellow birders. We certainly got good looks at the target species and it is astonishing that while Japan does not have a great quantity of birdlife, so much of what it has is so special!

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Our early Spring Birding Tour in Japan in 2001 was one of the most enjoyable FONT tours ever done. With fine spring weather, and lots of trees in colorful blossom, there were some wonderful birds that fit well into the setting. Among them:
colorful Mandarin Ducks, in small flocks, floating on still ponds,
Japanese Murrelets on the sea, along with hundreds & hundreds of Streaked Shearwaters,
male Copper Pheasants, early in the morning, displaying close at hand in the forest (they drum their wings as a Ruffed Grouse does its tail),
also flocks of migrants from shorebirds (including Great Knot, Far Eastern Curlew, and Mongolian Plovers) to buntings and finches (a lingerer was a Pallas', or Siberian, Rosefinch).
Signs of spring were Japanese Reed Buntings singing on territories and the rare Japanese Marsh Warbler doing its display flight.

But the highlight of the tour was a visit to a small island (only 1 kilometer by 2 kilometers) in the Sea of Japan where there was a tremendous fallout of northbound migrants. The island called Hegura-jima, about 50 kilometers offshore, reached by boat. We overnighted on the island in an inn - one of very few buildings. One could easily walk the circumference of the island in just over an hour. The few residents there earn a living by fishing and collecting seaweed. It's such a picturesque place, with a tall white lighthouse, and no automobiles. Just small lanes and paths. But, oh my, were there birds!

As we walked from the boat dock to the inn, between small buildings and in the brush, birds abounded. Many of them: Siberian Stonechats, Red-flanked Bluetails, Daurian Redstarts, Dusky Thrushes, Bramblings, Rustic Buntings, and Eurasian Siskins. But others too. Among the 70 or so species found on the small island: Japanese Robins, Siberian Rubythroat, White's Ground Thrush, Hoopoes, Eastern Crowned Warblers and Sikhalin Leaf Warblers, just to name a few. There are no tall trees so birds that can be hard to see at other places were not on Hegurajima. Vagrants for Japan were Black Redstart and Greater Short-toed Lark.