From Honshu we flew north to "The Alaska of Japan," the island of Hokkaido for five days. An afternoon flight and two hour drive out to Nemura got us in pretty late in the day, but the sunset light on our first Red-crowned Cranes and Whooper Swans was pretty amazing.
The bird diversity in Hokkaido in winter is relatively low, but the quality is very high. There are some mega must see species here and we were keen to get them. Our first day out on the Nemuro peninsula was lovely. We did some coastal birding and picked up a number of excellent birds, like Black Scoter, Harlequin and Long-tailed Ducks, and a far off Red-faced Cormorant. Watching a White-tailed Eagle feed on a recently snatched Spectacled Guillemot was pretty cool (for everyone but the guillemot).
Dawn in Nemuro
Apparently it's a bad idea to wander into the woods here
Lunch at the easternmost convenience store (konbini) in Japan
The Japanese (caudatus) race of Long-tailed Tit. Locally known as Shima-enaga or Snow Fairy
Black Scoter
Harlequin Duck
White-tailed Eagle and Spectacled Guillemot
The next morning we were out and about on the peninsula and passed by an on-shore eagle feeding site where many Steller's Sea-Eagles and White-tailed Eagles were eating, arguing, and generally lounging about. This worked out well as our boat outing specifically for these eagles later in the trip was canceled for weather. Later in the afternoon we checked out some of the sand spits on the peninsula specifically for Asian Rosy-Finch and weren't disappointed when Susan spotted a couple of birds feeding in the grass near the parked van.
Whooper Swans
Eagles doing eagle things
There might have been a person or two on the bridge watching and photographing the eagles
Hunting seabirds and rosy-finches
Whooper Swan
White-tailed Eagle
Steller's Sea-Eagle
Asian Rosy-Finch
By evening we had driven up the coast to Rausu for our first of two sleepless nights of Blakiston's Fish-Owl waiting. There are two government permitted lodges in the Rausu area that have permission to create a dammed pool in a natural river and stock it with native fish. This pool is floodlit at night with a special system that gives visitors the ability to see and photograph the owls (with custom camera settings). Scientists have developed this lighting system to avoid disturbing the night vision of the owls. It's good for the birders as it gives a reasonable chance of seeing an owl (no guarantee, they don't come in every night), and it's good for the owls as it supplements their food supply in the ever worsening natural conditions for these endangered birds. Also, by providing these controlled situations it lessens the likelihood of birders prowling the woods to add this species to their life list, and thus disturbing birds on nests, etc.
Blakiston's Fish-Owl is the largest owl in the world and subsists exclusively on fish. It is highly endangered and was the subject of a fantastic book by Jonathan C. Slaght, "Owls of the Eastern Ice."
Our first evening was a bust and by about 10pm we had given up with a plan of trying again in the very early morning (based on the lodge owner report of what the owls had been doing lately). A few hours of sleep and we were back. At 4am an adult male came in and fished for a while. He stayed long enough that many photos and even a video was obtained. It took me a while to figure out how to create video in these strobed LED lighting conditions, but I did sort it out. The wrong video setting create black lines streaking across the frame. Some internet searching shows not many have figured this out, so there's that. You can see my video below.
Inside the hide. At least it was heated. It was COLD outside!
Our group hard at work waiting...
The viewing area in front of the hide with two specially designed flood lights
Flood light
The artificially dammed pool in the river, photographed in daylight the next day
For those subscribed by email, please click this link to view the YouTube video of the owl:
After a much need nap and some food we headed out to scour the shoreline and nearby forests for more birds.
Harlequin Duck
Steller's Sea-Eagles hanging out
Brown Dipper
One more night (or very early morning as the case may be) produced another visit by the owl. We had two night bookings at the hide to increase our chances. Even though we had done so well the night before, nobody wanted to pass up what was likely our last chance ever to see this magnificent owl. I tried for some different action photos and this was the result.
Moving on we headed south and inland to visit a famous inhabitant of Hokkaido - the Red-crowned Cranes. There are a couple of well known winter feeding spots where the cranes get supplemental grain twice a day. These feeding sites have been a conservation success story bringing these cranes back from the edge of extinction. We stopped at both sites and got great looks at a majestic bird.
We even got to see a couple of pairs interacting. Watch this short video to the end to see a pair dancing. It's quite amazing. And turn the sound on. 😀
For email subscribers, click this link for the video:
From there we traveled south to Kushiro and our flight out the next morning to the south end of the country. I thought I'd wrap up this trip report in two posts, but as this one is getting a little long, I'll stop now. We still have the south and more amazing things to see. Wait, more cranes? Yep, for sure.
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