Kyoto mid April 2016
A few notes from a primarily non-birding trip to Kyoto between the 13 and 17 April 2016.
The main aim of our visit was to enjoy the spring cherry blossom for which Kyoto is famous; unfortunately, a warm spring meant that the peak of the cherry blossom season had passed by the time we arrived. However, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Kyoto, finding the parks, temples and palaces beautiful, the food fantastic and everyone we met without fail polite and helpful.
13 April
Our flight from Hong Kong to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport was delayed by bad weather in Hong Kong, and our late arrival at Kansai, combined with heavy rain in Kyoto prevented any proper birding.
On arrival we easily found our way to the airport railway station and collected our pre-booked return Haruka train tickets and ICOCA pass for Kyoto from the JR offices (upstairs in the office for foreign visitors to collect these). These could only be paid for in cash – foreign credit or debit cards not being accepted. The Haruka tickets are for the faster direct train to Kyoto, the ICOCA pass is a pre-pay plastic card for use on the underground, train, tram and bus routes within Kyoto. Staff at the JR office told us the platform and time for the next train to Kyoto.
We sat on the left hand side of the train, and soon after crossing the sea-bridge to the mainland passed a few ponds and lakes with Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Little Grebe. In the same area were a few White-cheeked Starling, and what were probably Grey-headed Lapwing. On the remainder of the train journey a few crow and egret sp were seen, but nothing else identified.
From Kyoto station it was easy to find our way via the underground to the Marutamachi station and our adjacent well located accommodation for the next four nights, the Noku Kyoto Hotel. Once checked in we walked down to the northern end of Kiyamachi street for a fantastic evening meal, unfortunately we were both completely drenched by this point, which rather dampened our spirits. Once again only cash was acceptable.
14 April
Having spent almost all of the cash we had bought for our stay on our first afternoon and evening, our first stop had to be a cash point that accepted international credit or debit cards (most don’t). Fortunately cashpoints in post offices, some larger Seven Eleven stores and at some stations accept international cards, and soon we were cashed up. Anyone visiting should note that none of the restaurants or shops we visited accepted foreign credit or debit cards – even if they showed Visa etc signs.
Kyoto Imperial Palace Park
Late morning we walked into the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park, and spent four hours gradually walking north through this, exploring the gardens, and publicly open areas. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day and it remained sunny until the day of our departure.
This is a fantastic city centre park in which to catch up with common urban and suburban birds, plus potentially a few migrants – think London’s Regents Park, or New York’s Central Park.
Towards the north-east corner of the park, and south of the softball area in that corner, in an area labelled ‘mom and kids area’ is a bird-bath/water drip set up. This is very popular with local bird photographers, who deploy peanuts and seeds to further attract birds to the ground/hands. We spent 40 minutes here, the limit of my non-birding wife’s patience – but it would be worth much longer.
More or less the first bird I saw within the park was Brown-eared Bulbul, and as a first time visitor to Japan this was a new bird for me. These are quite common throughout Kyoto if sometimes shy, it is worth familiarising yourself with their calls – they reminded me of the noise made by the squeaky shoes of a demented child running wild in a supermarket.
Large ponds along the southern edge of the park held a few Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, and Common Kingfisher. Grassy fringes to wooded areas held many White-cheeked Starlings, smart Dusky Thrushes, plus the odd Pale Thrush, Oriental Turtle Dove and Olive-backed Pipit.
Heading north I was delighted to find a few Hawfinches and Japanese Grosbeak, generally feeding on the ground below cherry trees, plus a few Long-tailed and Japanese Tits. At the bird drip highlights included fantastic Varied Tits (another life tick), a couple of Brambling, and a few Russet Sparrows, which from the local photographers’ reaction were unusual.
Full list of sightings (as with following lists, all submitted to eBird):
Mallard 1
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 2
Black Kite 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 12
Oriental Turtle-Dove 5
Common Kingfisher 1
Large-billed Crow 18
Barn Swallow 5
Varied Tit 5
Japanese Tit 6
Long-tailed Tit 3
Brown-eared Bulbul 5
Japanese White-eye 5
Pale Thrush 3
Dusky Thrush 16
White-cheeked Starling 18
Olive-backed Pipit 1
Brambling 2
Hawfinch 3
Japanese Grosbeak 4
Russet Sparrow 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 20
Northern Boobook (split from Brown Hawk-Owl) is a breeding summer visitor to the park, in the area north of the bird bath as a far as I can work out, but I wasn’t able to spot any – maybe they had not arrived yet?
From the Imperial Palace Park we walked across to and up the Kamo river to the Shimagamo Shrine and surrounding trees.
Kamo River and Shimagamo Shrine (Tadasu-no-mori on eBird)
We sat for a brief while at the river confluence and ate some excellent snacks from a nearby bakery. Black Kites are common at this spot, which I assume is popular for picnics, and one swooped from behind us in an attempt to snatch some bread from my wife’s hand as she raised it to her mouth. Fortunately this resulted in nothing worse than some minor cuts to my wife’s hand and a bit of a shock – but watch out if you repeat our picnic along the river here.
Other common birds along the river included Mallard, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian (Green-winged) Teal – the latter two presumably migrants, Grey Heron and Little Egrets. I was also delighted to catch up with another new bird – Japanese Wagtail, which were common along the river.
The area around the shrine held similar birds to the Imperial Palace Park – highlights being Varied and Japanese Tits, Dusky Thrush and Brown-eared Bulbul.
From the shrine we returned south along the Kamo river until we reached the Marutamachi bridge level with our hotel. The riverside walk added a pair of Little Ringed Plover, and single Siberian Stonechat, Gray Wagtail and Great Cormorant to the list.
Full list of sightings:
Eurasian Wigeon 22
Mallard 12
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 7
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 18
Great Cormorant 1
Gray Heron 3
Little Egret 3
Black Kite 8
Little Ringed Plover 2
Large-billed Crow 12
Barn Swallow 6
Varied Tit 2
Japanese Tit 3
Long-tailed Tit 1
Brown-eared Bulbul 3
Siberian Stonechat 1
Dusky Thrush 2
White-cheeked Starling 8
Gray Wagtail 1
Japanese Wagtail 8
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 30
15 April
Arashiyama area
We made our way west via a combination of underground and tram to the Arashiyama area for a walk from the stunning Tenryu-Ji gardens and adjacent Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (swarming with visitors by mid-day), and on to the Atago Torii via various shrines and temples. This walk is set out in the Lonely Planet guide to Kyoto, and is very popular, even on a weekday.
We spent around an hour in the gardens of Tenryu-Ji. These are beautiful, and retained some late flowering cherry trees. Despite the masses of visitors there were a number of birds present, again including Hawfinch, plus my first Oriental Greenfinch and Black-faced Bunting of the trip. Four Great Egret flying over at some height were presumably migrants.
No birds were visible within the section of tall bamboo, but at the end of this we turned left to briefly visit the Kameyama-koen park, and viewpoint over the Katsura river. The small park produced a stunning Meadow Bunting, and the view down to the river revealed a few of the common duck species.
Continuing along the walk added a few more Japanese Grosbeak, Black-faced Bunting, Varied Tit, Pale and Dusk Thrush as we visited various shrines and temple gardens – but no new species.
Full list of sightings:
Eurasian Wigeon 3
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 1
Great Cormorant 1
Gray Heron 1
Great Egret 4
Black Kite 1
Oriental Turtle-Dove 1
Common Kingfisher 1
Large-billed Crow 9
Barn Swallow 5
Varied Tit 2
Japanese Tit 8
Long-tailed Tit 2
Brown-eared Bulbul 12
Japanese White-eye 4
Pale Thrush 1
Dusky Thrush 1
Japanese Wagtail 2
Meadow Bunting 1
Black-faced Bunting 4
Oriental Greenfinch 2
Hawfinch 2
Japanese Grosbeak 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 12
16 April
We spent the morning and early afternoon shopping in central Kyoto (my long suffering wife thoroughly deserved this), and then walked back north along the Kamo river to the northern end of the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. Sightings along the river were broadly the same as on the 14th, though close checking of the corvids revealed that whilst the majority were Large-billed Crows a few were Carrion Crows, and a couple of Common Sandpipers were also new for my list.
Full list of sightings (along the Kamo River):
Eurasian Wigeon 12
Mallard 8
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 6
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 16
Great Cormorant 2
Gray Heron 4
Little Egret 3
Black Kite 17
Little Ringed Plover 1
Common Sandpiper 2
Oriental Turtle-Dove 2
Carrion Crow 3
Large-billed Crow 20
Barn Swallow 5
Brown-eared Bulbul 5
Japanese White-eye 2
White-cheeked Starling 18
Gray Wagtail 1
Japanese Wagtail 8
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 18
Rather late in the day we reached the bird drip/bath in the park, and spent the last 30 minutes of daylight here. As dusk approached the mosquitos were ferocious (bring repellent), but some great birds showed. A stunning Narcissus Flycatcher did its best to light up the gathering gloom, and rather overshadowed great views of an Asian Stubtail. My final bird of the evening (and trip) was a female Japanese Robin, which shyly emerged at the last minute in near darkness. Not bad for a city park!
Full list of sightings (Kyoto Imperial Palace Park):
Black Kite 3
Large-billed Crow 1
Varied Tit 2
Asian Stubtail 1
Japanese White-eye 1
Japanese Robin 1
Narcissus Flycatcher 1
Pale Thrush 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 5
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch. Happy birding, Paul
A few notes from a primarily non-birding trip to Kyoto between the 13 and 17 April 2016.
The main aim of our visit was to enjoy the spring cherry blossom for which Kyoto is famous; unfortunately, a warm spring meant that the peak of the cherry blossom season had passed by the time we arrived. However, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Kyoto, finding the parks, temples and palaces beautiful, the food fantastic and everyone we met without fail polite and helpful.
13 April
Our flight from Hong Kong to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport was delayed by bad weather in Hong Kong, and our late arrival at Kansai, combined with heavy rain in Kyoto prevented any proper birding.
On arrival we easily found our way to the airport railway station and collected our pre-booked return Haruka train tickets and ICOCA pass for Kyoto from the JR offices (upstairs in the office for foreign visitors to collect these). These could only be paid for in cash – foreign credit or debit cards not being accepted. The Haruka tickets are for the faster direct train to Kyoto, the ICOCA pass is a pre-pay plastic card for use on the underground, train, tram and bus routes within Kyoto. Staff at the JR office told us the platform and time for the next train to Kyoto.
We sat on the left hand side of the train, and soon after crossing the sea-bridge to the mainland passed a few ponds and lakes with Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Little Grebe. In the same area were a few White-cheeked Starling, and what were probably Grey-headed Lapwing. On the remainder of the train journey a few crow and egret sp were seen, but nothing else identified.
From Kyoto station it was easy to find our way via the underground to the Marutamachi station and our adjacent well located accommodation for the next four nights, the Noku Kyoto Hotel. Once checked in we walked down to the northern end of Kiyamachi street for a fantastic evening meal, unfortunately we were both completely drenched by this point, which rather dampened our spirits. Once again only cash was acceptable.
14 April
Having spent almost all of the cash we had bought for our stay on our first afternoon and evening, our first stop had to be a cash point that accepted international credit or debit cards (most don’t). Fortunately cashpoints in post offices, some larger Seven Eleven stores and at some stations accept international cards, and soon we were cashed up. Anyone visiting should note that none of the restaurants or shops we visited accepted foreign credit or debit cards – even if they showed Visa etc signs.
Kyoto Imperial Palace Park
Late morning we walked into the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park, and spent four hours gradually walking north through this, exploring the gardens, and publicly open areas. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day and it remained sunny until the day of our departure.
This is a fantastic city centre park in which to catch up with common urban and suburban birds, plus potentially a few migrants – think London’s Regents Park, or New York’s Central Park.
Towards the north-east corner of the park, and south of the softball area in that corner, in an area labelled ‘mom and kids area’ is a bird-bath/water drip set up. This is very popular with local bird photographers, who deploy peanuts and seeds to further attract birds to the ground/hands. We spent 40 minutes here, the limit of my non-birding wife’s patience – but it would be worth much longer.
More or less the first bird I saw within the park was Brown-eared Bulbul, and as a first time visitor to Japan this was a new bird for me. These are quite common throughout Kyoto if sometimes shy, it is worth familiarising yourself with their calls – they reminded me of the noise made by the squeaky shoes of a demented child running wild in a supermarket.
Large ponds along the southern edge of the park held a few Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, and Common Kingfisher. Grassy fringes to wooded areas held many White-cheeked Starlings, smart Dusky Thrushes, plus the odd Pale Thrush, Oriental Turtle Dove and Olive-backed Pipit.
Heading north I was delighted to find a few Hawfinches and Japanese Grosbeak, generally feeding on the ground below cherry trees, plus a few Long-tailed and Japanese Tits. At the bird drip highlights included fantastic Varied Tits (another life tick), a couple of Brambling, and a few Russet Sparrows, which from the local photographers’ reaction were unusual.
Full list of sightings (as with following lists, all submitted to eBird):
Mallard 1
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 2
Black Kite 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 12
Oriental Turtle-Dove 5
Common Kingfisher 1
Large-billed Crow 18
Barn Swallow 5
Varied Tit 5
Japanese Tit 6
Long-tailed Tit 3
Brown-eared Bulbul 5
Japanese White-eye 5
Pale Thrush 3
Dusky Thrush 16
White-cheeked Starling 18
Olive-backed Pipit 1
Brambling 2
Hawfinch 3
Japanese Grosbeak 4
Russet Sparrow 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 20
Northern Boobook (split from Brown Hawk-Owl) is a breeding summer visitor to the park, in the area north of the bird bath as a far as I can work out, but I wasn’t able to spot any – maybe they had not arrived yet?
From the Imperial Palace Park we walked across to and up the Kamo river to the Shimagamo Shrine and surrounding trees.
Kamo River and Shimagamo Shrine (Tadasu-no-mori on eBird)
We sat for a brief while at the river confluence and ate some excellent snacks from a nearby bakery. Black Kites are common at this spot, which I assume is popular for picnics, and one swooped from behind us in an attempt to snatch some bread from my wife’s hand as she raised it to her mouth. Fortunately this resulted in nothing worse than some minor cuts to my wife’s hand and a bit of a shock – but watch out if you repeat our picnic along the river here.
Other common birds along the river included Mallard, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian (Green-winged) Teal – the latter two presumably migrants, Grey Heron and Little Egrets. I was also delighted to catch up with another new bird – Japanese Wagtail, which were common along the river.
The area around the shrine held similar birds to the Imperial Palace Park – highlights being Varied and Japanese Tits, Dusky Thrush and Brown-eared Bulbul.
From the shrine we returned south along the Kamo river until we reached the Marutamachi bridge level with our hotel. The riverside walk added a pair of Little Ringed Plover, and single Siberian Stonechat, Gray Wagtail and Great Cormorant to the list.
Full list of sightings:
Eurasian Wigeon 22
Mallard 12
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 7
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 18
Great Cormorant 1
Gray Heron 3
Little Egret 3
Black Kite 8
Little Ringed Plover 2
Large-billed Crow 12
Barn Swallow 6
Varied Tit 2
Japanese Tit 3
Long-tailed Tit 1
Brown-eared Bulbul 3
Siberian Stonechat 1
Dusky Thrush 2
White-cheeked Starling 8
Gray Wagtail 1
Japanese Wagtail 8
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 30
15 April
Arashiyama area
We made our way west via a combination of underground and tram to the Arashiyama area for a walk from the stunning Tenryu-Ji gardens and adjacent Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (swarming with visitors by mid-day), and on to the Atago Torii via various shrines and temples. This walk is set out in the Lonely Planet guide to Kyoto, and is very popular, even on a weekday.
We spent around an hour in the gardens of Tenryu-Ji. These are beautiful, and retained some late flowering cherry trees. Despite the masses of visitors there were a number of birds present, again including Hawfinch, plus my first Oriental Greenfinch and Black-faced Bunting of the trip. Four Great Egret flying over at some height were presumably migrants.
No birds were visible within the section of tall bamboo, but at the end of this we turned left to briefly visit the Kameyama-koen park, and viewpoint over the Katsura river. The small park produced a stunning Meadow Bunting, and the view down to the river revealed a few of the common duck species.
Continuing along the walk added a few more Japanese Grosbeak, Black-faced Bunting, Varied Tit, Pale and Dusk Thrush as we visited various shrines and temple gardens – but no new species.
Full list of sightings:
Eurasian Wigeon 3
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 1
Great Cormorant 1
Gray Heron 1
Great Egret 4
Black Kite 1
Oriental Turtle-Dove 1
Common Kingfisher 1
Large-billed Crow 9
Barn Swallow 5
Varied Tit 2
Japanese Tit 8
Long-tailed Tit 2
Brown-eared Bulbul 12
Japanese White-eye 4
Pale Thrush 1
Dusky Thrush 1
Japanese Wagtail 2
Meadow Bunting 1
Black-faced Bunting 4
Oriental Greenfinch 2
Hawfinch 2
Japanese Grosbeak 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 12
16 April
We spent the morning and early afternoon shopping in central Kyoto (my long suffering wife thoroughly deserved this), and then walked back north along the Kamo river to the northern end of the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. Sightings along the river were broadly the same as on the 14th, though close checking of the corvids revealed that whilst the majority were Large-billed Crows a few were Carrion Crows, and a couple of Common Sandpipers were also new for my list.
Full list of sightings (along the Kamo River):
Eurasian Wigeon 12
Mallard 8
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 6
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 16
Great Cormorant 2
Gray Heron 4
Little Egret 3
Black Kite 17
Little Ringed Plover 1
Common Sandpiper 2
Oriental Turtle-Dove 2
Carrion Crow 3
Large-billed Crow 20
Barn Swallow 5
Brown-eared Bulbul 5
Japanese White-eye 2
White-cheeked Starling 18
Gray Wagtail 1
Japanese Wagtail 8
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 18
Rather late in the day we reached the bird drip/bath in the park, and spent the last 30 minutes of daylight here. As dusk approached the mosquitos were ferocious (bring repellent), but some great birds showed. A stunning Narcissus Flycatcher did its best to light up the gathering gloom, and rather overshadowed great views of an Asian Stubtail. My final bird of the evening (and trip) was a female Japanese Robin, which shyly emerged at the last minute in near darkness. Not bad for a city park!
Full list of sightings (Kyoto Imperial Palace Park):
Black Kite 3
Large-billed Crow 1
Varied Tit 2
Asian Stubtail 1
Japanese White-eye 1
Japanese Robin 1
Narcissus Flycatcher 1
Pale Thrush 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 5
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch. Happy birding, Paul
