Japan (Kyushu, Honshu and Hoikkaido) (1 Viewer)

Boat trip and try for an owl.0

A nice leisurely start with time to use the Onsen before getting down to the harbour by 8.00. The Evergreen was going out at 9.00 and despite showing no availability on the Shiretoko Web site were taking turn up passengers as was our which I think was Gorijaiwa Sightseeing on the search and trip advisor.
Things started promisingly there was nice young lady who spoke English who took our fee and issued our ticket, fee was ¥7000 each with no surcharge for DSLR users on this trip, some charge extra ¥2000. The boat would tie up when the Evergreen moved on. In the harbour were some close up Harlequin Ducks but in poor light and snow the shots were not great. There was also Slaty-backed and Glaucous Gulls, with Tufted Duck and Scaup.
Sarah need not have worried about sea sickness for this trip as for our 2 plus hours we were within 10 minutes of the harbour or in the harbour itself, still goal was close up views of Eagles and we certainly got that. First when we left the harbour they through a crate of fish to the birds, it didn't take long before we had our first interested Steller's Sea Eagle then about 10 more joined with around 20 White-tailed, including those waiting on the wall I counted 73 Eagles after attracting some more birds and by this time the Evergreen was also feeding about 400m away after the photographers among us had there fill we headed towards far harbour wall where with a bit of training the Eagles had learned that they should now gather for second helpings. We were all encouraged to get on the upper deck of the boat, we wondered why we should leave the shelter of the cover but in the falling snow we found our selves at eye level with nearly a hundred eagles. The crew through fish onto the wall and into the sea nearby and we had great scenes of Eagles fighting over fish our territory and with the wall covered with over a foot of snow and ice it actually looked like they were on ice if you ignored the 20 foot wall beneath them. Anyway in summary a very good experience and would advocate it as a good alternative to trying to get many miles out to the sea ice which is still a bit away.
After warming up with a coffee we decided to head up into Shiretoko as far as we could go, it wasn't further than our hotel or the information / visitor centre where a little stream crossed (more on that later). So looking at a map we decided with the bad weather we should head south checking the various harbours including Shibetsu* which was good yesterday and the head out onto spit which looked ideal in the prevailing wind. Nothing much in the harbours just some Common Scoter, Gooseander and Golden-eye before peninsula which ends up in Todawara. We found this pretty good with lots of Long-tailed Duck, rafts of Harlequin Ducks, a couple of White-winged Scoter a pair of Spectacled Guillemot (lifer), while on the iced up side lots of Steller's Eagles. There were also quite a few Dusky Thrush, a finch that got a way unidentified by us and then a number of Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls of various ages to compare including some almost pure white birds. We decided this place definitely warranted a second look on the way down to Furen.
We then headed back to Rausu and beyond, only an Eastern Buzzard to add. It was 16.00 when we got to Wada No Yada and we had to decide whether to be greedy and try again for the Fish Owl, they could fit us in tonight but Binoculars only, there was no room for additional tripod and big cameras as there were a couple of big parties in. That sort of made my mind up for me I would go out and try to find my own Blakiston's Fishing Owl, after dinner at spot on the Shiretoko road near the closed visitors centre.
A guy we met a couple of times and who saw the Owls at Yoroushi with us said that the Owl didn't turn up until 23.22 and by that time the groups had all left.
It would have been great to say I got the bird but not quite. I set off at 20.00 with Sarah choosing not to come out in the snow after a tumble earlier, instead she soaked in the Spa.
I wasn't sure if the bird responded to calls but set up the speaker at the bridge and tried a few calls, at the third time of asking I got a response so with camera on tripod and spotlight scanning the likely trees I tried again the bird sounded pretty close but with no set-up feeding area and only one pair of eyes I had no idea where it might show,whether up stream or down stream, lots of scanning was just producing snow covered branches, my vision of some super photos unique to me was now looking a bit suspect but I thought let's give it another blast, the owl called back but distantly and didn't respond again. As i walked back in the snow I didn't regret not sitting up waiting for the owl at the usual site especially as I already had good shots of the two owls at Yoroushi

Stellar bird

Today we were heading down to Lake Furen but not before spending some time at Todawara* and the Natshuke Peninsula, after yesterday's bad weather we hoped that a number of birds would be close to the shore. The signs were good at the first viewing point there were over a hundred* Common Scoter, then a few rafts of Long tailed and Harlequin Ducks, and plenty of Goldeneye,* Tufted Duck and Scaup.* The frozen lake had plenty of both Steller's and White-tailed Eagles, on the sea wall were Slaty-backed, Black-tailed and Glaucous Gull but it was the next sea watch close to the visitor centre that produced the goods. I was sorting through loads of Long-tailed when I said to Sarah I think I've got a Steller's Eider, it's with the left most group of male Long-tails Ducks, she was on it quickly it was only 50-60 metres out but I got it in the scope to study it and took the precaution of checking the field guide as we weren't that familiar with the bird (seen only once before a while back), while I was checking the plate, Sarah was watching through the scope and while the male Steller's Eider was looking to associate with the male Long-tails Ducks, they were trying to drive him away. However when we left it was still in the company of these ducks. It was only later when we were with Matsuo San that we realised that what used to be a regular annual occurrence was now rare. We gave some Japanese birders and a Brit the exact location and they were going to try for the bird the next day. Hopefully* they also found it as it was a very smart male bird in almost full breeding plumage and the only other bird around in Japan so far this year has been a dowdy eclipse female.
We then headed up to Furen* with a look at the local nature reserve and surrounds, plenty of Great spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Marsh Tit,* Great Tit and Tree Sparrows around but no sign of Black Woodpecker which hasn't been on this side of the lake for a while. I was playing Sarah the Rosy Finch call to remind her of it when I wrongly played the Ural Owl call, an Owl then drifted across a gap and went into the trees, I didn't really see it well but Sarah described it a very pale and round winged, we saw the bird fleetingly once more but despite searching we couldn't find the bird. There was a bird with a regular day roost here all last winter but Matsuo San said that photographers had got too close and scared it on. It was almost certainly a Ural Owl as only other Owls occurring Blakinston Fish (too huge) and Short eared (only once have every observed a Shortie in woods and Matsuo reckoned birds here all stay in open). I didn't see the bird as well as Sarah and as she is only 90% certain so we won't count what would be a lifer (must do a Final Owls trip).
Overnight was at Minshuku Furen where we discussed recently sightings and decided that we would do a boat trip from Habomai tomorrow morning then try for better views of Asian Rosy Finch, only seen briefly at top of a tree in Jigokudani.

Another epic, thank you.

Phil

Boat trip heaven!

We had 6.30 breakfast, 3 Japanese birds were off to look for the Steller's Eider (Eric had gone off early en-route to the airport at Kushiro - a long detour so I hope he got the bird), we were waiting for confirmation that our boat trip was on as some poor weather was forecast, Mr Matsuo got the call from the captain we would be going out as things were still calm. So off we went to Habomai but not before Sarah took her sea sickness medicine,* you have to buy your ticket from the bank in the harbour it is the only office up some stairs a few yards from the harbour so allow some time. You buy your ticket at the last desk, they spoke a few words of English and the tickets show a picture of the boat we were on, tickets are ¥5000. There were only 3 others on the trip a Japanese family who seemed more interested in getting close to Russian territory than the birds.
We set off about 15 minutes early and it was pretty calm, we quickly got Harlequin Duck, Black Scoter, Long tailed Duck and Scaup, then as we leave the calm of shelter it gets a bit choppy but we are happy to get a good flight view of Crested Auk, as we got out towards the Russian waters the guy on deck was pointing at things and the captain would slow, we were seeing things regularly and we got lots of Spectacled Guillemots, a couple of Pigeon Guillemot before one of our main targets a nice Ancient Murrelet put in an appearance, we added to the list with Bruinich's Guillemot and then found our main target Least Auk, it was just about possible to photograph it in the rising waves and spray. We were still seeing quite a bit but the Captain indicated we needed to get into a stuffy little cabin, the 2 Japanese ladies were already alongside the captain on the little bridge, the younger lady had been suffering since we left the harbour.
We didn't mind a bit of spray so we were allowed to stand at the back but things with getting much worse, we must go in now as the captain wanted to get back quickly, no sooner were we in than a massive wave washed across the boat, it could have taken us overboard if we had stayed where we were. We then had a most unpleasant 20 minutes as the little boat fought the conditions and got us back to harbour. A 2.5 metre swell doesn't sound much but on a small boat coupled with a strong wind it meant that we were almost completely under water on deck. We were just glad to get back onshore and although feeling a little queasy with no sickness, Sarah said it was the worst she has felt without being sick. We didn't feel short changed that the trip was shorter than planned, we would try to get the birds missed at a sea-watch from the Cape.

Cape Nosappu and Kiritappu

Sorry for delay - we are now home and hopefully posts will be less full of typos and I can post a few photos that haven't come from the phone.
I will post a consolidated trip report with some information on accommodation including costs, some more detail on directions and what we might have done differently.

So after a quick stop for coffee we arrived at Cape Nosappu, we intended to do a sea-watch but minor tragedy struck almost immediately, I left the scope as I made a scan of the rocks to find the Red-faced Cormorant, a huge gust blew the scope over, Sarah almost caught it but missed it and I feared the worst when I heard a crack on the concrete, the good news was the scope was undamaged, the bad news was the tripod footplate retaining clip and mount had broken so using the scope was going to be difficult, due to lack of steadiness, in fact we struggled to find anything just by scanning with the scope and the only additions were a couple of Pigeon Guillemot and we failed to find any of the Murrelet that were meant to be around. (the good news on return was £49 bought a replacement part for the tripod).

So we headed West to Cape Kirripapu via Lake Furen where they were feeding the Steller's and White-tailed Sea Eagles these birds are just magnificent; of the 3500 photos I took the bulk were Sea Eagles and Cranes.

We then found a nice flock of Bullfinches (see the grey breast) near Hamanaka Town before we got to the Cape Kiritappu peninsula road. The cape is famous for two birds Rosy Finch and Rough Legged Buzzard. The finches are usually found by the bushes near a feeder on the first house on the right as you head to the cape. We had been warned not to try to enter the garden or nearby field. You can tell you are at the right house when you see a horned puffin sign but there were no birds around and the home owner was clearing the snow from his drive so we decided to try again later. On the way to the cape we stopped for a Red Fox and spotted the Rough Legged Buzzard on a fence post. At the cape it was blowing a gale and wobbley scope wasn't much good for any distant sea-watching so we made do with some Black Scoter, Harlequin Duck, Scaup, Goldeneye and Pelagic Cormorant.
WE decided to take a different tack for the finches on the way back, we parked on the main road level with the garden and feeder and stayed in the car until a nice flock of Asian Rosy Finches flew into the bushes near the garden. Having seen the birds OK we decide to try to scope them for better view but no sooner had I got them in the scope than householder saw us and chased the birds off, so we weren't going to get great views or photographs. We did see a larger tour group nearby and it appears that the guy is just fed up with people watching his birds, so if possible much better to go in the week when he is hopefully at work.
We actually spoke to the tour leader who was staying in our hotel later and he described him as extremely cranky and a little dangerous - he has pulled a shotgun on a tour group before.
Anyway we saw the birds so decided to head back to the nature reserve near Furen to try again for the Ural owl. On the R44 just before the lake I saw three birds on wire, I thought at first Waxwings from a brief drive by view but fortunately I was able to turn around and parking in the Namuro Canoe car park took a closer look and found a flock of 14 Pine Grosbeak, lighting wasn't great but managed a few record shots as this was a lifer for Sarah. I gave details to the tour group as there hadn't been may sighting this year.
In the woods there was no sign off Ural Owl and we made do with Deer, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Tree Sparrow.
Overnight at East Harbour Hotel in Nemuro City.

Some Red-crowned Cranes

Major attraction on Hokkaido

Last full day in Japan

Today was our last full day in Japan. We were flying out from Tokyo to Dubai early tomorrow morning but having heard horror stories from some friend who missed international flight last year due to bad weather in Kushiro we decide to take an afternoon rather than evening flight to Haneda. This left us with half a day to do a last bird of birding.
We decided to head up to the lighthouse and hide at Cape Nosappu and also stop at a neighbouring hide where some Rock Sandpiper were about.
It was a bout 50 minute drive from the hotel to the car park. When we got there the weather was poor with freezing rain making things unpleasant, particularly as the hide was still locked. We set up the stuck together tripod and scope in the shelter of the hide and lighthouse so it wasn't too windy.
We quickly found the Red-faced Cormorant (seems to be regular here), then a couple of Pigeon and Spectacled Guillemots before we found the target birds a couple of Long-billed Murrelet quite distant good enough.
We were now soaked so we headed round to another hide - head towards the Hippo Primeval Flower Garden, we were luckier here with the Rock Sandpipers flying into view immediately rather than sitting on the rocks for hours as we expected. We had an outside hope of Asian Rosy Finch here a bird was seen on some fishing basket 2 days before but unsurprisingly there was nothing willing to sit out in the open.
The drive back to Furen took us past a pond with some Wigeon before we stopped at the Lake where the feeding was just about to take place. So we stopped and had our fill of over 60 eagles Mainly Steller's with about 20 White-tailed on the ice with just a couple of Black-eared Kites for company.
On an open bit of Lake there was a small group of Whooper Swans. Doesn't time get away from you when you are enjoying a spectacle, we realised it was going to be a bit tight to get to Tsurui for a final look at the cranes. Instead we drove to Akkeshi for a quick stop adding Glaucous-winged and Slaty-backed Gull and a last pair of Harlequin Duck.

The trip back to the airport was uneventful until we realised that we were at the airport and hadn't refuelled, there isn't a petrol station any where near if you come in off the new road. Fortunately we had enough time to drive 10K to get fuel and then get back, probably worth filling up in Kushiro. We didn't do that as on our last car hire in Karuizawa they wanted to see a receipt showing that the fuel was bought nearby.

Anyway sods law having picked an early flight to avoid possible weather delays, there were delays but in Tokyo where the weather was an unseasonal 20C with thunderstorms. Still it was too bad and we were in Haneda before dark seeing a last bird White Wagtail.

We stowed our luggage Y1000 (on same floor as monorail) and headed into Tokyo for a trip up the Tokyo Tower and a final meal before returning to the Airport for our flight early the next morning.

Stop off in Dubai

Our flight left just about on time in the early morning and with the time difference we arrived in time for a full day in Dubai. We actually had a couple of days to warm up in Dubai.
Just some local birding in Jumeriah Beach area. We stayed at Movenpick which was nice enough hotel just across from the Beach and the grounds of Jumeriah Beach Hotel and some spare ground.

We saw Peregrine Falcon, Black-headed Gull, Red-vented and Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Little Green Bee-eater, Ring-necked Parakeet, Laughing Dove and House Sparrow.
Then annoyingly we heard about an easily accessible Pharoah Eagle Owl in Mishraf Park that we didn't have time to go look for, so need to add that to the to do list next time we go through Dubai.

Still an excellent trip with some high quality birds even if numbers were not hugely impressive.
I'll add some photos (full size are now being added to flickr) and a full trip report with bird list in the next few days.

Blakiston's Fish Owl

The second biggest Owl in the world.
We saw two birds at Yoroushi and heard one at Rausu.

A few small birds

Red-flanked Bluetail, Dusky Thrush, Marsh and Willow Tit

A wonderful trip report!
Our visits to Japan overlapped, but your photographs put mine to shame. They are just stunning shots.

Thanks

etudiant said:

A wonderful trip report!
Our visits to Japan overlapped, but your photographs put mine to shame. They are just stunning shots.

Click to expand...

Thanks - I would be interested to see what you got that we missed. Did you see Copper Pheasant or Scaly-sided Merganser ?
The few birders we met also missed them; but can't believe we didn't see a Green Pheasant.

Some more cranes

These ones are from Arasaki

dandsblair said:

Thanks - I would be interested to see what you got that we missed. Did you see Copper Pheasant or Scaly-sided Merganser ?
The few birders we met also missed them; but can't believe we didn't see a Green Pheasant.

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Not a pheasant seen by us either, maybe they were all hiding under the snow.

We had good looks at Ural Owls in Hokkaido, as well as a Black Woodpecker at Yōrōushi, the latter apparently a first of sorts, the owner said he had not had one on site before. Also a Forest Wagtail was posing for assembled photographers at Lake Miike, so I assumed it was a regular at that site.

A couple of good birds we didn't see

etudiant said:

Not a pheasant seen by us either, maybe they were all hiding under the snow.

We had good looks at Ural Owls in Hokkaido, as well as a Black Woodpecker at Yōrōushi, the latter apparently a first of sorts, the owner said he had not had one on site before. Also a Forest Wagtail was posing for assembled photographers at Lake Miike, so I assumed it was a regular at that site.

Click to expand...

Where did you see the Ural Owls?
We saw and photographed the Wagtail which I think was a rarity for the area.

A few eagles

Of the 3500+ photos we took most were Cranes or Sea eagles. A few Steller's Sea Eagles

Snow Monkeys

And loads of Japanese Macaques

dandsblair said:

Where did you see the Ural Owls?
We saw and photographed the Wagtail which I think was a rarity for the area.

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Saw the Ural Owls at two sites on the way to Lake Kussharo, one of them in the hills in the middle of nowhere, kudos to Kaz Shinoda, our VENT guide, the other at the boundary of a corporate property near the lake, getting photographed by a steady succession of optically really well equipped birders.
My images are cellphone scope views, be gentle...

Nice record

etudiant said:

Saw the Ural Owls at two sites on the way to Lake Kussharo, one of them in the hills in the middle of nowhere, kudos to Kaz Shinoda, our VENT guide, the other at the boundary of a corporate property near the lake, getting photographed by a steady succession of optically really well equipped birders.
My images are cellphone scope views, be gentle...

Click to expand...

Good record shots and better than a flight views that I can't count (not seen well enough) and Sarah doesn't count as good enough for a lifer.

A few more Eagles

Consolidated trip report

Finally got round to a consolidated trip report.
A bit more info on logistic and accommodation and hopefully less typos than on my daily on the move updates.