Tokyo and Narita in March (1 Viewer)

My wife and I will be in Narita and Tokyo this March. What places would you recommend for wildlife? We want to take the shinkansen and to go Wild Snow Monkey Park near Nagano for one day, but can do some another long-range trip as well. Apart from that we're keen to stay in Narita/Tokyo area.

Depending on where you are staying, I would recomend Kasai-rinkai-koen and the Yatsu-higata tide flats to the east of Tokyo, in the direction of Tokyo Disney. In the city itself, the moat of the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku and the Shinjuku-gyoen National Garden are all good bird-watching locations. Shinjuku-gyoen is the most reliable place in the area to see Mandarin Ducks. The Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park in the Ota Ward to the south is a bit had to find, but worth the effort. I hope that helps. Happy birding.

One possibility is Miyake Island - ferry leaves from near Takeshiba Metro Station in south Tokyo at about 10 pm, you arrive on the island at dawn next morning and then have a few hours on this unique island with a number of endemic species, then catch the ferry back to Tokyo at about 2 pm ...and this is the best bit, tens of thousands of seabirds all the way back to Tokyo.

Thanks to you both! If you know about locations with non-avian wildlife (e.g. monkeys) that would be great too

@Jos Is there a chance to sleep on the ferry?

katastrofa said:

@Jos Is there a chance to sleep on the ferry?

Click to expand...

Yes, there is a range of accommodation from Japanese-style sleeping mats (fairly comfortable) to cabins.

Booking is not really needed, but details of the ship are here http://www.tokaikisen.co.jp/english/

Scroll down this page for birding on the island http://www.japannatureguides.com/the-izu-islands/ and scroll further down for a bit about the seawatching from the ferry.

Thanks, this Japan Nature Guides website is a mine of information!

UPDATE

In the end we didn't go to any islands, but I spent wonderful time in several locations in and around Tokyo:

1. Yatsu-higata mudflats: a treasure trove!
2. park in Kozunomori, Narita
3. parks in Tokyo itself (Meiji Shrine garden, Imperial Palace moat, Shinjuku Goen)
4. Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park: some disappointment, but we didn't have much time
5. Lake Ashi in Hakone: raptors!

Here is a preliminary list of the bird species I've seen:

Dusky Thrush
Oriental Turtle Dove
Eurasian Teal
Mandarin Duck
Mallard Duck
Eurasian Coot
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Brown-eared Bulbul
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Black-winged Stilt
Little Grebe
White-cheeked Starling
Red-billed Leiothrix
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (no photo unfortunately)
Bull-headed Shrike
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Reed Bunting
Japanese Bush Warbler
Black Kite (we even saw a nest with a bird sitting on it, not far from a forest track they must feel safe there)
Greater Scaup
Black-backed Wagtail
Northern Shoveler
Japanese Tit
Japanese Cormorant
Black-headed Gull
Large-billed Crow
Grey Heron
Rock Dove
Great Crested Grebe

Hi Katastrofa,

After replying to your other post on Wagtails on the ID forum, I looked in at the Japan subsection and found your report. Unfortunately (in my opinion) BF has too many sub-fora which are only visited occasionally - which is self-re-inforcing as the less they are visited, the less reason there is to visit.

I wish BF would rationalise their sub-fora to make them busier (e.g. East Asia, or even Asia, not just Japan).

I'm sorry that I didn't see your original post, otherwise I would have invited you to our area in the heart of Japan - Nara, Kyoto, Osaka (as opposed to the wallet of Japan in Tokyo).

Anyway, I'm glad you had a good time in Japan, where I have spent most of my life, and a happy one, though I'm not Japanese.

You said you saw, but didn't get a photo of the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, so I offer you the photo attached below taken a few days ago. As long as you don't try to copyright it or sell it, you can post it as yours on any forum or facebook page you like, in your album of the trip, and claim it as your own. There are zillions of these around where I live and I have loads of spare photos.

Surely, on your list of birds seen, things you must have seen include Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Japanese White-eye, Japanese Tit and Long-tailed Tit (ssp magnus), and a few others? Carrion Crow? Large-billed Crow? Were there no Great Cormorants at the ponds where you saw the ducks?

I visited Tokyo because my SO was going there on business, so I tagged along and we extended the visit to a holiday break. We always wanted to see it. After Tokyo, London feels a little provincial ;-) I've been to Kyoto many years, but wasn't into birding or wildlife photography back then.

Thank you for the photo, it's very nice, but I'll try to get my own next time

The list above is incomplete and I forgot to add to it the species I'm familiar with back home. I am not sure if I've seen Japanese or Great Tits - could you help ID'ing them?

Of the two, there's only Japanese Tit (Eastern Great Tit; Parus minor) in Japan. The breast is much less yellow than Great Tit (Parus major).

Cool, thanks.

Updated list (can't edit the first post now):

Dusky Thrush
Oriental Turtle Dove
Eurasian Teal
Mandarin Duck
Mallard Duck
Eurasian Coot
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Brown-eared Bulbul
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Black-winged Stilt
Little Grebe
White-cheeked Starling
Red-billed Leiothrix
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (no photo unfortunately)
Bull-headed Shrike
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Reed Bunting
Japanese Bush Warbler
Black Kite (we even saw a nest with a bird sitting on it, not far from a forest track they must feel safe there)
Greater Scaup
Black-backed Wagtail
Northern Shoveler
Japanese Tit
Japanese Cormorant
Black-headed Gull
Large-billed Crow
Grey Heron
Rock Dove
Great Crested Grebe
Blue Rock Thrush ssp philippensis

+ Varied Tit