Monday 17th February:
I was moving on today and as I was packing last night ready for an early exit in the morning, a couple of things were going round in my mind. Firstly, that I should have allocated at least an extra day in the Karuizawa area. The second was where to go for my last realistic attempt at those pesky pheasants. From BF and Kantori I had a couple of other possible sites in the area but the way my brain works in this sort of situation is along the lines that if I went to a new spot and missed seeing my target, back at the previously visited site all the pheasants in the area would be out on the tracks parading around with a 'middle primary up to you' sort of gesture. So with that flawed logic still with me this morning, I checked out, put my bag in the car and set off back to Yacho no Mori!
On the road to the site I saw the usual common species (Feral Pigeon, Crows, Kites) and the walk up through the forest provided much the same as the previous mornings, although a bit quieter in general than the first visit, but still plenty of the three more common tits, Jay, plus Pygmy, Great Spotted & Japanese Green Woodpecker (sorry, Jeff!), a number of Dusky Thrush & another Meadow Bunting. The prize for the bird of the day - though still very early - must go to the Ural Owl looking disdainfully down at me from a path-side Japanese Larch. Walking back to the car after doing all the tracks again in vein for the pheasants and deciding I had to reluctantly leave I lucked in to a Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel peering out of the entrance hole to it's nest box.
A last brief visit to Shiotsubo produced more tits, a Nuthatch, Hawfinch, Oriental Greenfinch and Brown-eared Bulbul on or around the feeders.
So there's your three back, Adam, I dipped on both pheasants and the accentor.
It was by then late morning and time to head back into town to return the car, which all went smoothly, and catch a shinkansen back to Tokyo. From the train I picked up Great Egret & Grey Heron in the track-side field ditches & Black-eared Kite & Eastern Buzzard overhead. Once the train slowed in the suburbs I was a bit surprised to see a small flock of House Swift - presumably kuntzi.
Once at the station I was back into the realms of crowded and politely rushing humanity on the platforms & concourses. I found the lockers, there were few empty ones available of the right size for my ridiculously oversize bag but eventually I found one in which I could just about stuff it after having removed a few items into a smaller backpack to take with me. I headed out of the station and was then suddenly in the calm again of what looked like the Business District with the Imperial Palace Gardens just a block away and across a road.
I only recently discovered the joys of city park birding in a brief visit to Bangkok last summer and this lovely park around the Imperial Palace is definitely worth a visit if you have some time to spare in the city. The giant Bonsai (if that isn't a contradiction in terms) pines are impressive, the grass and hard surfaces immaculate and the contrast of old and new fascinating. I did a complete circuit of the perimeter which was well used by joggers, cyclists and others and adjoined by busy roads with tall buildings just beyond. Nevertheless, there were plenty of Crows & Bulbuls in the trees and White-cheeked Starlings & Black-backed Wagtails on the grass plus Kites overhead. But the main interest for birders is in and alongside the moats where I had: Mute Swan, Mallard, Gadwall, Falcated Duck, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Teal, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Great Cormorant, Coot & Black-headed Gull.
Back at the start I had a wander around the streets to take in a bit of urban Japan and then returned to the main station and found a restaurant in the adjoining mall. Despite picking up a map of the station earlier and noting where the lockers were I'm damned if I could find my way back to where my bag had been stashed until I realised that they were the on the 'train side' of the ticket barriers - it must be an age thing. So I bought a Yamanote line ticket, recovered my bag and took a train to Hamamatsutcho with the intention of taking a subway train a few stops and then walking a couple of km to my hotel for the night but the day's walking and the weight of my bag persuaded me to take a taxi. I only had the name of the hotel written in English, which the driver was not able to read, and my appalling Japanese pronunciation did not help but by comparing maps on the car's sat nav, his mobile and my smartphone we managed to agree on a correct location near the airport.
1. Ural Owl;
2. Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel;
3. Tokyo - old & new;
4. Imperial Palace;
5. Pruning giant Bonsai Pines.
