foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
Tuesday 18th February:
Another early start this morning, this time to make use of the hotel's free airport shuttle bus to Haneda. On checking out, the receptionist asked which Terminal I wanted and when I replied Domestic she passed this on to the driver who then asked, through her, where I was going. When I replied Hokkaido he nodded and we set off. At the second stop he indicated that is was mine and on entering the Terminal I did the usual glance at the Departures screen and my flight was not there! At the Information Desk the helpful young lady said I needed to be in a different Terminal so I got on an inter-terminal shuttle bus and tried again. This time all was OK and the check-in with AirDo went smoothly. On time we took off from an already warm Tokyo as the sun rose and and hour and a half later landed at an overcast, snowy and crisp Kushiro. The nice girl at the Nippon car hire desk escorted me to a minibus that drove just across the small airport compound and some equally efficient girls sorted the paperwork and sat nav language in no time and I was off in my Honda Fit, armed with a warning about the possibly suicidal deer that inhabit the island.
I set off straight away to the Akan International Crane Centre, seeing Kites and a fly-over White-tailed Eagle en route, and had an impromptu breakfast and hot chocolate from the brilliant vending machines in the car park's rest area building. I then walked to the centre, paid the entrance fee and walked to the viewing area; the bugling was evocative as soon as I opened the exit door. I was pleasingly surprised by how close the Red-crowned Cranes were to the small group of photographers by the barriers and they looked great in the snow with a backdrop of a ridge covered in bare deciduous trees - a somewhat overused word but iconic. Whilst the Cranes were obviously the main event, and their calling and dancing were entertaining, there were also both species of Crow, Feral Pigeon and a Sika Deer presumably feeding on the grain put out or the Cranes, Tree Sparrow, Japanese Tit & Dusky Thrush in the trees, a small flock of Whooper Swan in the background and a circling Rough-legged Buzzard. After returning to the building to warm up a bit and have a look at the exhibition, I returned to the viewing area and within minutes the highlight of the day, given that it was the prime target for this whole trip, was an adult Steller's Eagle flying low and slow over the fields, upsetting the Cranes a bit but making my day - a great Birthday present to myself!
I left a bit reluctantly for Akkeshi to have a look around the harbour and accessible areas of shoreline. Full disclosure - I am not a larophile and am not capable of dealing with the variety of juvenile plumage details so I only 'do' adults. But in the port I did manage to ID Slaty-backed Gull and Kamchatka Gull - or kamtschatschensis sub-species of Common Gull, depending upon your taxonomy choice. On the other side of town Lake Akkeshi held large numbers of Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Goosander & Red-breasted Merganser along with more Swans in the distance and a number of Steller's perched on the far shore. Just as I was leaving along the small road between the lake shore and the industrial units I saw a small movement on a snow bank and there was a female Asian Rosy Finch pecking about on the road edge. I stopped briefly at the Akkeshi Marshes but apart from another Rough-legged Buzzard it was almost birdless.
Next stop was Cape Kiritappu where a walk out to the point added an unidentified seal below the cliffs, more of the duck species seen at the last site and a nice flock of Black Scoter in the bay. Driving back along the peninsular a quartering Short-eared Owl came very close to the car.
It was now time to complete the journey and just after dark I arrived at Lodge Furen, near Nemuro, to a warm welcome from Take-san and Masako-san, a fantastic authentic meal (including his home made bilberry infused saki) and an introduction to my four fellow guests - 2 Catalan's and a Spaniard travelling together and a German, all photographer birders.
What a great way to spend a Birthday!
1-5. Red-crowned Cranes.
Another early start this morning, this time to make use of the hotel's free airport shuttle bus to Haneda. On checking out, the receptionist asked which Terminal I wanted and when I replied Domestic she passed this on to the driver who then asked, through her, where I was going. When I replied Hokkaido he nodded and we set off. At the second stop he indicated that is was mine and on entering the Terminal I did the usual glance at the Departures screen and my flight was not there! At the Information Desk the helpful young lady said I needed to be in a different Terminal so I got on an inter-terminal shuttle bus and tried again. This time all was OK and the check-in with AirDo went smoothly. On time we took off from an already warm Tokyo as the sun rose and and hour and a half later landed at an overcast, snowy and crisp Kushiro. The nice girl at the Nippon car hire desk escorted me to a minibus that drove just across the small airport compound and some equally efficient girls sorted the paperwork and sat nav language in no time and I was off in my Honda Fit, armed with a warning about the possibly suicidal deer that inhabit the island.
I set off straight away to the Akan International Crane Centre, seeing Kites and a fly-over White-tailed Eagle en route, and had an impromptu breakfast and hot chocolate from the brilliant vending machines in the car park's rest area building. I then walked to the centre, paid the entrance fee and walked to the viewing area; the bugling was evocative as soon as I opened the exit door. I was pleasingly surprised by how close the Red-crowned Cranes were to the small group of photographers by the barriers and they looked great in the snow with a backdrop of a ridge covered in bare deciduous trees - a somewhat overused word but iconic. Whilst the Cranes were obviously the main event, and their calling and dancing were entertaining, there were also both species of Crow, Feral Pigeon and a Sika Deer presumably feeding on the grain put out or the Cranes, Tree Sparrow, Japanese Tit & Dusky Thrush in the trees, a small flock of Whooper Swan in the background and a circling Rough-legged Buzzard. After returning to the building to warm up a bit and have a look at the exhibition, I returned to the viewing area and within minutes the highlight of the day, given that it was the prime target for this whole trip, was an adult Steller's Eagle flying low and slow over the fields, upsetting the Cranes a bit but making my day - a great Birthday present to myself!
I left a bit reluctantly for Akkeshi to have a look around the harbour and accessible areas of shoreline. Full disclosure - I am not a larophile and am not capable of dealing with the variety of juvenile plumage details so I only 'do' adults. But in the port I did manage to ID Slaty-backed Gull and Kamchatka Gull - or kamtschatschensis sub-species of Common Gull, depending upon your taxonomy choice. On the other side of town Lake Akkeshi held large numbers of Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Goosander & Red-breasted Merganser along with more Swans in the distance and a number of Steller's perched on the far shore. Just as I was leaving along the small road between the lake shore and the industrial units I saw a small movement on a snow bank and there was a female Asian Rosy Finch pecking about on the road edge. I stopped briefly at the Akkeshi Marshes but apart from another Rough-legged Buzzard it was almost birdless.
Next stop was Cape Kiritappu where a walk out to the point added an unidentified seal below the cliffs, more of the duck species seen at the last site and a nice flock of Black Scoter in the bay. Driving back along the peninsular a quartering Short-eared Owl came very close to the car.
It was now time to complete the journey and just after dark I arrived at Lodge Furen, near Nemuro, to a warm welcome from Take-san and Masako-san, a fantastic authentic meal (including his home made bilberry infused saki) and an introduction to my four fellow guests - 2 Catalan's and a Spaniard travelling together and a German, all photographer birders.
What a great way to spend a Birthday!
1-5. Red-crowned Cranes.
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