Sea Eagle Photography in Utoro (1 Viewer)

[Clive_Malta]

Hello, everyone!

I am currently planning my second trip to Japan which will hopefully be for December 2024 to January 2025. The plan is to be in Hokkaido in mid-January and I would love to photograph the sea eagles besides other wildlife and I am having a primary quandary. From what I can understand, mid-January is too early to go to Rausu for the drift ice cruises. As an alternative, I am looking at the possibility of joining a wildlife tour which takes place in Utoro but I am not sure if the sea eagles there are viewed from a close enough distance for decent photographs. Obviously I am not expecting the close distances one could get at Rausu but if sightings from 20-30m are possible (especially of the Steller's sea eagle), I would be happy. Is anyone able to confirm whether this is possible, please?

I would also like to add that should the trip happen, we will not be having a private car which has sadly lead me to think that it's not possible to go for the Blakiston's fish owl. If anyone has any suggestions about this, I would appreciate!

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[dandsblair]

Hi, it is a few years ago now but we saw the Sea Eagles very close up at the harbour wall in Rausu during February with the ice still some way off and in the nearby estuary along with lots of other wildlife, so no need to go to out to the sea ice just do one of the local boat trips.
We didn't do trip out of Utoro but were told that you didn't get very close to the birds.
We stayed at Yourushi for the Blakison Fish Owl but if staying in Rausu a taxi would get you to the famous spot for the Owl.
I attach our trip report which might be some help.

 

[foresttwitcher]

I saw Steller's & White-tailed well at Furen-ko (Lake Furen) in 2020 - my avatar photo was digiscoped there at feeding time and there were a number of photographers there, but it was mid-February so I don't know what it would be like earlier. I also saw both eagles at Akkeshi (distant), Notsuke peninsular (perched on lamp-posts) and at the Akan crane centre (flyover).

I did my boat trip from Habomai and did not see any eagles that morning.

Blackiston's at Yoroushi Onsen was a great experience but I had a hire car so don't know how difficult it would be to do by public transport. I guess taxi should be possible.

My trip report for information: Japan - February 2020

You will get more information if you are on Facebook by joining Kantori - an English language site for birders / birding in Japan.

 

[Clive_Malta]

Dear both,

Thank you so much for your replies, they are really helpful. From what you have said and after corresponding again with the tour company, it indeed does look like that sightings from Utoro are distant at least for photography purposes. I am really glad that one can have such sightings of the eagles from Rausu even when not going out on a drift ice cruise (I would be extremely happy with photos like those!). So, I will be definitely tweaking the itinerary to go there especially since it will offer the possibility to go to the Onsen for the fish owl. I will also see if we can include Furen in our itinerary (Akai is already included).

A couple of more questions if I may:

Would a taxi serve to go to the best sites to observe the eagles at Furen? There also appears to be a wildlife tour offered by Nemuro Nature Centre but details are a bit fuzzy.

Are there good chances to see foxes at both Rausu and Furen? As they are a primary photographic target of mine. I've gone through the trip report linked and I could gather that you saw a couple.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Would a taxi serve to go to the best sites to observe the eagles at Furen? There also appears to be a wildlife tour offered by Nemuro Nature Centre but details are a bit fuzzy.

Are there good chances to see foxes at both Rausu and Furen? As they are a primary photographic target of mine. I've gone through the trip report linked and I could gather that you saw a couple.

I did not use taxis in Japan but I guess a taxi driver from Nemuro should know the eagle site. I stayed with Take-san at Lodge Furen and if you could get to his place by taxi to stay he may be able to take you to Furen-ko for the eagle feeding. He can act as a guide to other sites in the area (such as Cape Nosappu) and get you booked on the Habomai pelagic trip. He also booked me into Yoyado-daiichi at Yoroushi Onsen as I could not navigate their website and was getting no answers to my emails. I could send you his email address by private message if you wanted - he speaks and writes English.

The fox I saw on Hokkaido was as I was driving away from Cape Nosappu so I'm afraid I can't really give you a precise spot (the other was on Honshu).

 

[Clive_Malta]

I did not use taxis in Japan but I guess a taxi driver from Nemuro should know the eagle site. I stayed with Take-san at Lodge Furen and if you could get to his place by taxi to stay he may be able to take you to Furen-ko for the eagle feeding. He can act as a guide to other sites in the area (such as Cape Nosappu) and get you booked on the Habomai pelagic trip. He also booked me into Yoyado-daiichi at Yoroushi Onsen as I could not navigate their website and was getting no answers to my emails. I could send you his email address by private message if you wanted - he speaks and writes English.

The fox I saw on Hokkaido was as I was driving away from Cape Nosappu so I'm afraid I can't really give you a precise spot (the other was on Honshu).

Understood, thanks! So, I amended the itinerary and Nemuro would stretch things too much but I have added Rausu and Yoroushi Onsen instead of Utoro. If you could give me his contact address I would appreciate, yes please! Especially for the Onsen booking.

 

[dandsblair]

Dai-ichi Yuyado Yoroushi Onsen, Hokkaido
+81 153 782131
An onsen hotel next to a river where Blakiston’s Fish Owls regularly visit. Little English spoken.


Contact for Furen guide: +81 153 25 3919 (Matsuo-san) - Good English spoken.

 

[Clive_Malta]

Dai-ichi Yuyado Yoroushi Onsen, Hokkaido
+81 153 782131
An onsen hotel next to a river where Blakiston’s Fish Owls regularly visit. Little English spoken.


Contact for Furen guide: +81 153 25 3919 (Matsuo-san) - Good English spoken.

Thank you! I contacted the Furen guide who is unfortunately unavailable for January 2025. For the fish owls, I'm thinking of going to Yoroushi Onsen.

 

[foresttwitcher]

I contacted the Furen guide who is unfortunately unavailable for January 2025.

That is a shame but if you are staying at his Lodge the eagle feeding watching area is less than 1km.

 

[Clive_Malta]

That is a shame but if you are staying at his Lodge the eagle feeding watching area is less than 1km.

Staying at his lodge is also uncertain at this point as he is unsure whether they will be hosting or not. If not, we would stay in Nemuro I think.

 

[birdpixel]

I am thinking of making a short trip towards the end of December to Kushiro (from Tokyo) for the usual east Hokkaido species. Been there once and had a great time, so would like to take another friend couple and my wife this time. I could start another thread but this thread seems to have most of the same requests...anyway, here goes:

1. Are there any bird guides that I could hire for a few days? Any pointers would be awesome.
2. Simple accommodations in this area for a few days?
3. How do you folks deal with transport? Hire a car? I would rather not do that if at all possible.
4. Any way to book the Fish Owl experience?

Thanks a lot in advance, I really appreciate it.

 

[foresttwitcher]

For the Blackiston's Fish Owl (in 2020) I stayed in Yuyado Daiichi at Yoroushi Onsen and would highly recommend it - the owl can be seen fishing in the stream just beyond the window. It is not cheap but you get a good room and an excellent meal (plus use of the spar) but I believe there are other cheaper places.

Given this location, hiring a car would be very useful; the operators are good, winter tyres fitted if required and the driving is easy.