BIRDING JAPAN: Last Day in Hokkaido

Once more, Mr. Take showed us and released some birds he'd banded earlier right after breakfast. This time, they consisted of 2 long-tailed tits, a marsh tit and a young Narcissus flycatcher. 

LONG-TAILED TIT Aegithalos caudatus

MARSH TIT Poecile palustris hensoni

NARCISSUS FLYCATCHER Ficedula narcissina

After leaving Furen Lodge and saying goodbye to Mr. Take, we went to a nearby woodland for a walk Mr. Take had recommended. Along with some surprisingly tame sika deer, we saw a few distant Temminck's and pelagic cormorants, and a feeding flock of nuthatches in the forest. A lone brown-headed thrush was flushed from the path, too quick to get a good look at.
After the walk was finished, we began the drive to Kushiro Airport, taking a slower, more scenic route before switching back to the main road. We stopped several times, once to see a distant flock of black scoters and once to observe some nearby ducks. A large flock of male goosanders flew overhead at the second stop, and along the drive we also found a single red fox. Soon, we'd arrived at Kushiro, bidding Hokkaido goodbye . . . for now.

GOOSANDER Mergus merganser

RED FOX Vulpes vulpes japonica

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Five

The first birds of the day were seen right after breakfast, when Mr. Take showed us some birds he had caught for banding earlier, and released them. A red-flanked bluetail, black-faced bunting, grey bunting and winter wren were all released before us.

RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL Luscinia cyanura

WINTER WREN Troglodytes troglodytes fumigatus

BLACK-FACED BUNTING Emberiza spodocephala personata

Then, we drove to Ochiishi for a cruise around the nearby islands, where several auks could apparently be seen. We were unlucky on our cruise, as the weather was extremely calm and all our views were extremely distant. Some sea otters and harbour seals that I couldn't get a good look at were seen by others. Bird-wise, many slaty-backed gulls, pelagic cormorants, Temminck's cormorants and black-tailed gulls were abundant, but only one group of auklets was seen: a small flock of rhinoceros auklets that briefly dashed past the boat.
On our return to the harbour, we set off on a guided trip with Mr. Take to Cape Nosappu. Along the way, we stopped at several small lakes that were full of waterbirds. Eurasian wigeons, Northern shovelers, spot-billed ducks, common teal and a lone tufted duck were seen, along with a black-necked grebe and a fishing gull-billed tern. In the scrub around one of these lakes were several Siberian stonechats. We also stopped at some sites Mr. Take knew to be good for gulls, and were able to find an immature glaucous-winged gull, along with some glaucous gulls. Finally, we reached Cape Nosappu and immediately spotted a stunning male Harlequin duck in the distance, with a few females swimming much closer in. With Mr. Take's scope, we also saw a pigeon guillemot: a rare bird in Hokkaido! On the way back, we scanned several areas where cormorants were resting, but were unable to find our target (the red-faced cormorant), though pelagic cormorants and Temminck's cormorants were seen in large numbers.

NORTHERN SHOVELER Anas clypeata

SIBERIAN STONECHAT Saxicola saurus stejnegeri

GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL Larus glaucescens

GLAUCOUS GULL (3rd from the left) Larus hyperboreus

HARLEQUIN DUCK Histrionicus histrionicus

PELAGIC CORMORANT Phalacrocorax pelagicus

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Four

Once more, we left early in the morning for our next destination: Lake Furen Lodge. Along the way we got close views of several species we'd seen in the drive to Rausu: white-tailed eagles, slaty-backed gulls, black-tailed gulls, goosanders and even a few female Harlequin ducks were all seen.   A new bird for the trip was a single winter-plumage black-headed gull, in a flock of the previously mentioned gulls. Closer to the lodge, we stopped to see 2 red-crowned cranes and some distant flocks of ducks.

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE Haliaeetus albicilla

SLATY-BACKED GULL Larus schistisagus

BLACK-TAILED GULL Larus crassirostris

RED-CROWNED CRANE Grus japonensis

We settled in at the lodge before I walked up to the nearby dike. The lake held several large flocks of waterfowl, along with many grey herons. I was able to get distant views of Eurasian wigeons, mallards and Northern pintails. While walking back to the lodge, I found a great spotted woodpecker in the garden.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER Dendrocopos major japonicus

Mr. Take, our host, recommended a nearby boardwalk for getting good views of these flocks. We headed out to a surprise: the waterfowl flocks that had previously been feeding in the centre of the lake were now resting next to the boardwalk! Many Eurasian wigeons, Northern pintails, mallards and common teal were present. In the grassland around the boardwalk were a few Pacific golden plovers, white wagtails and buff-bellied pipits, along with some approachable Sika deer.

EURASIAN WIGEON Anas penelope

NORTHERN PINTAIL Anas acuta

COMMON TEAL Anas crecca

SIKA DEER Cervus nippon

BUFF-BELLIED PIPIT Anthus rubescens japonicus

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Two

Early in the morning, we left the Hickory Wind lodge on a guided bear-spotting tour. Along the 2-hour drive to the site were many distant gulls and Temminck's cormorants, as well as a single white-tailed eagle. Once there, we stood at the edge of a road overlooking a salmon-filled river and patiently waited for a bear to appear. While waiting, a few Eurasian nuthatches and Eastern great tits flew past. A black woodpecker was heard calling in the forest directly below the road, but wasn't seen. A single slaty-backed gull stood at the mouth of the river.

EASTERN GREAT TIT Parus minor

We waited for a while, until we headed to a nearby town for lunch. Here, we stopped to get some close looks at a flock of cormorants and gulls. We got good views of 2 species we would soon get sick of, slaty-backed and black-tailed gulls. The cormorant flock mostly consisted of Temminck's cormorants, but a few pelagic cormorants were among them. A distant dock was being used as a perch by many more pelagic cormorants, but they were too far to be photographed.

SLATY-BACKED GULL Larus schistisagus

BLACK-TAILED GULL Larus crassirostris

TEMMINCK'S CORMORANT Phalacrocorax capillatus

We drove back to the site and waited for another hour, before heading off to Shiretoko Pass. We returned back to the site for one last sweep of the river, driving down the road and across the river itself. As we drove back up the road, we were informed that a brown bear had been spotted. On return, we watched the brown bear fish for salmon and successfully catch one, before heading out of the water and enjoying its prize.

BROWN BEAR Ursus arctos lasiotus

BIRDING JAPAN: Hokkaido Day Three

After a delicious breakfast at the Hickory Wind Wilderness Lodge, we began the 3 hour drive to the town of Rausu. Along the way, we stopped at Kushiro Marsh, where we got great views of 2 red-crowned cranes.  On the last stretch of road to Rausu itself were many slaty-backed gulls, black-tailed gulls and Temminck's cormorants. We stopped 2 more times to look at a flock of female goosanders and a pair of white-tailed eagles. 

GOOSANDER Mergus merganser orientalis

We arrived in Rausu and, after a few minutes of searching, we were able to find our destination: Washi No Yado, the most reliable site in Hokkaido for Blakiston's fish owls. We settled in our rooms, before walking to the mouth of the nearby stream and back in search of dippers. By the time we'd returned, a particularly fearless brown dipper was preening on a rock, and eventually started to hunt in front of us. 

BROWN DIPPER Cinclus pallasii

As night set in, I caught sight of 3 large, brown birds fly into a distant tree. Probably Blakiston's fish owls, but not quite the views I was hoping for. We sat in our room (which had a view of the stream) and waited for the owls to show. Eventually, I went to sleep and asked my mother to wake me when the owl arrived. We were all rewarded for our patience at 11.55, when 2 stunning Blakiston's fish owls flew down to the stream and started to scan the water for fish.

BLAKISTON'S FISH OWL Bubo blakistoni