Japan 2015 day 10: Rausu and Notsuke

28 December 2015

Mick was still struggling with his sleeping plans a little and had woken up at 05:00, recording a Blakiston's Fish Owl again at the pond shortly afterwards. By the time Rich and I were up it was getting light and the owl show was over, so we indulged in a rather hearty breakfast. A short walk in the area afterwards produced a pair of Brown Dippers and female Teal on the stream plus an abundance of Jays as well as Willow and Marsh Tits.

Hokkaido Red Squirrel

From here we drove east to the coast, once again finding the roads generally empty and snow-free, making journey times pleasingly quick. We opted to bird the harbours north to Rausu but generally found them to be fairly quiet: Kunbetsu held six Black Scoters, Azabucho a seemingly injured Pacific Diver and Matsunoricho a Red-necked Grebe and 200 roosting Pelagic Cormorants. Each harbour held the ubiquitous Harlequins, which also littered the sheltered inshore waters right along the coast.

The day you become tired of drake Harlequins is the day you've become tired of life

Arriving at Rausu, we found the harbour relatively devoid of birds with just a handful of Glaucous and Kamchatka Gulls of any note. With that it was back south towards the Notsoke peninsula - a long peninsula shaped like a skeleton's arm, jutting several kilometres out in to the Sea of Okhotsk.

Adult Glaucous Gull, Rausu 

Adult Kamchatka Gull, Rausu

Notsuke is a spectacularly bleak place, very much reminiscent of a cross between Spurn and Dungeness. There are very few people here in winter - the fishing sheds are boarded up and boats hauled up on land, many falling appart. Countless piles of fishing equipment (nets, buoys, cages) in varying states of disrepair scatter the landscape, adding to the rustic feel, and the silence only serves to accentuate the place as a true wilderness.

The opportunistic scavenging of several Red Foxes was quite fitting in such surroundings, and one or two of these were almost as tame as - yet altogether more pleasing on the eye than - London's urban foxes.

Red Fox

Notsuke is a brilliant place for birding - though at first it seemed quiet, it soon became apparent that the ice-free north side of the peninsula supported many thousands of seaduck - mainly Black Scoters but some sizeable rafts of Scaup and Red-breasted Merganser too. Among these were smaller numbers of Long-tailed Duck, Stejneger's Scoter (c.50) and tens of Red-throated Divers.

It took a while before we saw our first eagles, but we quickly notched up 30+ Steller's after the first appeared on roadside posts. Some allowed a reasonably close approach and consequently a few half-decent shots were taken.

Smaller numbers of White-tailed were also present and small groups of Glaucous Gulls patrolled the coastline - in total upwards of 50 were seen. Though we found a nice flock of 24 Snow Buntings, a walk along the peninsula in the lighthouse area didn't produce the hoped-for Asian Rosy Finch.

Glaucous Gulls, Notsuke 

A scan of the frozen bay to the south produced evocative views of several Steller's sitting out on the ice.

With the sun dropping fast we decided to return north to Rausu, where we were staying. A quick stop in Shibetsu harbour late afternoon left us kicking ourselves that we hadn't visited slightly earlier. With the tide in the sea was almost at eye-level from the quay, giving a fantastic angle on the assembled ducks. Having lost the sun to the horizon, it was galling to have drake Harlequins to within 10 metres - an opportunity missed without doubt!

Back at Rausu we tucked in to yet another fantastic meal and I took a dip in the onsen before heading round to Washi no Yado on the north side of town. It didn't take long before a Blakiston's Fish Owl appeared to begin fishing on the stream, and over the course of the next few hours we had at least three sightings - including one memorable moment when two birds were seen together in the stream, hissing and interacting with each other. Just brilliant!

Blakiston's Fish Owl - an image-filled blog post on these idols of Hokkaido will appear at a later date

Japan 2015 day seven: cranes and eagles on Christmas Day

25 December 2015

An early flight from Tokyo saw us arrive at Kushiro airport by mid-morning and, with a few hours to kill before the daily feed was scheduled to take place at Akan Crane Centre, we decided to make the short journey in to Kushiro to explore the port area for gulls.

Although there wasn't much snow on the ground the skies were grey and the temperature hovering just below freezing, and it was no real surprise when it began to snow a short while after our arrival - my first truly 'white' Christmas!

Kushiro harbour was busy despite the date, with plenty of trawler activity attracting hundreds of gulls. Quickly we found our first Kamchatka Gulls of the trip off the main pier, with birds of all ages performing well for the camera as they came in for our bread and popcorn handouts.

Adult Kamchatka Gull

Rather unlike Kyushu, Slaty-backed Gull was by far the commonest species. Among the hundreds gathered were a few tens of Glaucous-winged Gull and about five Glaucous Gulls, with all three species looking particularly striking and imperious as the snow fell. Over the next hour or two we happily papped away in what was a great session for photography - despite the minor issues with auto focus caused by falling snow!

 Slaty-backed Gull appreciating our offerings

Slaty-backs chasing a dumpster truck out of Kushiro harbour in the snow

A couple of Black Scoter were seen distantly but the commonest duck in the harbour was Greater Scaup though there were a few Harlequin Ducks and Goldeneye present and about 10 Goosanders at the nearby river mouth. Our first Hokkaido eagle - 'just' a White-tailed - landed on the outer breakwater.

Female Greater Scaup

With time pressing we decided to head inland (via a food stop at 7-11; these convenience stores proved staple to our daily diet) to Akan. On arrival around 70 Red-crowned Cranes were showing very well from the viewpoint. By early afternoon the skies had cleared and the cranes looked simply stunning against the blue skies and snowy backdrop, even if the experience did feel a little dudey. Generally peaceful in their antics, scuffles and display would occasionally break out among the gathered birds.

At 14:00 the feed began and a bucket load of fish was thrown out. Within seconds up to five White-tailed Eagles appeared from nowhere, swooping down to grab the offerings and giving absolutely outrageous views as they did so. The cranes acted quite aggressively towards the eagles as a peaceful scene became utter mayhem in the space of seconds. The eagles, evidently wary of the cranes' flying limbs, rarely paused to enjoy their meals and soon flew off to the safety of nearby trees. This spectacle was over in little more than ten minutes, and serenity soon returned.

We enjoyed the delights of Akan for the rest of the afternoon, focusing almost entirely on photographing the cranes as well as we could. The light changed quite frequently as banks of cloud rolled over and mist occasionally began to rise, allowing for photos to be taken in a range of conditions.

I went for a little wander late on and came across a Grey-headed Woodpecker giving excellent views near the captive crane pens - the only individual of the trip. Other birds included Willow Tits, Jay of the race brandtii and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

With darkness falling we made the short drive to our accommodation in Tsurui where I was very quick to head for the onsen to warm up. After that we we treated to a superb Christmas dinner, consisting of several dishes of traditional Japanese cuisine - a fitting end to a fine first day on Japan's northerly island.