Field Guides Tour Report Winter Japan: Cranes & Sea Eagles 2019 Jan 25, 2019 to Feb 9, 2019 Phil Gregory & Jun Matsui For our tour description, itinerary, past triplists, dates, fees, and more, please VISIT OUR TOUR PAGE. Steller's Sea-Eagle is classified as Vulnerable, although this individual, striding along like an enraged samurai, looks anything but!! This magnificent bird is always a highlight of the tour, and we were very pleased to see about 150 of them at Rausu. Photo by participant Becky Hansen. This was my fifteenth winter Japan trip, though beset by some weather issues with heavy snow at the snow monkeys, then rain on Kyushu and high winds on Hokkaido which cost us a day there when we were unable to land. Finally, we had some worries about snow at Haneda on departure day, which thankfully did not impact us much; let's hope for more settled conditions in 2020. We began as usual at Narita, where a Brown-headed Thrush was at Tokko creek not far from the hotel; it was the only one we saw. The striking Japanese Wagtail made its first appearance, but there was no sign of the Falcated Duck and Meadow and Black-faced Buntings I’d seen the previous day, though a flyover Goshawk was a good find. Karuizawa was not very snowy, so there were no ice hazards this time. Our initial afternoon trip to Saku gave us our first Smew, plus fantastic close Baikal Teal and a single drake Falcated Duck as we were leaving, plus easy Long-billed Plover, though duck numbers were low due to the icy conditions there. A forested road up in the hills near the town next morning looked very promising for Copper Pheasant but did not produce, though we did get great looks at Japanese Serow and Japanese Woodpecker there. Our visit to Shiotsubo onsen for coffee gave wonderful looks at unusual numbers of Varied Tit, and my first Chinese Hwamei for Japan, an introduced bird that seems to be spreading fast. There was no Japanese Accentor or Grosbeak but we did see the very dark local race of Eurasian Wren and Brown Dipper nearby, and lovely Willow and Long-tailed Tits and a gorgeous Red-flanked Bluetail. The Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani were a big hit as always, and with large amounts of very atmospheric and scenic snow this year. Later we had great views of Taiga Bean Goose and the usual distant Baikal Teal at Kamoike, a flyover of Mountain Hawk Eagle, and more Smew and great Falcated Ducks nearby. Hachodate Harbor gave Japanese Cormorant and Black-tailed Gull, and a vagrant Oriental Stork was tracked down and showed well, not one of the reintroduced birds. Field Guides Birding Tours • www.fieldguides.com • 800-728-4953 1 Kyushu was very wet on arrival, but nice for the second day, which was great for photography, but turned very cold and windy with snow showers or heavy rain for the next two days. Arasaki gave us a wonderful show of Hooded and White-naped cranes -- some 15,000 in the area this year -- plus 1 Sandhill and at least 2 Common Cranes with sundry hybrids. Thankfully, Saunders's Gull was back this year and showed well; last year they were wintering further north. Black-faced Spoonbills also showed nicely, with Eurasian Spoonbill for comparison. 4 Tundra Bean Goose at the Eastern Fields were a J-tick for me, and an interesting exercise in identifying them. We saw a few Mandarin Ducks at Kogawa Dam, and heading down to Sendae saw Japanese Cormorant, and a female Green Pheasant crossing the road. It was again a very poor year for buntings, with hardly any around. Long-billed Plover and a fine Crested Kingfisher showed nicely on the Sendae River as we drove to Miike, but it began to rain hard and we saw very little there, with again no buntings. We made a diversion before the rain to a site at Kagoshima State Forest where there was a very tame male Copper Pheasant, which showed amazingly well and was wandering about amongst the assembled photographers, great to see this difficult species so well and of the distinctive white-winged ijimae subspecies. Hokkaido by contrast was again gorgeous after gale force winds previously, with little snow, not much sea ice, and very cold temperatures. Some species were scarce or absent, and gull, alcid and duck numbers seemed quite low. Coming in a day behind schedule, we went straight from Red-crowned Crane Airport at Kushiro out to Washi-no-Yado small minshuku (the Japanese word for a small, family-owned bed-and-breakfast), arriving just after dark. This year the male Blakiston's Fish-Owl came in very late after bad weather the day before, first appearing at 0255 when the group saw it but did not tell Jun and I, so we did not see it until 0500! Still, we had great looks and the views from the rooms were terrific, and the overnight sharing arrangements seemed amicable enough. Though the sea ice was still well north of Rausu, we did our scheduled boat trip anyway, and it was fantastic in very cold but calm and clear weather, with amazing close views of both Steller's and White-tailed eagles as they came in to scavenge the fish that the boat crew threw out for them. Rausu Harbor gave us Harlequin Ducks, and both Glaucous and Glaucous-winged gulls amongst the numerous Slaty-backs plus a few Kamchatka (Common) Gulls. Yoroushi Onsen was as ever a big highlight, with lovely rooms, a magnificent hot spring (complete with outdoor facilities with lovely views of the forested ridge), superb Japanese meals, an enviable and very beautiful art gallery en route to the rooms, and a bird feeder that yielded Great Spotted Woodpecker, the strikingly pale asiatica race of Eurasian Nuthatch, Marsh Tit, and the distinctive brandtii race of Eurasian Jay. Blakiston's Fish-Owl arrived at the fishing area outside, with great looks from the comfort of the lounge around 1830! No sign of Solitary Snipe or Sable this year though. Next came the great sand spit of Notsuke, very cold as always, a bleak, barren, icy place but very spectacular. Sea ducks were sparse but Black Scoter showed well, as did Long-tailed Duck and Spectacled Guillemot on the calm sea. We saw dozens of Sika deer and some beautiful red foxes along the spit. Nosappu late afternoon was bitterly cold and with very little on the sea except Spectacled Guillemot off the cape. It was a very poor winter for alcids for some reason. Our last day saw us visit the great bleak cape of Kiritappu in beautiful calm sunny conditions, with Asian Rosy Finch near the lighthouse, then again later near the infamous grumpy guy’s place. We eventually also saw the birds very well on the power lines without peeking into his yard too much! Sea Otter was again this year a huge bonus here, with one individual showing very nicely in the calm seas. Steller's and White-tailed Eagle showed well in very scenic settings. Our finale came with wonderful Red-crowned Cranes at Tsurui, some this year rolled up like giant snowballs, very strange, and then seen again at the old ladies fields. We also visited a pair of Ural Owl at their day roost in exquisite late afternoon sunlight light, at a site where we saw one in previous years, a wonderful end to the birding. Jun Matsui was once again my co-leader and our driver, and we benefited greatly from his patience, local knowledge, and interpretive skills. My thanks to the group for coming and enjoying the many varied aspects of the tour as well as the birds. Particular thanks to Jun for driving so well, arranging the bags like a Tetris piece each day and acting as our intermediary in all matters Japanese; thanks also to Sue and Rowan at Sicklebill Safaris for good internal logistics; and to Karen at Field Guides for the flights and being the general tour manager. Why not join us for an unforgettable birding and cultural experience in this wonderful country in 2020? Itinerary Jan 27 Tokko River outflow (Narita Creek)/ Saku Reservoir /Komoro Jan 28 Karuizawa area / Shiotsubo Jan 29 Jigokudani Monkey Park/Komatsu Jan 30 Awara city fields/Hachodate Harbor/ Katano Kamoike/ Kahokugata Jan 31 JAL to Haneda/ Kagoshima/ Kogawa Dam/ Izumi Feb 1 Arasaki and eastern fields/ Akune/ Sendai river area Feb 2 Minamata and Yatsushiro area/ Arasaki and eastern fields Feb 3 Sendai Gawa/ Kagoshima State Forest/ Lake Miike/Kagoshima Feb 4 JAL to Haneda/ Kushiro and return to Tokyo due to bad weather Feb 5 JAL to Kushiro and drive to Washi-no-Yado Field Guides Birding Tours • www.fieldguides.com • 800-728-4953 2 Feb 6 "Evergreen" boat cruise Rausu harbor /Teshikaga/ Yoroushi Feb 7 Yoroushi/ Notsuke/Nosappu Feb 8 Tobai and Furen woodlands/Kiritappu/Kushiro Feb 9 Return to Tokyo on JAL, Express bus to Narita PG Kuranda Feb 2019 KEYS FOR THIS LIST One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant BIRDS Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl) GREATER WHITE­FRONTED GOOSE (Anser albifrons) – Single birds at Katano Kamoike and then at Arasaki Crane centre. TAIGA BEAN­GOOSE (Anser fabalis middendorffii) – Nice looks at this large­billed taxon at Katano Kamoike, where about 150 were on the pond. TUNDRA BEAN­GOOSE (Anser serrirostris serrirostris) – Four birds (with 3 next day) in the Eastern Fields had the dark head and smaller bill with steeper forehead of Tundra Bean Goose, a controversial split.