|
Saturday 5 February to Sunday 20 February 2011 with seabird extension to Tuesday 22 February
Cost: £3990 plus £950 for flights With Seabird Extension Cost: To be announced Note that to qualify for the airpass for the domestic flights on this tour, we have to book our international flights one of several specific airlines. This allows us to obtain the domestic flights at a much lower price. If you are note taking the group flights, and intend to book you own, please check with the office first. Click here for explanation of price breakdown Note that in some places we stay in traditional Japanese inns where single rooms are not available and where washing facilities can be shared. Maximum group size: 12 with 1 leader.
|
'I can only write that your tour to Japan was for me a fantastic trip. Please forward my thanks to James and Fergus for their excellent leadership. The combination of their skills is to be commended and made the trip even better.' J. Warner 2008. |
|
A visit to Japan in the winter is something every world birder should experience. The long chain of islands that make up Japan straddle the Pacific coast of Asia, providing an ideal wintering ground for a some of the world's most sought-after birds, and although the species list is not large, it contains some real gems. Our tour visits three islands in the long archipelago. First we spend time on the main island of Honshu, where we visit the densely wooded slopes of one of Japan’s many extinct volcanoes, haunt of endemics and winter visitors. Then we travel south to Kyushu to see one of the greatest gatherings of cranes in the world. Finally we head north to the island of Hokkaido, a winter wonderland and home to some iconic birding images such as Red-crowned Cranes dancing in the snow, mighty Steller’s Sea Eagles swooping over the pack ice, and a huge Blakiston’s Fish Owl staring back at you in the frosty night air. Japan is much more than just a birding trip – it’s a complete cultural event and one that is bound to captivate even the most hardened birdwatcher. In some places we stay in Japanese inns where we can gain an insight into the traditional lifestyle, and everywhere we go the Japanese passion for order and neatness is evident. And of course there is also all that fascinating food to sample. For 2011 we will be offering a short post-tour extension. The main aim of this is to take a boat trip out from Choshi port near Tokyo. We'll be heading into some of the richest waters around Japan for seabirds in search of a variety of seabirds including Bonin Petrel, Tristram's and Fork-tailed Storm-petrel, Ancient and Japanese Murrelets, and Black-footed, Laysan and Short-tailed Albatrosses. Day 1: The tour begins in London with an overnight flight to Tokyo. Day 2: We arrive at Narita Airport, from there we transfer by coach to Tateshina, situated in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. On the way we should catch sight of Mount Fuji and arrive in time to see some of the birds local to the region. Night at Tateshina. Day 3: After our previous day of travelling, this morning will be the perfect introduction to Japanese birding. As it gets light we can sit with a cup of coffee and watch as our hotel’s well-stocked bird tables attract a mouth-watering selection of species. During a leisurely breakfast we should see good numbers of Brambling, Hawfinch, Japanese Grosbeak and Asian Rosy-Finches all feeding just feet away from the windows. Also likely are Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, and Eastern Great, Varied, Long-tailed and Willow Tits. The local race of Bullfinch with its striking pink cheeks should be seen and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and the local race of Eurasian Jay are all possible. In some years even Pallas’s Rosefinch pays a visit although it’s never guaranteed. After breakfast we’ll explore nearby woodland and streams that may provide our first Meadow and Elegant Buntings or maybe a Brown Dipper. In the afternoon we change accommodation to another small guest house slightly higher up the mountain. From here we are ideally situated for exploring habitat ideal for two local specialities - Copper Pheasant and Japanese Woodpecker. Night near Tateshina
Day 4: After another breakfast spent watching a different set of bird feeders we’ll head out for the day in search of Japanese Macaques – the famous Snow Monkeys. A few hours drive from our hotel is a hot spring where the Macaques come to bathe each day. Birds are likely throughout the day and we will see Bewick’s Swans, Goosander and Smew on the river, along with a host of other duck, and maybe our first Japanese Wagtail, Bull-headed Shrike, Daurian Redstart, Long-tailed Rosefinch or Azure-winged Magpie. Night near Tateshina. Day 5: We leave Tateshina early to drive to Karuizawa, where we’ll spend the day and night. Karuizawa is a resort town on the slopes of Mt Asama. Walking around the woodland edges, gardens and avenues of the town, we should get views of Japanese Accentor, Red-flanked Bluetail, the distinctive darker race of Wren and Northern Treecreeper among the host of woodland birds, and, with careful checking, Green and Copper Pheasant may come into view. The river here is an excellent place to look for Crested Kingfisher and Brown Dipper, and if we are lucky Japanese Waxwing. A nearby dam may hold a variety of waterfowl, and there is chance of Baikal Teal. Night in Karuizawa. Day 6: Today we leave the mountains and return to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for our afternoon flight south to the island of Kyushu. From Kagoshima airport we will transfer to Izumi, our base for the next three nights. Days 7-8: A few miles from the town of Izumi is the coastal reclaimed land of Arasaki, an expanse of coastal rice fields that every winter play host to an amazing gathering of more than ten thousand cranes. As autumn approaches, elegant White-naped Cranes make their way from remote breeding grounds in northeast Asia, by way of the Korean Peninsula, to spend the winter here in southern Japan. Over 3000 join far greater numbers of the smaller Hooded Cranes which winter here and at only one other site in Japan. The area is well protected and served by an excellent visitor's centre that allows for watching in comfort if the weather is poor. On their journey to this one small region from vast areas of eastern Asia, these birds manage to pick up other crane species along the way and it is usually possible to see individual Common and Sandhill Cranes here and occasionally even a Demoiselle or a majestic Siberian Crane. There may also be a few of the highly-endangered Black-faced Spoonbills joining the throng. Cranes aside, Arasaki boasts many more wintering birds. There is a rich mosaic of habitats here that make it one of Japan’s best all-round birding sites. Daurian Jackdaws can be seen feeding among the cranes, along with the local race of Rook. Close by are agricultural fields and small stands of trees that hold various species including Oriental Turtle Dove, White-cheeked Starling, Brown-eared Bulbul, Dusky Thrush, Blue Rock Thrush, Daurian Redstart, Bull-headed Shrike, and Japanese Grosbeak. The fields can be a good place to find smaller birds such as Meadow (and perhaps other) Buntings and Buff-bellied and possibly Red-throated Pipits, while Green Pheasant is also possible.
Having two full days to explore this region we’ll search other sites in the area. Along the coast we may encounter such east Asian specialities as Asian House Martin and various wintering gulls including Saunders’s Gull, and the larger Vega Gull, while Black-faced Spoonbill and a variety of winter waders also occur. Small stands of scrubby reeds should hold Chinese Penduline Tit, Black-faced and Chestnut-eared Buntings, and Russet Sparrow. Along small streams and rivers we’ll search for waterfowl, egrets, Japanese Wagtail, and perhaps Ruddy-breasted Crake and Long-billed Plover, while in overgrown parks lurk Chinese Bamboo Partridge, Pale Thrush, and Japanese Bush Warbler.
Day 9: Weather permitting, we’ll spend a last dawn with the cranes before leaving Izumi to head southeast towards the wooded hills and volcanic slopes of the Kirishima-Yaku National Park. Along the way we will make stops at local rivers to search for Long-billed Plover, Brown Dipper and Crested Kingfisher. Our destination today is Miike, a neat circular lake surrounded by lush evergreen laurel forest. At this time of year the lake throngs with wildfowl and we should find the exquisite Mandarin Duck along with Asian Spot-billed Duck, Eurasian Wigeon and Northern Pintail and, with luck, a few delightful Baikal Teal. Wandering the adjacent forest we’ll look for the secretive Copper Pheasant, Japanese Green Pigeon, and local woodland species including Grey Bunting, Ryukyu Minivet, Varied Tit, and if we are lucky White-backed Woodpecker. Day 10: After a final morning's birding we’ll transfer to Kagoshima airport for our flight to Tokyo, and then connect with our next flight to the northern frontier island of Japan - Hokkaido. We land in darkness at Kushiro Airport and drive across country to our friendly and comfortable family-run hotel where a welcoming open-air hot-spring bath awaits in which to relax after our long day. Night in Tsurui. Days 11-12: We’ll notice a distinct change in the climate as we wake to a snow-covered landscape with Hokkaido’s northerly position ensuring that the temperatures will be low. Not far from our hotel is one of Japan’s most famous wildlife spectacles - stately Red-crowned Cranes. More than 100 (and innumerable photographers!) gather here to feed and dance in the snow, an iconic image guaranteed to get the cameras going. On our second day here we’ll take an early morning stroll near the river to watch for Brown Dipper, Eurasian Jay (the attractive cinnamon-headed brandtii form), woodpeckers, Eurasian Nuthatch (a distinctive subspecies), and another chance for Crested Kingfisher (the largest subspecies). The bird tables are likely to be active during breakfast, but we’ll tear ourselves away and head southeast for a day on the coast where, time-permitting, we’ll visit Cape Nosappu, Cape Ochi-ishi and Lake Furen, for our first Harlequin and other sea duck, wintering gulls, including Glaucous, Glaucous-winged and ‘Kamchatka’ Common Gulls, and with a very good chance of our first Steller’s Sea Eagles. Seawatching from one of the headlands could reveal Ancient Murrelet, Common, Brünnich's, Pigeon and Spectacled Guillemots, Least and Crested Auklet, and possibly even Long-billed Murrelet, although sea ice movement offshore dictates how near these birds will be to the coast, and if the surface is choppy, picking out the last three species is a challenge! Nights in central Hokkaido. Day 13: Today we head east to the low coastal spit called Notsuke Peninsula, where we can expect Black and Asian White-winged Scoters on the sea, perhaps accompanied by other sea duck, and this is a another good place to see Asian Rosy Finch. Our journey then takes us north along the east coast eventually to the harbour town of Rausu on the Shiretoko Peninsula. Night in Rausu. Day 14: Sea-ice permitting, we leave Rausu before dawn by boat for the waters separating Shiretoko from Kunashiri Island offshore. Our destination is the extensive rafts of sea-ice which we should reach just as the rising sun catches the awesome snow-clad mountains of the Shiretoko Peninsula. The ice floes here are covered with Siberian, Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gulls, but dwarfing them are the eagles. White-tailed Eagles seem impressive enough, but they fade in comparison to the star of the show - perhaps the most impressive raptor in the world – the mighty Steller’s Sea Eagle. They can be incredibly confiding, especially when our well-prepared captain begins to put out fish onto the ice for them. The effect is amazing as these superb raptors come in right alongside the boat, creating no end of superb photographic opportunities. Returning to Rausu from our dawn adventure, we’ll warm up, take breakfast and then make a later start to explore the ethereal Lake Kussharo, and the bubbling sulphur fumaroles at Iwo-san. The woodland near the lake includes a mix of deciduous and mature spruce and we will search for five species of woodpecker, and we may be lucky to find the scarce Pine Grosbeak. We’ll have lunch by the frozen lake, watched by hundreds of Whooper Swans bathing at the melted edge, where there is a thermal spring. We can even take a warming foot bath to sit and watch the swans, a dream-like experience not to be missed! Night in Rausu. Day 15: A second dawn in Rausu gives us a second crack at the fabulous eagles, and even if we do not put to sea, there are plenty to be found around the town with hundreds sometimes seen roosting in roadside trees. Later we drive to Kushiro for our flight to Haneda and our road transfer to Narita. Overnight in Narita. Day 16: After some final birding in the grounds of the hotel, where we have another chance to see Chinese Bamboo Partidge and Blue Rock Thrush, we'll connect with a flight back to London where the tour ends later that day.
Seabird extension: Day 16: For those staying on for the extension, we’ll drive to Ukishima, a reedbed where we’ll look for the rare Japanese Reed Bunting and the even rarer Marsh Grassbird. We should also get our first views of Eastern Marsh Harrier as well. From here we travel to Choshi Port which is teeming with thousands of gulls, giving us plenty of time to compare the various species that line up before us. These will include Black-tailed, Vega, Slaty-backed, two races of Common, Black-headed, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous-winged, Glaucous and hopefully Thayer's Gulls. In the port itself there are thousands of Temminck's Cormorants, and also groups of Black-necked Grebe, some coming into breeding plumage. If there has been some bad weather, Pomarine Skua and, more rarely, Fork-tailed Storm-petrel and Red Phalarope can be seen sheltering around the port. At nearby Inobumizaki Cape, we’ll spend time sea-watching, looking for Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes, Rhinocerous Auklet, Spectacled Guillemot, Harlequin Duck, Pelagic Cormorant, Pacific, Red-throated, Black-throated and, if we are lucky, White-billed Divers; Northern Fulmar and Streaked Shearwater. You can occasionally also see single Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses offshore while the dark-form of Eastern Reef Egret can normally be seen on offshore rocks at low tide. We'll return to Narita for the night, on the way stopping again at Ukishima reedbed to watch Hen and Eastern Marsh Harriers and Merlin fly into roost. Great Bittern is also possible here, flying low over the reeds as dusk approaches. Night in Narita. Day 18: We connect with a flight to London , where the tour ends later the same day.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
Last updated March 2010 |
We'll find our first birds among the forests of Honshu, where Asian Rosy Finch can be seen at our hotel's bird table...
along with Brown-eared Bulbul,
and Varied Tit.
While close by flocks of passerines include Meadow Bunting,...
Dusky Thrush,...
and Grey-headed Greenfinch.
and lots of ducks including colourful Harlequin Ducks...
with plenty of White-tailed Eagles...
and of course massive Steller's Sea Eagles.
Photos by Steve Rooke, Hideki Bessho and James Lidster. |
