2nd February 2008.
I met with Jo Latham from Blakeney, Norfolk at Heathrow Airport around 7am for our short Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and the second leg had started. We would meet Mark here and connect for our early afternoon flight to Narita Airport, Tokyo on the island of Honshu. The departure time was getting later and later at Heathrow we were informed that this was due to adverse weather in Frankfurt and when we finally boarded we seemed to sit a lifetime on the tarmac before finally taking off. On arrival at Frankfurt (where there was no sign of bad weather) we were herded onto a bus and then had to wait while somebody had to be helped off the plane and onto the bus. Jo and I had a brisk walk to our gate which was at least ten minutes away and the plane was still there with the steps attached, we checked in and was told by the staff that they would have to check with the pilot to see if we could still board, Mark was already on board as he had flown direct from Edinburgh and his luggage was in the hold, the pilot said we could not get on the flight because we were just too late I couldn’t believe it as it was the same airline and they were well aware of the connection and promised us that they would hold the flight, the flight duly left without us onboard and it was the only one that day! We were told to join the queue and go to the transfer desk by the Lufthansa staff, we stood in this queue for four hours and ten minutes before managing to get on a late afternoon flight to Tokyo with JAL and what a difference as the flight left on time and the service was efficient, polite and friendly a taste of what was to come as we found that this is the Japanese way and it made an extremely pleasant change from home (and Germany).

February 3rd 2008.
We arrived around teatime in torrential sleet under a dull grey sky this was due to time differences and an eleven hour and twenty minute flight. The airport is located in Chiba Prefecture and is believed by some to be named after the ringing of thunder in the vicinity that has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The airport had a turbulent history as during the 1960’s and early 1970’s large scale riots took place in Tokyo in protest at its construction. The protesters feared that the real reason that the airport was being built was for US military aircraft in the event of a war with the Soviet Union. When the airport was due to open in March 1978 a group armed with Molotov Cocktails drove into the airport in a burning car and broke into the control tower destroying much of its equipment thus delaying the opening for another two months. These days however all is fairly tranquil. After being photographed and fingerprinted we made our way through passport control and met Mark and Akira. We boarded the Narita Express train to Tokyo Station en route the sleet had changed to snow and the Tokyo suburbs were now snowy white. Here we had our first encounter with the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Karuizawa the train looked more like a space rocket. Karuizawa is a famous tourist spot that nestles in the shadow of the Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture and it was like a Christmas card scene thoroughly beautiful. The town hosted the Curling in the Winter Olympics in 1998. It is a popular destination for Japanese White Weddings as it is where the Emperor Akihito met the Empress Michiko in 1957. John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent several summers here in the 1970’s at Yoko’s family bessou (summer house). As we picked up the hire vehicle for the next couple of days on the counter was a vase with three tail feathers of a Copper Pheasant sitting in it. I commented that I hope that this was not an omen. We drove to the Sala Hotel and checked in. It is conveniently situated in mature woodland and dawn couldn’t come soon enough. We went to a traditional Japanese Restaurant with our interpreter who was also called Yoko and worked at the Hotel. I dined on tofu, seaweed, noodles, pork and chicken with a hot mustard sauce.

February 4th 2008.
A days birding in thick snow and I was up early and looking around the hotel grounds watching Brown-eared Bulbuls, pugnacious Japanese, Varied, Willow Tit and japonicus Long-tailed Tits, several Hawfinches were present as were the very attractive japonicus Eurasian Jay hopping in the snow searching for food, along with my first lifer a splendid male Japanese Green Woodpecker that performed well. I met up with Jo and Mark and we went for a short walk adding Rufous Turtle Dove, Dusky Thrush, Black-eared Kite, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, and Nuthatch of the race amurensis, Large-billed Crow, Oriental Greenfinch, Siberian Meadow Bunting and Tree Sparrow. After breakfast we made our way to the Karuizawa Nature Centre we walked along next to the fast flowing river that hosted a pair of Brown Dippers and some Japanese Wagtails. We birded a trail that was parallel to the river this was because the off trails were impassable due to deep snow. Great Spotted Woodpecker was added along with Wren and a super Japanese Accentor, Goldcrest was seen and we spent some time watching Coal Tits with crests. The snow was falling off the trees as the day warmed up and it was like getting a rubbish bin lid full dumped on your head every so often. We moved on and had a look at some mature gardens and some small ponds by the skating centre the light was good here and they held Mute Swan, Mallard, Eurasian Wigeon, Chinese Spot-billed Ducks and Black-backed Wagtails. We then went to the Shiotsubo Hotel garden that had several feeders in the grounds bordering another small pool it was a great spot as we drank coffee we had lovely views of another Japanese Accentor, thirty Japanese Grosbeaks, Japanese White-eye, Varied, Willow, Coal and Japanese Tits, Oriental Greenfinch, Rufous Turtle Dove, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers. It was a photographer’s paradise and Jo made full use of this. A visit to a nearby shopping complex introduced me to my first heated automatic loo seat that rises when one walks into the cubicle. From here we went to the Karuizawa Railway Station and birded the grounds of the nearby large Prince Hotel complex on the lake here we added Little Grebe (yellow-eyed race), Grey Heron, eleven Falcated Duck and Common Teal. I spotted an adult Black-crowned Night Heron that was walking slowly across the snow. In the surrounding woodland we saw a Red-flanked Bluetail and my second ever White-backed Woodpecker a fine male. We made a final search along the nature trails late in the afternoon and early evening for Copper Pheasant but to no avail as dusk fell it was all too soon time to head back to the Sala Hotel for the evening. A tick for me today were solar powered traffic signals that countdown to the exact second that they are going to change, the comment “now that’s a good idea” Was a frequent verse on this tour.

February 5th 2008.
Today I had another post dawn look around the hotel gardens again enjoying the Japanese Green Woodpecker as it gave further fine views. I had struggled to see five Hawfinches at Bedgebury Pinetum before travelling Japan and here they were a common garden bird and extremely tame and we saw them all over the country from this point. After breakfast which included Miso Soup and Rice as is usual here with all meals, this soup is delicious and is made from Fish Stock with flakes of dried fish, Tofu (mashed bean curd) and strands of Seaweed, it is drunk straight from the bowl with the lumps eaten with chopsticks and is rather tasty and warming. We dropped off the hire vehicle and got the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Trains in Japan leave bang on time and arrive on the dot, the seats swing around so that nobody travels backwards, they have plenty of luggage space and they are cleaned throughout the journey (like an aircraft) the trolley dollies are continuously coming through the carriage and they are reasonably priced, some of them are double deckers! At Tokyo we boarded the monorail that wound its way through the dockland area and dropped our bags off at Haneda Airport that is used for domestic flights we took the monorail back a couple of stops and walked to the Oi Nature Reserve that is set in Tokyo port. A walk around the trails and a visit to the hides produced a range of birds that included Great Cormorant, Little Egret, Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Greater Scaup, Coot, Common Sandpiper, Vega and Black-headed Gulls, White’s, Pale, Brown-headed and Dusky Thrushes, Bull-headed Shrike, Daurian Redstart, Japanese White-eye, Azure-winged Magpie, Siberian Meadow and (Eastern) Reed Buntings were all enjoyed at this site. We walked back to the monorail and went back to Haneda Airport for our mid afternoon flight to Komatsu in Ishikawa Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. We arrived on time in driving sleet. Komatsu is twinned with Gateshead in England and has an exchange programme with students so we had our ears open for a Geordie accent or two. It is also the home of the Japanese Motorcar and the Snow and Ice Museums and was our base for the next two nights. White-cheeked Starlings were found by the car hire shop and our vehicle had automatic doors that opened and shut themselves so we were never driving down the road and would have to say “one of the doors is not shut properly” We still had an hour and half’s daylight left when we arrived at the Katano Kame-ike Bird Reserve and what a reserve from the heated Visitors Centre with external microphones so one can hear all the birds calls clearly we scoped 4 Great White Egret, 300 Middendorff’s Bean Geese, 75 Bewick’s Swan, 200 White-fronted Geese, 9 Falcated Duck, 700 Baikal Teal, 7 Smew and 250 Oriental Crows were in the area. Middendorff’s Bean Goose was a pleasant surprise these beasts are superb they are a fair old size with a stonking great black bill with an orange spot near the tip and a grin feature characteristic of a Snow Goose. We left the reserve in the dark and drove to the Arrowle Resort our base for the next couple of nights at this hotel the mirrors don’t condensate up when one showers because they are heated. I enjoyed my first Onsen (outdoor hot bath) the sub zero temperature combined with the very hot bath is a winning combination and it left one feeling invigorated afterwards. I had an Onsen at every available opportunity throughout the rest of the trip. In Japan the hotels supply clean linen robes, pyjamas and slippers and the good thing is they all fit me, being rather short most things in Britain dwarf me!

February 6th 2008.
The Arrowle Resort is nestled between a patch of Paddy fields, although an early morning stroll that I made here failed to add anything new. From our hotel we headed to another area of Rice Fields next to a Lake just a couple of kilometres away, it was rather a birdy area and we saw 70 Black-necked Grebe, 12 Great Crested Grebe, 15 Little Grebe, 60 Great Cormorant, 250 Bewick’s Swan, 100 Falcated Duck including a leucistic bird, 8 Gadwall, 500 Common Teal, 1,000 Mallard, 250 Chinese Spot-billed Duck, 100 Pintail, 12 Shoveler, 50 Pochard, 250 Tufted Duck, 25 Smew, 15 Osprey, 30 Black-eared Kites, 3 Hen Harrier, 1 Eurasian Sparrowhawk, 2 Japanese Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 1 Moorhen, 20 Coot, 2 Northern Lapwing, 25 Rufous Turtle Dove, 15 Japanese Skylark, 2 Bull-headed Shrike, 20 Dusky Thrush, 2 Daurian Redstart, 150 Oriental Crow, 12 Large-billed Crow, 50 White-cheeked Starling, 6 Siberian Meadow Bunting, 1 cock Rustic Bunting, 12 (Eastern) Reed Bunting that were much paler than ours, 25 Oriental Greenfinch and 100 Tree Sparrows. It was here that we met local birder, photographer and bird artist Yashuiko T the language barrier was soon broken down and we spent much of the rest of the day birding with him.
We headed to a bread shop for breakfast and to have a look at some of Yashuiko’s work that he picked up from home to show us, outside in the garden Japanese Tit and Japanese White-eyes were feeding and a short walk out to some nearby fields produced 25 Grey-headed Lapwings. We moved onto the Sea of Japan coast at Amagozen Point where the sea was pretty calm we picked out Red-throated and Pacific Divers, Red-necked Grebe, Temminck’s and Pelagic Cormorants, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Slaty-backed, Vega and Kamchatka Gulls. On the beach on some rocks we added a pair of Blue Rock Thrush of the Chestnut-bellied race and a very smart blue-grey by Peregrine swooped by and landed and was duly studied as it allowed prolonged scope views, few land birds were present however those that were here included Brown-eared Bulbul, Long-tailed Tits japonicus and Hawfinch. Throughout Japan there are American convenience stores like Lawson’s in almost every village and they are open all hours with clean toilets and they sell much the same as stores over here plus Japanese products they are a birders dream. I bought an O-Bento a boxed lunch that included Smoked Fish, Pickles, Vegetables (unknown and Broccoli) and Rice that I consumed at a very cold Lake Kitagata. Most of the birds here we had seen earlier during the day but highlights included an adult soaring White-tailed Eagle, a flock of 47 Black-necked Grebes and 12 Smew. The weather today was unsettled with long periods of heavy sleet and hail. Today we arrived at the Katano Kamo-ike a reserve a little earlier than yesterday it is run by the Wild Bird Society of Japan who were founded in 1934 and they are committed to conservation having around 47,000 members and eleven wildlife reserves scattered about the country, they have carried out surveys of Japanese birds for over twenty years. From the nature centre good views of a fairly shallow lake with bird friendly edges surrounded by woodland can be had and here amongst a selection of common ducks today we found Bewick’s Swan, Middendorff’s Bean Goose, Falcated Duck, 400 Baikal Teal, Goosander and more Smew. A Green Sandpiper was feeding in front of the hide and White-fronted Geese numbers were up to 1,500 the external microphones ensuring that a cacophony of sound reverberated around the Visitor Centre and as dusk fell we made our way back to the Arrowle Resort, Komatsu where we washed and went out for dinner at the strangely named Factory Pine Diner and afterwards there was still time for an Onsen before bedtime sheer bliss!

February 7th 2008.
We were up early this Morning’s early morning as Mark, Jo and I were searching for Green Pheasant we decided the best strategy was an early morning run stopping and scanning Paddy fields with reedy ditches and wooded edges the perfect habitat for the bird the Japanese call “Kiji” it was at the eleventh hour that I spotted a head in a weedy field bobbing up and down we pulled the vehicle over and our joy was complete as a cock Green Pheasant was scoped to the max near Kagashi. I thought that I may have seen the species before in the shape of feral birds in Britain but it was soon obvious that I had seen nothing like this handsome beauty, its underparts were bottle green contrasting with a deep purple neck, it is rightly the National Bird of Japan. We celebrated back at the bread shop with hot coffee and pastries Yashuiko T joined us for breakfast and gave me an original painting of a Kiji and he was equally thrilled with some wildlife pens that I gave him. We drove from here to some fallow rice fields near Fukui where we scoped a gaggle of 2,500 orange-billed White-fronted Geese and after a long period of time I was pleased to pick out a superb adult Lesser White-front amongst the melee, 120 Bewick’s Swan were feeding on the fields a perched hen Merlin was scoped and a Kestrel seen, five Oriental Rooks were watched amongst a huge flock of hundreds of Oriental Crows after this we returned to Amagozen Point where we saw much the same as yesterday although a tree top scan found a very bright Japanese Green Pigeon that we all welcomed, a kamikaze Blue Rock Thrush was found feeding on a coastal rock that was being battered by the waves I don’t know how it wasn’t washed off. We returned to the train station and dropped the hire vehicle off and boarded the Shirasagi Express to Nagoya on the Pacific coast to board our ferry for the pelagic. This sea port town was razed to the ground by allied bombing during World War Two and has since been re-built including the docks. As we headed through the bustling busy sprawling city towards these we passed a full-sized billboard poster proudly presenting Nagoya’s Football Team-Grampus Eight in a livery of Cherry Red the club were once managed by Arséne Wenger and also previously had Gary Lineker playing for them. We boarded the MV Kitakami that would sail to Tomakomai on the Northern island of Hokkaido and we left bang on time at 20:00 hrs sailing out of the docks took an age as we dined on Smoked Mackerel, Chicken Salad and Rice.

February 8th 2008.
I was up on deck early morning and back sea-watching in the North Pacific Ocean again as we steamed our way towards Sendai in Northern Honshu, the coastline could be seen in the distance and huge wind farms loomed out of the mist, gulls were numerous namely Kittiwake, Vega, Kamchatka, Black-tailed and Slaty-backed and several Pomarine Skuas were observed this was combined with some fine views of several Laysan Albatross. Small flocks of Ancient Murrelets and Pelagic Cormorants were observed before Jo spotted a larger Albatross and got us onto a superb adult Short-tailed Albatross this holy grail of a Seabird winged its way along the starboard side and I watched it through the scope until it finally disappeared into the horizon, they indeed have short tails. This listed vulnerable tubenose breeds only on one island Izu Tori Shima and in 1949 it was wrongly declared extinct, an exciting project this year to introduce the bird onto two other islands has been undertaken. Jo and Mark had a pair of White-billed Divers and a short time after that we spotted a fishing boat with many birds wheeling around it including quite a few Short-tailed Shearwaters and a Black-footed Albatross our third species of Albatross in a morning! A party of three bull and eight doe Northern Fur Seals reminded me of my time in the Kurils. As we sailed further north the temperature dropped and it was late afternoon when we sailed into Sendai Bay we spotted Pacific Divers and numerous flocks of Asiatic and Black Scoters, as we docked in the harbour Red-breasted Merganser and Temminck’s Cormorant were apparent, the latter perched on wooden groynes it is this species that are trained and used for fishing an ancient tradition called ukai, they use the Cormorants on leashes and fish mainly for small Trout (ayu) to prevent the birds swallowing the fish they catch they are fitted with small rings around their necks. The boats that carry these birds work at night and a bright wood brazier is suspended from the bow to attract the fish. We proceeded along the sea-wall and found and yet more gregarious Black-eared Kites. We alighted from the ship and did some birding in an area of Keaki Trees and waste ground near the docks Dusky and Pale Thrushes, Rufous Turtle Dove and Oriental Crow were all watched before dusk fell. Sendai is the largest city in North-east Honshu located in Miyagi Prefecture it is known as the “City of the Trees” As we made our way back to the Wharf we were accosted by a rare English speaking Japanese gentleman who was a Jehovah’s Witness We were back on board in time for an Onsen the warmth being a welcome contrast to the external chill before setting sail at 20:00 hrs heading for the island of Hokkaido the island due south of Sakhalin.

February 9th 2008.
This morning started like so many others on both parts of this trip report as I was sea-watching in the North Pacific Ocean from a vessel. As we sailed through the Tsugaru Strait that lies between Honshu and Hokkaido and straddles the Blakiston’s Line named after the English explorer and naturalist Thomas Blakiston who noticed that animals on Hokkaido were related to North Asian species and were different from animals on Honshu which were related to South Asian species and proclaimed that this was therefore a natural zoogeographical boundary. He has a species of fish owl named after him and in the next two days it would become a major target species for us. He moved to California where he died of TB at the age of only 58. The two islands are now connected by the Seikan Tunnel that is over 19Kms long. I went as near to the bow as I could and joined A Japanese birder who boarded the ship in Sendai every species we saw he would shoot with his camera and blow up the image immediately on its screen and show me Short-tailed Shearwaters, Least Auklets, Brünnich’s and Common Guillemots were all digitally captured as was a dark morph Fulmar of the race rodgersii A Rhinocerous Auklet looked at home in a flock of Black Scoters and performed well, we entered the docks on time at Tomakomai and Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Asiatic Scoter and Glaucous Gulls were all viewed. We took a taxi and transferred to Chitose Airport for our internal JAL flight to Kushiro in North-eastern Hokkaido. En route to the airport we added Common Pheasant, Whooper Swan and Common Magpie (smaller and shorter-tailed than ours) the latter a recent colonist from mainland Russia as they do not occur on Sakhalin or on Honshu. We flew over some real wilderness during the flight and a smoking volcano could clearly be seen from the window, we landed at the modern Chitose Airport that had been built especially for the Winter Olympics in 1998. We picked up our hire vehicle and headed to the Crane Sanctuary at Tsurumidai just south of Akan it is very close to habitation and really an adjacent field to a farmhouse, when I had seen them in their glory in 1980 they were majestically called Japanese Crane an apt name for such an imperial endangered bird that is called by the Japanese the tancho, so how did it get to be called the boring, unoriginal name of Red-crowned Crane? The red crown is actually bare-skin and not red feathers at all and today didn’t disappoint with around 190 of these very noisy birds were dancing and displaying in the snow it was an awesome sight. Six White-tailed Eagles and two Japanese Buzzards were also seen at the site. We checked another area of feeders at Kushiro National Park by the Shitsugen-Onnenai Visitors Centre on our way back to Numero and saw Great Spotted Woodpecker, Japanese, Willow and Marsh Tits the latter of the race hensoni with particularly thick bills, Eurasian Nuthatch these birds of the race asiatica and the ubiquitous Brown-eared Bulbul it was nightfall before we reached the town and our hotel the East Harbor (without a u). This would be our base for the next three nights and very close to Kunashir Island in the Kurils where we had visited in part one.

February 10th 2008.
Nemuro is an old Ainu town that lies on the Nemuro Peninsula that stretches out towards the Kuril Islands road signs here are surprisingly in Russian and Japanese. Looking out from the hotel window I once again saw that the sea was frozen as it had been in 1980, I had a pre-breakfast walk it was a huge success I found nineteen Bohemian Waxwings and 150 Dusky Thrushes scoffing berries and showing well along with my largest ever female Eurasian Sparrowhawk which flew past me and a group of sixteen Common (Mealy) Redpolls. This morning the wind had dropped so we headed to Cape Nosappu on the Nemuro Peninsula it is the eastern most point of the island and of Japan that is open to the public, it is home to Hokkaido’s oldest lighthouse that was built in 1872 and just 3.7Kms away from Russian territory in the form of Signalny Rock I was back on the cold coast of the Sea of Okhotsk once again it normally freezes at this time of year although we found an inland bay that was ice free and on the open water we scoped up 2 Red-necked Grebe, 40 Pelagic Cormorant, 50 Greater Scaup, 150 Harlequin Duck, 75 Long-tailed Duck, 1,000 Black Scoter, 25 Asiatic Scoter, 500 Goldeneye, 400 Red-breasted Merganser, Goosander, a pair of Peregrines, a single Vega Gull, 500 Slaty-backed Gulls, 80 Glaucous-winged Gulls, 50 Glaucous Gulls, Common Guillemot and 2 Spectacled Guillemots were in or around the bay. We headed north towards Rasau and visited the frozen lake of Furen-ko where the local fishermen fish through the holes in the ice and the background noise of chainsaws cutting these very holes is apparent, it was here that we had our first encounters on this part of the trip with that beast of a species the Steller’s Sea Eagle 300 were present here with 250 White-tailed Eagles, 6 Japanese Buzzards, 400 Black-eared Kites and the simply horrid Large-billed Crows around 700 were trying to steal any scraps that they could from the Eagles who simply dwarfed them. We made our way later out to Cape Kiritappu. In Japan vending machines are located all over the whole of the country, being located in town and country, they are a major asset to the birder as not only do they provide a reasonably priced hot drink (around 60p) but it also acts as a welcome hand warmer. From the peninsula Kunashir Island could clearly be seen and brought back memories from several months ago. We visited some woodland feeders at Tobai Nature Centre they were well stocked and some breath taking views of Marsh, Willow, Coal and Japanese Tits, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Jays of the chestnut-plumaged brandtii race quite different from the Honshu Jays, nearby White-headed Tits and a cock Long-tailed Rosefinch added to the enjoyment. At Cape Kiritappu we discovered a flock of sixteen Asian Rosy Finches some of the cocks were very rosy and three Red Foxes were watched. One of the reasons that I wanted to carry out both sections of this trip was so I could observe many of the species of birds in alternate (breeding) and basic (non-breeding) plumages and on birds such as Spectacled Guillemot and Least Auklets both plumages are very different. Late afternoon we visited a private farm near Bettoga Bridge to look for Blakiston’s Fish Owl, Mark had obtained permission from the Procol Harem loving land owner over a period of years and as the sun set in broad daylight two of these magnificent owls flew in and landed on top of a telegraph pole they then started dueting, they flew towards us giving us views down to 30 Metres, it was a wonderful moment! As a celebration tonight I dined on Arctic Char it is truly scrumptious fish and a fitting tribute to the Fish Owl.

February 11th 2008.
This morning the Bohemian Waxwings were still outside the hotel and after breakfast we had a quick look at the feeders at Tobai Nature Centre again much the same species as yesterday were looked at. We continued north once again towards the peninsula of Notsuke Hando which is a great birding area. We stopped at Odaito and fed the 200 Pintails and 230 Whooper Swans here Glaucous and Slaty-backed Gulls vied for the spare food and the odd Goldeneye and Goosander took advantage of the free offerings. A statue here of an elderly robed lady pointing and two boys shouting at the occupied island of Kunashir was quite moving. Notsuke Hando is a peninsula that juts out into the Numero Strait towards the Kuril Islands, the land side of the sea was frozen solid and the Sea of Okhotsk side open water with floating ice and small Ice Floats that often held Steller’s Sea Eagles we spent some time birding from the base of the peninsula towards the tip, it was bitterly cold, ducks included Greater Scaup, Harlequin, Long-tailed, Black and Asiatic Scoters, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, 130 Goosander, Smew and I was very pleased to pick up a smart drake Surf Scoter this set the blood racing of several Japanese birders. More Eagles were present and several flocks of extremely tame Asian Rosy Finches were. A group of dead seals washed up on the beach were a tasty meal to 1,000 Slaty-backed, 150 Glaucous-winged and 500 Glaucous Gulls fed with 500 Large-billed Crows. Offshore Common and Spectacled Guillemots were scoped up. We visited the small nature centre and watched yet more Asian Rosy Finches on the feeder as we ate lunch. In the afternoon we saw 80 Ezo Deer a race of Sika Deer and another three Red Foxes. We drove back to Nemuro and stopped once again at Bettoga Bridge where we drove up a track next to the river and looked back over the farm from outside a Blakiston’s Fish Owl could clearly be seen as it sat on a telegraph pole. Road bridges in this part of Hokkaido have flags protruding upwards from the railings to stop the Fish Owls from flying low enough across the bridge to be struck by traffic. Tonight would be our last on Hokkaido for tomorrow we would fly south to warmer climes and the Southern Japanese island of Kyushu.

February 12th 2008.
More precipitation today the blizzards worried us somewhat that our early morning flight to Haneda Airport, Tokyo may have been delayed or worse still cancelled, we needn’t have worried though as the flight left and arrived on time. Here we transferred to a flight to Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu and it was late afternoon by the time we arrived at our destination.
Emperor Akihito recently commented that his heart felt pained because of his role in introducing the Bluegill Fish to Japan after bringing a few fish back from a trip to the US in 1960 that inadvertently found their way into Lake Biwa wreaking havoc on the ecosystem wiping out the Bitterling and drastically reducing numbers of other native fish species. Some might say that more successful species will always find their way into new environments and that this is the way of the World. Today on our journey to the island of Kyushu we flew over numerous lakes that would now be filled with Bluegill Fish. We picked up our final hire vehicle and drove to Saga Airport Fields for the last half an hours light, 30 Common Magpies were seen as were 8 Northern Lapwing and a single Daurian Redstart and all too soon the light was dwindling and we made our way back to our hotel.

13th February 2008.
After today’s breakfast we made our way to Ariake-se a vast inland sea in Western Kyushu there was an icy cold biting wind and Kyushu was disappointingly chilly. the tide was ebbing as we reached the sea wall and we birded the estuary, the rice fields, reed beds, ditches and scrub provided an area that was teeming with birdlife and we spent a full day here and recorded 10 Great White Egrets, 15 Little Egrets, a lone white morph (with some dark feathers) Pacific Reef Egret, 1 Eurasian Spoonbill and 19 Black-faced Spoonbills that were right on the near shoreline, this listed endangered species has an estimated World population of just c1,600 birds, 100 Shelduck, 12 Gadwall, 6 Osprey, a lone Hen Harrier, a fine perched male Goshawk, 1 Kestrel, 2 Merlin, 12 Pacific Golden Plovers including one breeding plumaged bird, 250 Grey Plovers, 80 Kentish Plovers, 12 Mongolian Plovers, 300 Eurasian Curlew, one Spotted Redshank, 50 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpipers, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Common Snipe, 1,000 Dunlin, 400 Vega Gulls, 2 Black-headed Gulls, a massive 1,000 Saunders’s Gulls this is a listed vulnerable species, so its fair to think that this may be a fair slice of the World population, 35 Japanese Skylarks, 40 Black-backed Wagtails, 1 Asian Buff-bellied Pipit, 4 Bull-headed Shrikes, 8 Daurian Redstarts including some enchanting cocks, a single Chinese Penduline Tit, 12 Common Starlings a new colonist from Russia, 12 Siberian Meadow Buntings, 6 Black-faced Buntings and 20 (Eastern) Reed Buntings. A couple of notable incidences today included Mark’s Carbon-fibre tripod shattered after the last flight and he and Jo drove to Saga City to get a new one and I had suffered from a completely blocked ear for three days and it was starting to affect my balance and when Mark called to me that he had a Bar-tailed Godwit I made my way over to him and stepped onto what looked like solid ground with vegetation on it I sank into glutinous mud up to my knees including my tripod I was astonished and after managing to free myself with Mark’s help (minus a tripod foot) a nearby W.C. was a God send, it was late afternoon when we made our way to Izumi. Izumi lies in Kagoshima Prefecture and is on the River Komenotsu which flows through the city and into the Yatsushiro Sea, it is famous for its Wintering Wild Cranes we checked into the Hotel Wing and dined at Joyful’s Restaurant where amongst other things we enjoyed Tempura (lightly battered vegetables and seafood).

14th February 2008.
This morning we still had that icy wind and it did not feel an awful lot warmer then Hokkaido as we drove to the Arasaki Crane Reserve and when we arrived it was well worth the wait as the noise was deafening and the sight of 8,000 Hooded and 1,300 White-naped Cranes interacting with each other was a wonderful experience I picked out a Common Crane and a Sandhill Crane and Mark later found another even brighter bird, the Cranes were being fed blocks of fish and we viewed the birds throughout the day in the surrounding habitat, plenty of other birds were to be found were Great White and Little Egrets, Common Snipe, Common Kingfisher, Rufous Turtle Dove, Japanese Skylark and Asian Buff-bellied Pipits. A pool close by had a drake American Wigeon in with the Eurasians, a Zitting Cisticola was seen and a large flock of 350 Oriental Rooks contained 6 Daurian Jackdaws. Japan is the land of cheesy tunes a tune for crossing the road or a Cuckoo calling, a tune for the train arriving Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony No9 (The Hovis Advert) and today whilst birding we had Edelweiss blaring out of external speakers across the countryside it seemed surreal. We drove to Satsuma in Kagoshima Prefecture the home of the Citrus Fruit and had lunch on the river banks House Swifts and Asian House Martins buzzed us and on the river Long-billed Plover, Green and Common Sandpipers, Japanese, Black-backed and Grey Wagtails were all scoped as we walked the river banks looking for Crested Kingfisher and Mark found a perfect specimen that was watched with crest raised and tail cocking, it is a large brilliant bird. We then took route three to Takae in order to visit a marsh near there Rustic, Black-faced, (Eastern) Reed and Siberian Meadow Buntings were numerous and 8 Chestnut-eared Buntings were showing well, as were Bull-headed Shrikes and a cock Russet Sparrow, another Zitting Cisticola, hunting male and ringtail Hen Harriers were gazed at, several Kestrels and Ospreys were also seen along with 400 Oriental Greenfinches. We made our way back to the Crane Reserve to watch the Cranes flying in for the night. We returned to the Hotel Wing in Izumi after a splendid day's birding.

15th February 2008.
We checked out of the Hotel Wing and headed to the volcanic crater lake of Mi-ike en route we stopped after I spotted another Crested Kingfisher on roadside wires more Long-billed Plovers and Asian House Martins were seen. We headed on Route 447 on the Ebino – Okuchi Road where we stopped at a volcanic lake where we had a flotilla of 80 Mandarin Ducks genuine wild birds looking very like Bough Beech ones. We took the old road that wound up through the mountains and stopped a couple of times Yellow-throated Bunting and Varied Tits were observed along with a close Sika Deer and soon we were birding around Mi-ike Campground the very first bird I put my binoculars on after alighting from the vehicle was a splendid Forest Wagtail hopping along the ground, around the chalets and along the edge of the lake we chalked up Japanese Green and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, Olive-backed Pipit, Varied Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Daurian Redstart, Common Kingfisher, Pale Thrush and at least ten Red-flanked Bluetails including some beautiful breeding plumaged males. We scanned across the lake picking out Chinese Spot-billed Duck, Common Teal, Tufted Duck, five Baikal Teal and Little Grebe. We walked the trail along the side of the lake towards the settlement and experienced fine views of five Ryukyu Minivets, Eurasian Jays, Chestnut-eared Bulbuls and a pair of Grey Buntings our old friend from the Kuril Islands. As we ate lunch in the car park we were serenaded by Japanese Grosbeaks singing from the tops of the trees. We headed from here to Kagoshima Airport. Bonsai Trees are very much a feature and adorn the gardens of many Japanese Houses the trees are tied into the position that the owners wish them to grow and are a pleasing sight. Other flora noticeable at this time of year are Japanese Roses a relative of our Dog Rose this scarlet rose is commonly in bloom as were garden Red Hot Pokers but strangest of all was seeing Orange Trees laden with fruit standing in the snow! I said my goodbyes to Mark and Jo and alone I boarded a flight to Itami Airport, Osaka as we came in to land we flew over the city it is immense, I landed on time I bought a Limousine Bus ticket to Kyoto boarded and listened to Morcheeba on my i-pod during the journey this took around an hour and I alighted the bus outside the main station, after thirty years I recognised Neil, less hair but essentially the same it was good to see him again. We took the subway to Nijo and went to his home for the evening where I met Mariko his wife.

16th February 2008.
Neil and Mariko live in an old converted Kimono Shop it is delightfully charming, made of wood with curtains and sliding doors we slept on futon Beds laid out on tatami mats, external foot ware is very definitely left the other side of the threshold, and I thought it was fantastic. This morning I had a well earned lie in to around 9am and got up and bought lunch from Lawson’s as Neil was working. I visited the Shinsenen Shinto Shrine Gardens complete with painted wooden dragon on the lake with Chinese Spot-billed Ducks, a flock of thirty Japanese Grosbeaks were impressive and a pair of adult Black-crowned Night Herons studied. I walked to the train station paid ¥230 and took a train to Hozukyo out of Kyoto and birded the quiet mountain habitat nothing new was seen and certainly no sign of any Pheasant tracks in the snow, some further good views of previously seen species made the journey worthwhile, I had to give up birding here around 14:30 as blizzard conditions prevailed. That evening Mariko and I went to meet Neil in town to go for a meal in an excellent Seafood Restaurant, she took me to the district of Gion where many of the old traditional Japanese buildings were sited, we saw Maiko’s these are apprentice Geisha Girls dressed in gorgeous Kimonos with beautiful hair and make up. At the restaurant we sat at the bar and watched the very skilful chef prepare each of the small dishes that made up our meal this included lovingly prepared raw fish (sashimi) lying on a bed of ice, some divine shellfish (cooked) and some more Horse Mackerel with of course boiled rice, the Japanese along with other cultures use chopsticks for a very good reason it is to prevent one eating too much too quickly and therefore aids digestion.

17th February 2008.
Today Neil, myself and Mark Carmody an Irish birder from County Cork working in Japan got up at 4am to search for the terrestrial Copper Pheasant luckily they knew of a site near Osaka mixed forest near the suburb of Mino an area known as Hakunoshima we travelled by train and completed the last leg by taxi I was surprised to be dropped off in an urban environment we walked out of town into the foothills on a cold bright morning, this site had a rogue cock Copper Pheasant on territory here last year, but it was apparently molested and had its tail feathers ripped out by a mindless person (moron). Unsurprisingly there was no sign of the rogue cock or any other birds at this prime site we spent all day looking for them. The site proved to be terribly disturbed two hunters arrived and were firing into the forest and a gang of scramblers showed up shortly afterwards it was the worst possible scenario and all to soon it was snowing heavily yet again, we did see some birds a female Goshawk, four Japanese Bush Warblers, several Red-flanked Bluetail, Japanese Buzzard, Grey-headed Lapwing, Long-billed Plover, Japanese Green Pigeon, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese Wagtail, Wren, Japanese White-eye, Black-faced Bunting, Brambling, Siskin and Hawfinch were all seen, but I was so disappointed that I had dipped on our target that I physically felt sick! Also I craved some British food so Neil and I decided to visit an Irish Pub in Kyoto where we had a couple of pints of Kilkenny Ale a bowl of Irish Stew and Soda Bread (at a price) we knew that a live Irish Folk Band were playing and we sat around the corner when the band commenced with foot tapping jigs using authentic Irish Instruments, on getting up to go to the loo I was amazed to see that the band was wholly Japanese.

18th February 2008.
I arose early it was snowing rather heavily in Kyoto and I took the train again to Hozukyo almost immediately after exiting the station I encountered a troop of around twenty adult and baby Japanese Macaques (Snow Monkies) they had come down to the road because of the snow and were grubbing around the verges with their red faces and bums and their fur glistening with snow they were a sight to behold as they frolicked in the snow I managed some superb photographs one of which I now have as a screen saver, the roads and passable paths were quiet and I saw 5 Japanese Green Pigeons, 2 Japanese Accentors, Goldcrest, Rustic Bunting, Brambling, Siskin, Hawfinch and 30 Japanese Grosbeaks. But again no sign of my quest around 15:30 it started blizzarding so I called it a day and visited an under cover market in Kyoto and bought some souvenirs. Mariko and I visited a Noodle Bar before going onto a Pachinko Parlour on entering the noise was deafening as loud as a disco and real smoky, the game can be most likened to the ball bearing game we used to play at the seaside as kids in the penny arcades (they had to fall into slots) but with 2008 marvellous graphics and stereophonic sound, I thought it was fun and got on quite well with it, on exiting my ears were ringing. Tomorrow would be my last full day in Japan.

19th February 2008.
Up at 3am to make a full day of it and what a day it was, a day’s birding with Neil. We made our way North-east up to Yogo Ski Resort north of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, we parked in the icy car park and attempted to make our way up the track it was very soon obvious that the snow here was exceedingly deep and the going was torturous I was soon thigh deep in snow and I couldn’t bend my knee to even attempt to walk but we made it up to above the chair lift to yet another Copper Pheasant site we found our position and watched the valley below, great views of a male White-backed Woodpecker were had through the scope, 80 Brambling, 30 Siskin and all the usual suspects Coal and Varied Tits, but no Pheasants my chance had passed, the rest of the day we would be birding around the northern shore of Lake Biwa the habitat here consisted of ditches, ponds, marshes, flooded fields and some scrub and reeds it was a great area. It is the largest freshwater Lake in Japan and it is named after the stringed musical instrument linked to Japanese Buddhism as it is a similar shape to this. Huge numbers of birds were seen in this habitat today including Little, Great Crested and Black-necked Grebes, Great and Little Egrets, Black-crowned Night Heron, 25 Middendorff’s Bean Geese, 200 Bewick’s Swans, a group of five Whistling Swans, 1,000 Eurasian Wigeon, a single hybrid drake Eurasian x American Wigeon (looking very smart), 50 Falcated Duck, 30 Gadwall, 2 drake Baikal Teal, 500 Common Teal, 1,000 Mallard, 1,000 Chinese Spot-billed Duck, 250 Pintail, 250 Shoveler, 1,000 Pochard, 1,250 Tufted Duck, 6 Greater Scaup, 4 Goldeneye, 4 Smew, a drake Red-breasted Merganser, 150 Goosanders, 75 Black-eared Kites, astoundingly an adult Steller’s Sea Eagle (in Western Honshu), Eastern Marsh Harrier, Japanese Buzzard, Northern and Grey-headed Lapwings, Common Snipe, Dunlin, Rufous Turtle Doves, Japanese Skylarks, Grey, Black-backed and Japanese Wagtails, 8 Olive-backed Pipits, a single Red-throated Pipit scoped and showing well, 5 Asian Buff-bellied Pipits, a cock Blue Rock Thrush, 3 very showy White’s Thrushes which included a tame bird that allowed us to walk right up to it and watch it shimmy as it fed along the edge of snow, 18 Pale and 100 Dusky Thrushes, 3 Bull-headed Shrikes, 10 Red-flanked Bluetails, 6 Daurian Redstarts, 100 Oriental Rooks, 5 Daurian Jackdaws, 100 White-cheeked Starlings, Siberian Meadow, Black-faced and Reed Buntings, 2 cock Long-tailed Rosefinches included one spanking bird, 4 Hawfinch and 500 Tree Sparrows and all too soon we were back on the Expressway and heading for Kyoto Station. The Japanese Expressways are expensive and due to this vehicles are always flowing and today was no exception. I boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo followed by the Narita Express back to the Airport. So the tail feathers on the car hire counter on the first night in Japan at Karuizawa were the closest that I got to Copper Pheasant despite extensive searching at several known locations at prime times of the day I simply couldn’t find one, it was the trips bitter disappointment that encompassed the very worst of what our hobby can throw at us.

20th February 2008.
I boarded my long eleven hour and twenty minute flight back to Frankfurt and then finally back home where life here seemed strange again at first. My conclusion is it certainly has been an odyssey I will never forget although it will all too soon spiral into the past.

A Systematic List of birds seen in the North Pacific.
Red-throated Diver (Red-throated Loon) Gavia stellata:
Black-throated Diver (Arctic Loon) Gavia arctica:
Pacific Diver (Pacific Loon) Gavia pacifica:
White-billed Diver (Yellow-billed Loon) Gavia adamsii:
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus:
Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena:
Black-necked Grebe (Eared Grebe) Podiceps nigricollis:
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis: (poggeii)
Short-tailed Albatross Diomedia albatrus:
Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis:
Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes:
Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris:
Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis: (rodgersii)
Mottled Petrel Pterodroma inexpectata:
Leach’s (Storm-) Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa:
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma furcata:
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo:
Temminck’s Cormorant (Japanese Cormorant) Phalacrocorax capillatus:
Red-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax urile:
Pelagic Cormorant Phalacrocorax pelagicus:
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea:
Great White Egret (Great Egret) Egretta alba:
Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia:
Little Egret Egretta garzetta:
Pacific Reef Egret Egretta sacra:
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax:
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia:
Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor:
Mute Swan Cygnus olor:
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus:
Bewick’s Swan Cygnus bewickii: (columbianus)
Whistling Swan Cygnus columbianus:
Middendorff’s Bean Goose Anser middendorffi (fabalis)
White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons:
Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus:
Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna:
Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope:
American Wigeon Anas americana:
Falcated Duck (Falcated Teal) Anas falcata:
Gadwall Anas strepera:
Baikal Teal. Anas formosa:
Common Teal (Eurasian Teal) Anas crecca:
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos:
Chinese Spot-billed Duck Anas zonorhyncha:
Northern Pintail Anas acuta:
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata:
Common Pochard Aythya ferina:
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula:
Greater Scaup Aythya marila:
Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus:
Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis:
Black Scoter Melanitta americana: (nigra)
Asiatic Scoter Melanitta stejnegeri: (deglandi)
Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata:
Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula:
Smew Mergellus albellus:
Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator:
Goosander (Common Merganser) Mergus merganser:
Black-eared Kite Milvus lineatus: (migrans)
White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla:
Steller’s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus:
Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus:
Eastern Marsh Harrier Circus spilonotus:
Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus:
Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentiles:
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo:
Japanese Buzzard Buteo japonicus (buteo):
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus:
Merlin Falco columbarius:
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus:
Hazel Hen (Grouse) Bonasia bonasia:
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus:
Green Pheasant Phasianus versicolor:
Common Crane Grus grus:
Hooded Crane Grus monacha:
Red-crowned (Japanese) Crane Grus japanensis:
Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis:
White-naped Crane Grus vipio:
Moorhen Gallinula chloropus:
Common Coot Fulica atra:
Corncrake Crex crex:
Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus:
Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus:
Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus:
Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva:
Grey Plover (Black-bellied Plover) Pluvialis squatarola:
Mongolian Plover Charadrius mongolus
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula:
Long-billed Plover Charadrius placidus:
Kentish Plover (Snowy Plover) Charadrius alexandrinus:
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica:
Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus:
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus (variegates):
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata:
Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis:
Greenshank Tringa nebularia:
Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus:
Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus:
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos:
Grey-tailed Tattler Heteroscelus brevipes:
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres:
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus:
Woodcock Scolopax rusticola:
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago:
Latham’s Snipe (Japanese Snipe) Gallinago hardwickii:
Long-toed Stint Calidris subminuta:
Dunlin Calidris alpina:
Rock Sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis:
Pomarine Skua (Pomarine Jaeger) Stercorarius pomarinus:
Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger) Stercorarius parasiticus:
Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris:
Kamchatka Gull Larus kamtschatschensis (canus):
Vega Gull Larus vegae (argentatus):
Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus:
Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens:
Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus:
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus:
Saunder’s Gull Larus saundersi:
Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla:
Red-legged Kittiwake Rissa brevirostris:
Common Tern (Black-billed Tern) Sterna hirundo: (minussensis)
Aleutian Tern Sterna aleutica:
Brünnich’s Guillemot (Thick-billed Murre) Uria iomvia:
Common Guillemot (Common Murre) Uria aalge:
Pigeon Guillemot Cepphus columba:
Kuril Guillemot Cepphus columba: (snowii)
Spectacled Guillemot Cepphus carbo:
Long-billed Murrelet Brachyramphus perdix:
Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus:
Parakeet Auklet Cyclorrhynchus Psittacula:
Crested Auklet Aethia pusilla:
Whiskered Auklet Aethia pygmaea:
Least Auklet Aethia pusilla:
Rhinoceros Auklet Cerorhinca monocerata:
Horned Puffin Fratercula corniculata:
Tufted Puffin Fratercula cirrhata:
Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) Columba livia:
Rufous Turtle Dove (Oriental Turtle Dove) Streptopelia orientalis:
Blakiston’s Fish Owl Bubo blakistoni:
Pacific Swift Apus pacificus:
House Swift Apus affinis: (nipalensis)
Crested Kingfisher Megaceryle lugubris:
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis:
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Picoides kizuki:
Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopus major:
White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopus leucotis:
Japanese Green Woodpecker Picus awokera:
Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis:
Japanese Skylark Alauda japonica (arvensis):
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica:
Asian House Martin Delichon dasypus:
Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus:
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea:
Green-headed Wagtail Motacilla taivana (flava):
Alaskan Wagtail Motacilla simillima (flava):
White Wagtail Motacilla alba:
Black-backed Wagtail Motacilla lugens (alba):
Japanese Wagtail Motacilla grandis:
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni:
Asian Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus japonicus (rubescens):
Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus:
Pechora Pipit Anthus gustavi:
Ryuku Minivet Pericrocotus tegimae (divaricatus):
Brown-eared Bulbul Hypsipetes amaurotis:
Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus:
Brown Dipper Cinclus pallasii:
Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes:
Dunnock Prunella modularis:
Japanese Accentor Prunella rubida:
Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius: (philippensis)
Brown-headed Thrush (Brown Thrush) Turdus chrysolaus:
Blackbird Turdus merula:
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus:
Song Thrush Turdus philomelos:
Redwing Turdus iliacus:
Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus:
Fieldfare Turdus pilaris:
Dusky Thrush Turdus eunomus (naumanii):
White’s Thrush Zoothera aurea:
European Robin Erithacus rubecula:
Japanese Robin Erithacus akahige:
Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia:
Rufous-tailed Robin (Swinhoe’s Robin) Luscinia sibilans:
Siberian Rubythroat Luscinia calliope:
Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus:
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus:
Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maura:
Zitting Cisticola (Fan-tailed Warbler) Cisticola juncidis:
Japanese Bush Warbler Cettia diphone:
Garden Warbler Sylvia borin:
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla:
Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis:
Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris:
Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum:
Black-browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps:
Lanceolated Warbler Locustella lanceolata:
River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis:
Middendorff’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella ochotensis:
Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella fasciolata (amnicola):
Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina:
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus:
Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix:
Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita:
Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis:
Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides:
Sakhalin Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus borealoides (tenellipes):
Pallas’s Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus:
Goldcrest Regulus regulus:
Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata:
Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica:
Siberian Flycatcher (Dark-sided Flycatcher) Muscicapa sibirica:
Narcissus Flycatcher Ficedula narcissina:
Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva:
Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca:
Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus (trivirgatus):
White-headed Tit Aegithalos caudatus (japonicus)
Great Tit Parus major:
Japanese Tit Parus japonicus (major):
Blue Tit Parus caeruleus:
Coal Tit Parus ater (insularis):
Marsh Tit Parus palustris (hensoni):
Willow Tit Parus montanus: (borealis):
Varied Tit Sittaparus varius:
Chinese Penduline Tit Remiz consobrinus:
European Nuthatch Sitta europaea (asiatica) (amurensis):
Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus:
Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio:
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus:
Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius (japonicus (brandtii):
Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes:
Common Magpie Pica pica:
Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyana:
Common Raven Corvus corax:
Oriental Crow Corvus orientalis (corone):
Hooded Crow Corvus cornix (corone):
Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos:
Common Rook Corvus frugilegus:
Oriental Rook Corvus pastinator (frugilegus):
Western Jackdaw Corvus monedula:
Daurian Jackdaw Corvus dauuricus:
White-cheeked Starling Sturnus cineraceus:
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris:
Siberian Meadow Bunting Emberiza cioides:
Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans:
Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata:
Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica:
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala:
Grey Bunting Emberizer variabilis:
Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus:
Lapland Bunting (Lapland Longspur) Calcarius lapponicus:
Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis:
Brambling Fringilla montifringilla:
Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs:
European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris:
Oriental Greenfinch Carduelis sinica:
European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis:
Eurasian Siskin Carduelis spinus:
Common Redpoll (Mealy Redpoll) Carduelis flammea:
Asian Rosy Finch Leucosticte arctoa:
Long-tailed Rosefinch Uragus sibiricus:
Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus:
Grey-bellied Bullfinch Pyrrhula griseiventris (pyrrhula):
Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes:
Japanese Grosbeak Eophona personata:
House Sparrow Passer domesticus:
Tree Sparrow Passer montanus:
Russet Sparrow Passer rutilans:

Systematic List of Mammals seen in the North Pacific
Japanese Macaque (Snow Monkey) Macaca fuscata:
Wood Mouse Adodemus sylvaticus:
Lemming Vole Alticols lemminus:
Common Seal (Harbour Seal) Phoca vitulina (stejnegeri):
Larga Seal (Spotted Seal) Phoca largha:
Northern Fur Seal Callorhinus ursinus:
Steller’s Sea Lion Eumetopias jubatu:
Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata:
Fin Whale Balaenoptera physalus:
Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus:
Killer Whale (Orca) Orcinus orca:
Red Fox Vulpes vulpes:
Arctic Fox Alopex lagopus (beringensis):
Asian Brown Bear Ursus arctos: (lasiotus) (beringianus)
American Mink Mustela vison:
Sea Otter Enhydra lutris:
Sika Deer Cervus nipal:
Ezo Deer Cervus nipal (yesoensis):