I rarely visit Japan, considering how popular a tourist destination Japan is for Hong Kongers, I have always prioritised other countries for birding, but Japan does have some good birds to offer for those who care to look for them, and the incredible infrastructure, amazing food and unique culture makes it quite the ideal country to bird on your own. Kenneth helped planned the itinerary for a week long trip around Tokyo and Karuizawa, with a 2 days detour down to Miyake-jima for some of the island endemics. We were joined by Yin and Hoiling for this summer getaway.
Day 1: Tokyo to Karuizawa
We took the late evening flight out of Hong Kong and landed in Tokyoa Haneda International Airport at around 4:45am. Since the machine that prints out our JR pass wasn't operational until 6:45, we had some time to grab breakfast before we made our way through Tokyo and towards the popular resort town of Karuizawa.
The train connections were smooth and bang on-time, we arrived as expected at 9am in Karuizawa, where a quick walk to the car rental office got us going straight away. Since we could not check-in to our hotel just yet, we decided to head towards the famous Shiraito Waterfall. It was packed with tourists and dog-walkers, not quite the tranquil walk in the forest as I expected, but we saw our first proper bird of the trip here in form of a very friendly Brown Dipper. It was not shy at all and was at one point merely two metres away from all the people.
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| Shiraito Waterfall |
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| The crowded walkway |
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| Brown Dipper |
We also went to the Ryugaeshi Falls nearby, which was much less crowded, but didn't produce that many birds. A few Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers were nice to see, we also had Long-tailed Tits and a few Japanese Thrush but they weren't close enough to photograph.
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| Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker |
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| Ryugaeshi Falls |
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| Leptura ochraceofasciata |
Since there wasn't much bird activities in the afternoon, we decided to do some touristy stuff in town after lunch. Karuizawa is a charming little town, with many European style buildings which reflects on its history with missionaries over a hundred years back. It is now filled with boutique shops and a massive shopping outlet complex.
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| Back streets of Karuizawa |
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| Karuizawa Outlet |
Day 2: Karuizawa
The morning was spent birding around the Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary, a forest site that is well known for birders, it is traditionally one of the site to look for the much sought after Copper Pheasant, however that is probably easier in the winter months when foliage are less dense. We saw a family of Narcissus Flycatcher, the adults were busy feeding a juvenile, although the juvenile stayed mostly out of sight, the female and male showed fairly well, the male was especially scruffy, the price to pay for bird parenting!
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| Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary |
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| Narcissus Flycatcher - female |
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| Narcissus Flycatcher - very scruffy looking male |
We came across a bird wave with Varied, Willow and Asian Tits, among the flock we also spotted a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Soon, we also heard the call of the Japanese Green Woodpecker; our main target here. With a little effort we saw a pair, the male stayed on a branch to preen itself for a little while, providing excellent view. This species is endemic to Japan, where it is replaced by the similar Grey-headed Woodpecker further north in Hokkaido and neighbouring Korea, differs mainly by the barred underparts.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker - male |
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| Japanese Green Woodpecker - male |
The afternoon was spent with more shopping time around the outlets, after a lovely sushi dinner at a local sushi restaurant, we decided to head back towards Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary to try our luck with the Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel that resides in the area. Not too long into our walk, Kenneth suddenly shouted "Owl!". Even though we knew Ural Owls can be found around the forest here, we weren't really prepared to find one right by the roadside, just metres away from us! the owl perched nice and long for us to get some decent photos before flying off deeper into the woods, leaving all of us exhilarated from this close encounter!
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| Ural Owl |
Around the pond we did manage to find a single Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel perched above its nest box. This is also an endemic species to Japan, and the largest flying squirrel in the country, but still relatively small compare to the other Giant Flying Squirrels found in South East Asia. Either way, a very productive evening to get both the owl and the squirrel within an hour!
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| Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel |
Day 3: Karuizawa to Tokyo
Since we have already ticked off the Japanese Green Woodpecker and we didn't fancy our chance with turning up a Copper Pheasant with just a few hours left, we decided to put our effort into finding the two remaining lifers that I could get in the area; the Green Pheasant and Japanese Wagtail. Though both very common in certain areas, I have never seen either of them on my past travels to Japan. We drove to some farmland in hope to see some Green Pheasants. There were plenty of Chestnut-eared Buntings around, quite a few in song and showed very well. Oriental Greenfinches were very common here. Grey Herons were seen around some of the paddies.
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| Chestnut-eared Bunting |
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| Oriental Greenfinch |
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| Grey Heron |
Around some plowed fields, we saw a few Eurasian Skylarks, and on the same field were the Japanese Wagtails I was looking for. Although they kept their distance it was a decent view of this long awaited lifer for me.
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| Eurasian Skylark |
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| Japanese Wagtail |
Further on we saw Green Pheasants in good numbers, this Japanese endemic is also the national bird of Japan. Though it is closely related to the Common Pheasant, the Green Pheasant have a completely metallic green breast and bluish grey wing panels and rump. We also saw a lot of females and juveniles around, many with very short tails.
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| Green Pheasant - male |
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| Green Pheasant - female |
Back around the resort we added a flock of Ashy Minivets and a very confiding Meadow Bunting. The outside walls of the resort also yielded a few Miyama Stag Beetles and a female Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle.
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| Ashy Minivet |
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| Meadow Bunting |
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| Miyama Stag Beetle - male |
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| Miyama Stag Beetle - female |
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| Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle - female |
After checking out we decided to head towards Onioshidashi Volcanic Park, a tourist spot to overlook Mt Asama and to walk around the lava rocks left by the past eruptions. It was quite misty which meant we didn't get to see the summit, but the lava rocks formation around the park were fascinating.
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| Onioshidashi Volcanic Park |
Growing in the rock crevices were Luminous Moss, sometimes known as Goblin's Gold, a species of moss that is adapted to grow in extremely dark and shaded areas, though they do not emit lights of their own, they are so reflective that even the dimmest of light can give them a luminous appearance.
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| Luminous Moss |
There were very few birds around the park, only a few Meadow Buntings and a juvenile Daurian Redstart gave us any decent views. Japanese Bush Warblers were frequently heard but none showed well. A few Asian House Martins were seen around the car park.
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| Meadow Bunting |
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| Daurian Redstart - juvenile |
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| Asian House Martin |
Our original plan was to take the train back to Tokyo and take the ferry towards Hachijo-jima and then land on Miyake-jima where we would spend 2 days, however due to the typhoon further south, our ferry was cancelled! Meaning we were stuck in Tokyo for the night, whats worst is that we had to scramble for new tickets on the ferry's company unhelpful website while finding a hotel as well. Even when we finally paid for the next day's tickets, there was noway of knowing whether the ferry will run until late afternoon the next day, so all we could do was wait and hope for the best.
Day 4: Tokyo
This was a non-birding day, we spent our day touring around Tokyo. Our main concern was that if the ferry gets cancelled again, we may not even be able to visit Miyake-jima at all! For the day we visited Tokyo Skytree and the Sumida Aquarium, as well as the famous Senso-ji and Kaminarimon Gate. Around late afternoon we received news that the ferry would run, so after dinner we made our way to Takeshiba Ferry Port to board the overnight ferry towards Miyake-jima, since the weather was still on the rough side out at sea, the ferry company decided not to head towards Hachijo-jima, which meant we will have to sacrifice our chance of seeing more seabirds, but that is far better than being stuck in Tokyo! (Tokyo is great fun but its not for birding!)
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Tokyo Skytree
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| Senso-ji |
Day 5: Miyake-jima
I managed a few hours of sleep before the announcement was made that we would soon be landing on Miyake-jima. It was such a relief that we were able to make it to Miyake-jima at all, and we were excited to get going! Our host from Nippana-so Lodge met us at the pier, we have heard from many friends that they did not get a reply from them through email, we managed to book with them as we had a friend who spoke Japanese and could speak on the phone directly with the owner. Ibana san was a small but sharp lady, Hoiling was able to communicate with her with limited Japanese vocabularies and the aid of Google translate! It only took 20 minutes to reach the lodge, and as we were pulling our luggage up through the garden we saw our first Owston's Tit! For the next hour or so, we just enjoyed brilliant views of various Owston's Tits coming to the bird feeder at Nippana-so Lodge, one of the reason why most birders want to stay at this lodge when they come to Miyake-jima!
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| Dining room over looking the bird feeder at Nippana-so Lodge |
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| Owston's Tit |
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| Owston's Tit - juvenile |
The feeder also attracted many Oriental Greenfinches, a few Asian Tits, many Warbling White-eyes and at one point an Ijima's Leaf Warbler, another target species for most people visiting Miyake-jima! That is two targets down within the first hour! We could even hear the song of Izu Robins nearby but they never showed.
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| Oriental Greenfinch - male |
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| Asian Tit (minor) |
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| Warbling White-eye |
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| Ijima's Leaf Warbler |
Itching to get going, we went straight to the rental car company office when they open at 7:30am. It was great that Ibana san was able to sort out the rental car booking for us beforehand, and we headed towards our first proper birding location at Tairo Pond after a short 10 minutes drive. As soon as we turned into the road leading down towards the pond, several Izu Thrush were seen right in front of the car feeding by the roadside, they were much shyer than I expected, but I think that maybe because we were already near the end of their breeding season.
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| Tairo Pond |
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| Izu Thrush |
With two of the endemics down, our efforts turned to the remaining endemic of Miyake-jima; the Izu Robin. And to our delight they really weren't that difficult to locate, as many were still vocal. It didn't take us long to find several singing males by the roadside, and we were all amazed by how quickly we found and photographed all three of Miyake-jima's endemics! All within the first few hours of arriving! Male look very similar to Japanese Robin but lacks the black breast band.
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| Izu Robin - male |
Down by the pond we ran into a feeding flock, where we had another fantastic encounter with the Owston's Tit, this time not on the feeder but in the wild! This is said to be the hardest of the three species of endemics on Miyake-jima, so we were happy we didn't have any trouble with it at all.
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| Owston's Tit |
A few vocal Ijima's Leaf Warblers were a welcoming sight as well, including a juvenile which kept following the parent around. A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was also spotted nearby.
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| Ijima's Leaf Warbler |
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| Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker |
We heard a low booming call of the Black Wood-Pigeon, I played a burst of playback and within twenty second a large bird flew in and perched in front of us, a Black Wood-Pigeon indeed! This island specialty is found on various small islands around Japan, including Ryukyu Islands and Bonin Islands. Being a relatively shy species, Miyake-jima is perhaps one of the better place to look for this species.
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| Black Wood-Pigeon |
With four lifers in the bag within the first few hours here, we were able to relax a little and explore the island. We stopped by a view point over looking the sea looking towards the south, the scenery was amazing, and as we scanned the sea with thousands of Streaked Shearwaters, I spotted something larger that was completely dark, surely a Black-footed Albatross! It was incredible that we could spot one from the comforts of the shore!
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| Black-footed Albatross - our first of many on this trip |
Towards the north of the island is the Cape Izu Lighthouse, this is where most birders come to look for breeding Pleske's Grasshopper Warblers. And we were not disappointed, as we heard many singing and in the end had decent views of a few of them. As we do see them during migration in Hong Kong, this is not a new species for me, but it was nice to see them at their breeding grounds.
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| Cape Izu Lighthouse |
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| Breeding site of Pleske's Grasshopper Warbler |
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| Pleske's Grasshopper Warbler - adult |
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| Pleske's Grassshoper Warbler - juvenile |
Nearby, an Eastern Cattle Egret flew by, no doubt a migrant coming through. There were a lot of Pacific Swifts flying around, and we spent some time photographing them, as I rarely get to see them this close!
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| Eastern Cattle Egret |
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| Pacific Swift |
After our picnic lunch at the lighthouse, we decided to head back to the lodge for a nap, as everyone didn't sleep that well on the ferry the previous night. Late afternoon we gave Tairo Pond another try, hoping for more views of Izu Thrush, we managed to get an adult male feeding on the roadside, as well as a juvenile a little further away.
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| Izu Thrush - male |
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| Izu Thrush - juvenile |
Outside the Miyake Nature Centre car park we spotted a few Black Wood-Pigeons perched on a dead tree, Kenneth actually first spotted one on the ground but we were unable to get a photo. Here we also had another male Izu Robin which showed well.
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| Black Wood-Pigeon |
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| Izu Robin - male |
Since the sun was setting we wanted to head somewhere looking west over the sea. We chanced upon an area near the Toga Shrine, at the Togahama parking lot we walked towards the pebble beach. There we had wonderful views of a singing Meadow Bunting. A Blue Rock Thrush was also spotted around the rocks. The view looking out towards Onohara Island was simply amazing, with thousands of Streaked Shearwaters flying around, we enjoyed a lovely sunset before heading back to the lodge for dinner.
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| Meadow Bunting |
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| Blue Rock Thrush - female |
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| Looking towards Onohara Island with thousands of Streaked Shearwaters on the water |
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| Togahama - sunset behind a lovely Daylily |
Day 6: Miyake-jima to Tokyo
We had one one more morning to spend on Miyake-jima before we had to leave on the ferry. We decided to head somewhere we haven't yet been on the island and drove up to the Seven Islands Lookout. There were very few birds here, we only added a heard only Chinese Bamboo Partridge; no doubt an introduced species to this remote island. I spotted some lovely Austral Ladies Tresses by the roadside, and a beautiful Japaneses Peacock Swallowtail made an appearance.
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| Austral Ladies Tresses |
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| Japanese Peacock Swallowtail |
In the remaining hour or so we headed back down towards Tairo Pond to try for some more birds, other than the numerous Brown-eared Bulbuls (which I have largely ignored throughout much of the trip), we had more lovely views of both a male and female Izu Robins. An Oriental Turtle Dove posing too nicely to ignore was about our last bird on the island before we had to return the rental car and head to the pier.
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| Brown-eared Bulbul |
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| Izu Robin - female |
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| Izu Robin - male |
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| Oriental Turtle Dove |
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| Miyake-jima ferry |
Once onboard, we stored our luggage and went straight up to the observation deck to start scanning for seabirds. There were already a few Japanese birders there, by the looks of it they took the overnight ferry towards Hachijo-jima and is heading straight back to Tokyo without stopping on Miyake-jima, which seems a very popular route among local birders hoping to find some interesting pelagic birds. It didn't take long before we started seeing numerous Streaked Shearwaters, most of them did not come close to our ship, but a few came within reasonable distant for a half decent view.
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| Sea watching deck |
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| Streaked Shearwater |
Black-footed Albatross was far more numerous than I expected, throughout the journey we counted a total of 11 individuals, although none came super close to our ship, they gave decent enough views.
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| Black-footed Albatross |
Bulwer's Petrels were also quite numerous, we ended up with 26 individuals throughout the journey, although given their smaller size and having all dark plumage, I would not be surprised if we missed a few along the way. They were definitely not as easy to pickup as the Streaked Shearwaters.
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| Bulwer's Petrel |
We arrived at Tokyo at around 7:45pm, and we managed to arrive at our hotel in Omori by 8:30pm. Finding somewhere to sit down for a late dinner was more difficult than we anticipated, as it was a Friday night and most of the restaurants were completely packed! We managed to find a Izakaya that had a free table in the end.
Day 7: Tokyo
We had one full day in Tokyo before we head back to Hong Kong. Kenneth and I looked through eBird and found the Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park to be the only reasonable place we had a chance to add anything new, and a possible lifer for Kenneth in form of a Long-billed Plover. The journey there took longer than expected, as we didn't know there was only one entrance to the park, Google took us to the back door of the park and we were met with locked gates, it took us another 15 minutes of walking in the scorching heat to reach the proper park entrance. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a three Grey-faced Buzzards, which attracted a bit of a local crowd, I guess it is not a particular common species here either.
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| Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park |
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| Grey-faced Buzzard |
White-cheeked Starlings were quite numerous in the park, we scanned for Chestnut-cheeked Starlings but didn't see any just yet. We asked one of the guy working in the visitor centre where to best look for the Long-billed Plover, he told us to go to bird hide number two, we got there and only saw many Little Ringed Plovers.
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White-cheeked Starling
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Eastern Spot-billed Ducks are always common in Japan, and we saw many here. Further on we found a Grey-tailed Tattler and later a single Black-tailed Gull dropped by.
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| Eastern Spot-billed Duck |
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| Grey-tailed Tattler |
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| Black-tailed Gull |
Determined to find the Long-billed Plover, we headed back to bird hide number two yet again, this time we were in luck, as our target was feeding right in front of the bird hide! It was nice to also be able to compare the size of the Little Ringed Plovers nearby.
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| Long-billed Plover - glad to be able to connect with it! |
Finally, we spotted a few Chestnut-cheeked Starlings on a bare tree far away, though views were not that great it was still a nice bird to catch up with. And that wraps up all our birding on this trip. Since our flight wasn't until really early next morning, Kenneth booked us into an Onsen at Heiwajima, where we could relax before the shuttle bus pick us up to the airport at 3:10am! We were back in Hong Kong around mid-morning.
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| Chestnut-cheeked Starling |
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| Chestnut-cheeked Starling - juvenile |
All in all, it was a successful trip as we managed almost all our target species, Copper Pheasant was always going to be a bit of a long shot for this time of the year, so that would have to wait another time. Despite a few hiccups along the way such as the cancelled ferry, everything worked out fine in the end, although it was a shame that we couldn't visit Hachijo-jima as planned which probably meant we missed out on a few more seabirds, I am happy to still be able to visit Miyake-jima for the few island endemics there. We had fairly good weather throughout our visit, if not a bit hot and humid for my liking, but Karuizawa was nice and cool in the morning and evening, making it a perfect summer getaway.
Many thanks for Kenneth for organising the logistics and booking the ferry, also Hoiling and Yin for excellent company. Also a huge thanks to Ryan our friend in Japan, whom without we wouldn't be able to book the wonderful Nippana-so Lodge. All in all, Japan has everything to offer, amazing food, incredible scenery, insanely good infrastructure and a few endemic birds, whats not to like?
eBird trip list: https://ebird.org/tripreport/555108
