During our time in Eastern Hokkaido we saw quite a few terrestrial and marine mammals, and managed to get some photos of a couple.
Eurasian Red Squirrel
Ezo Deer
Ezo Deer
Ezo Deer
Ezo Deer
Red Fox
Red Fox
Sable
Harbor Seal
Northern Fur Seal
Sea Otter
Some other bird images from our time in Eastern Hokkaido, including a strange dark-morph Eurasian Tree Sparrow that briefly had us wondering what on earth a Grey Bunting was doing in Hokkaido in winter!
Brown Dipper
Brown-eared Bulbul
Eurasian Nuthatch
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (dark morph)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (male)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (male)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (male)
Mountain Hawk Eagle
Mountain Hawk Eagle
Mountain Hawk Eagle
White-backed Woodpecker (male)
White-backed Woodpecker (male)
Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan
A few images of some of the seabirds I was able to get reasonable photos of.
Ancient Murrelet
Asian White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Common Guillemot
Common Guillemot
Cormorants on Sea Ice
Harlequin Duck
Least Auklet
Least Auklet
Long-tailed Duck
Long-tailed Duck
Pelagic Cormorant
Spectacled Guillemot
Spectacled Guillemot
Spectacled Guillemot
Sea Ice
The lighthouse and blind at Cape Nosappu. The blind is a great and provides a comfortable shelter from which to watch the seabirds and sea mammals off the cape.
Eastern Buzzard were very common in Hokkaido, and I got this sequence of shots from the blind at Meiji Park, Nemuro city.
We had already listed two of Hokkaido’s “Big Three”, Red-crowned Crane & Steller’s Sea Eagle, on the first full day of the Hokkaido leg of the tour, so to complete the set all we needed was the Blakiston’s Fish Owl, which we got on our third night on the island.
Steller’s Sea Eagle were everywhere! Although most of the time we observed them while driving around, so I didn’t have that many opportunities to photograph them. They easily outnumbered other birds of prey (maybe even combined!), and what a magnificent sight they are!
We had some fantastic eagle action at the Akan International Crane Centre!
We had great views of Red-crowned Crane both at Tsurui and at Akan. These cranes are much more active than the ones at Arasaki!
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Red-crowned Crane (juvenile) with Fish
A selection of images of other birds we saw and I was able to take the time to photograph (except the Redwing which I saw before meeting up with the group).
Common Kingfisher (male)
Daurian Jackdaw (pied & dark morph)
Mandarin Duck (2 males & 1 female)
Oriental Stork
Redwing
Redwing
Russet Sparrow (male)
Russet Sparrow (female)
Short-eared Owl
Our Kagoshima – Hokkaido birding tour started with seeing the cranes of Arasaki, Izumi-shi. This winter there were five species of crane: Hooded; White-naped; Lesser Sandhill; Common & Siberian. It had been several years since a Siberian Crane wintered at Arasaki, and this time it was a juvenile – a positive sign for this critically endangered species. So of course, it was our main target along with the other four species. We had very good views of each of the five species, which was very rewarding.
Siberian Crane (juvenile) in Flight
Siberian Crane (juvenile)
Siberian Crane (juvenile) feeding
Common Crane
Hooded Crane
Lesser Sandhill Crane
White-naped Crane in Flight
White-naped Cranes and Moon
White-naped Crane and Moon
White-naped Crane and Moon
Cranes and the Rising Sun