Archive for the ‘Japan Mammals’ Category

May

2012

Azamidani

This afternoon I visited Azamidani again to see if any interesting migrants were passing through. No special birds there, but the usual summer breeders and residents were very active. Also in the pond was a pair of Western Japanese Common Toad which were busy mating and generally making a nuisance of themselves, causing the birds to be more wary than usual. Today was also the first time I have observed a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker actually drink at the pond, although they are always feeding around it. Another interesting observation was a Japanese Shrew-mole carcass on the trail…not sure what killed it but unusual that it was exposed on the path like that…. Japanese hikers often take their dogs with them even in national parks, so maybe a small dog was the culprit.

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

Eastern Great Tit

Narcissus Flycatcher (female)

Japanese Bush Warbler

Western Japanese Common Toad

Japanese Shrew-mole Carcass

Posted in Japan Amphibians, Japan Birds, Japan Mammals | No Comments »

May

2012

Japanese Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus abramus)

Recently I discovered bat droppings outside the front door of my apartment, which was surprising because, although there are bats hunting the street lights near my place, I hadn’t seen any signs of either a daytime or nighttime roost. So last night I waited until after the first few twilight hours for the culprit to rest after feeding, and here it is! A nice little Japanese Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus abramus)! One of the commonest bats in Japan, this insectivore is known as the “House Bat” in Japanese – and for good reason as I have just found out.

Japanese Pipistrelle

Posted in Japan Mammals | No Comments »

Feb

2012

Birthday Present!

Today was my birthday and I had a chance to do some photography in the Isahaya reclaimed land areas. The weather was great despite bleak forecasts, and the birds showed quite nicely too! Highlights included nice views of Falcated Duck, Japanese Weasel, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Common Reed Bunting and Hooded Crane.

Common Reed Bunting (male)

Eastern Marsh Harrier (female)

Falcated Duck (2 males)

Hen Harrier (female)

Hooded Crane (male)

Hooded Crane (pair)

Hooded Crane (family)

Japanese Weasel

Posted in Japan Birds, Japan Mammals | 3 Comments »

Nov

2011

Japanese Wild Boar (Sus scrofa leucomystax)

Today I was extremely surprised to encounter a large Japanese Wild Boar at Azamidani. Although there are plenty of wild boar in the Unzen area, it is rare to find traces of them above the Nita pass. This male was alone, and he came quite quickly and confidently to the edge of the pond without pausing. He didn’t notice me at all, even though I was sitting directly in front of him and just 10 metres away. I wasn’t even in my blind; I was just sitting behind some camo scrim and wearing camo clothing. Luckily what little wind there was was blowing toward my position, or he would have been aware of me long before he approached the pond. Anyway, I slowly moved my lens to focus on his eyes, then composed the shot to get his snout and ears in the frame without moving the lens too much (my 300/2.8 + 1.4x TC combination was too much glass to do any better!), so I ended up with my subject dead centre in the image. To get around this compositional dilemma, I decided to crop the image to a square aspect during post-processing. Needless to say, as soon as the shutter fired and the remote flash units went off, the boar exploded out of the pond and headed back the way he came. After he was hidden from my view I heard him giving me a couple of loud grunts of displeasure!

Japanese Wild Boar

Posted in Japan Mammals | 3 Comments »

Sep

2011

Japanese Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum nippon)

I finally had success with photographing some bats on Mt Unzen. Although I think there are at least 3 different species on the mountain, last night’s photos were all of Japanese Greater Horseshoe Bat. After trying with limited success at the pond at Azamidani several times, I spent some more time observing the bats’ habits and found that they preferred to hunt along the mountain trail rather than over the pond. In the early evening they hunted in one direction along the trail, then just before dawn they hunted in the opposite direction. That knowledge enabled me to set up the camera in an area where my “hit rate” would be much higher, resulting in a 30% keeper rate.

Japanese Greater Horseshoe Bat

Posted in Japan Mammals | No Comments »

Aug

2011

Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture

Today I took my family on a dolphin-watching trip off the Amakusa islands. First we drove to Kuchinotsu on the Shimabara Peninsula and took a ferry across to Oni-ike port on Amakusa. From there it was just a 5 minute drive to the dolphin-watching boats. Not too much seabird activity either on the ferry crossings or out with the dolphins. Just a few Brown Booby and Streaked Shearwater, along with the usual Black-tailed Gulls and Black-eared Kites. A few Bottle-nosed Dolphin were around though, although they weren’t being too acrobatic!

Black-eared Kite with Fish

Brown Booby

Streaked Shearwater

Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Posted in Japan Birds, Japan Mammals | No Comments »

Jul

2011

Azamidani

It had been a while since I last visited the pond at Azamidani on Mount Unzen, mainly due to the torrential rainy season downpours and also because a landslide had taken out a section of the road leading to the Nita-toge Pass. Anyway, I was feeling a bit crazy and decided to hike up yesterday afternoon with all my camera gear, the blind and the PhotoTrap…about 25 kgs in total! To my surprise, I made it to the pond without having a heart attack, and promptly set up the blind and started taking photos of the birdlife. Blue-and-White Flycatcher and Japanese Thrush were the highlights. I then set up the PhotoTrap, again for slow-moving medium-sized nocturnal mammals. I had prepared some bait which, together with the water source, I assumed would attract a variety of critters……however morning saw the bait untouched and only a bad photo of a bat in flight for all my trouble! Anyway, the bat photo was encouraging, so next time I will just set up for them and try to get a better in-flight shot of one. I left my gear at the pond overnight, so first light this morning I hiked back up to retrieve it. After discovering that the only photo taken by the PhotoTrap was the one of the bat, I decided to wait around for any early morning birds. Plenty of Red-billed Leiothrix around, but also an Asian Stubtail……perhaps a juvenile. The male Copper Pheasant also came by, but not into my photographic zone….. Anyway, when the road to Nita-toge opens again, I will try for the bats!

Bat in Flight

Asian Stubtail (juvenile)

Eastern Great Tit

Blue-and-White Flycatcher (male)

Japanese Thrush (male)

Japanese Thrush (female)

Posted in Japan Birds, Japan Mammals | No Comments »

Jul

2011

PhotoTrap

Recently I purchased a remote IR camera triggering system called the PhotoTrap. Made by Bill Forbes of Arizona, USA, the PhotoTrap is a very flexible system and very easy to set up in the field. The system comes with everything you need to get running, as long as you have a flash unit or two. Anyway, I got my first real chance to test it out last night, when a break in the annual “rainy season” finally occurred.

As this was my first effort, and the fact that I was going after medium-sized, slow moving mammals, I set up the PhotoTrap in the traditional “break beam” mode, whereby the emitter and detector are set up facing each other over a distance of a metre or so. I then set up the flash units, did a couple of test firings, and finally laid some bait in the centre of the area covered by the IR beam. I then left the gear unattended for about 3 hours.

When I returned I found that a Japanese Wild Boar had approached the site shortly after “complete darkness” and had promptly knocked over (or tried to eat!) the emitter! Unfortunately, the trap only got off one shot before the boar knocked the emitter out of alignment, so that was the end of the evening’s experiment.

One lesson learned was that I need to calculate the manual flash power output more carefully. Also, the 430EX II always goes into “SE” or “Save Energy” mode after about an hour, which means it won’t fire on the first shot thereafter. It needs to be “woken up” first then allowed to charge… The 580EX has no such issues.

Anyway, I am encouraged by the evening’s result and will try again either tonight or tomorrow night. This time I will use the PhotoTrap in the “reflect without reflector” mode….I may also revert to Av mode and ETTL.

Below are two shots from last night; one of myself setting off the trap and the other of the boar.

Myself setting off the PhotoTrap

Japanese Wild Boar destroying PhotoTrap Setup!

Posted in Japan Mammals, Photography Equipment Reviews | 2 Comments »

Apr

2011

Amakusa Islands, Kumamoto Prefecture

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited on a boat trip in the Amakusa islands to search for Japanese Murrelet. I had been meaning to visit these islands for some time, and this was the perfect chance for an introduction. I took the ferry from Kuchinotsu, Shimabara Peninsula to Oni-ike, Amakusa, and then drove to the small fishing port of Miyada. Here I met other birders and took a fishing boat out for the search. Although we were unsuccessful in locating Japanese Murrelet, I did photograph some “firsts” and got better photos of other species. Highlights included Japanese Green Pigeon, Slaty-backed Gull, Blue Rock Thrush, Buff-bellied Pipit, Long-tailed Tit. But the best was a close encounter with a Finless Porpoise! The lack of seabirds was a bit of a concern; it seems the colder waters of this year have depleted the fish stocks around the islands, so birds may be breeding more to the south than in usual years. In addition to the birds photographed, I only saw one Brown Booby and two Temminck’s Cormorants – no Streaked Shearwaters or any petrels…. All photos taken with the 7D, 300/2.8, 1.4x TC, handheld.

Dawn over the Ariake Sea

Japanese Green Pigeon

Japanese Green Pigeon (male)

Slaty-backed Gull (adult)

Slaty-backed Gull (immature)

Vega Gull (adult)

Buff-bellied Pipit (breeding)

Blue Rock Thrush (male) with Prey

Long-tailed Tit

Eurasian Tree Sparrow (male)

Grey Heron

Finless Porpoise

Ebisu Statue at Miyada Fishing Port

Posted in Japan Birds, Japan Mammals, Japan Travel | No Comments »

Mar

2011

Mount Hiko

This weekend I spent some time in the Mount Hiko area, which is on the border of Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. Target species were Hodgson’s Hawk Eagle and Japanese Green Pigeon. Although I spotted the eagle, photos were not very good as the bird was too far away. No sign of the pigeon…. Other notable species also spotted were Japanese Sparrowhawk and Brown Dipper.