HOKKAIDO NARRATIVES
Hakodate, Hokkaido: 2004 Annual Report
Hakodate is located at the southernmost tip of Hokkaido, which is the northernmost of the main Japanese islands. Its location means that many migrants pass through on their way to and from Honshu (the largest, central island of Japan). The following species were all seen in Hakodate within walking distance of my apartment. The main areas near my apartment are the Shinkawa River (a glorified concreted stream) and the nearby, smallish Goryokaku Park. The river runs all the way down to the Pacific coast and a beach (well, sort of) in the south, from local foothills in the north. Farther east is the coastal suburb of Yunokawa with the slightly bigger Matsukura River and the only, tiny bits of farmland and reedbeds in Hakodate. Farther west is Hakodateyama, a small forest-clad mountain and cape. The whole area could in theory be covered by foot in a day, but you would have sore feet.
January (60 species)
The start of the year was very mild (though it would get very cold after a few days), which meant several species usually absent in winter were still around. Common birds seen in the first week of January were Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Tufted Duck, Spot-billed Duck, Black Kite, Dusky Thrush, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Brown-eared Bulbul, Rock Dove, Carrion Crow, Large-billed Crow, White (Black-backed) Wagtail, Slaty-backed Gull, Vega Gull, Black-tailed Gull, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Winter Wren, Eurasian Jay, Japanese Wagtail, Hawfinch, Daurian Redstart, Common Kingfisher, Common Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker. On the sea were Red-breasted Merganser, Japanese Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, some offshore Black-legged Kittiwake, Brent Goose and Black-necked Grebe (which were surprisingly scarce this season). A Glaucous-winged Gull was one of 2 adults present throughout the winter; in fact, they hardly seemed to move and were always in the same places. Raptors present in the first week were Common Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Northern Goshawk, Peregrine (mobbing a Black Kite) and White-tailed Eagle. The most surprising bird of early January was a lone Long-billed Plover, which had arrived on the Matsukura River at the end of 2003, and remained until the end of this month.
Next to be seen in mid-January were Grey Starling, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Common Goldeneye, Oriental Greenfinch, Blue Rock Thrush, Long-tailed Rosefinch and Meadow Bunting. January 18 on the Matsukura provided 5 new birds: a surprising pair of Little Grebe, Brown Dipper (a species I didn't see last year), a lone female Eurasian Kestrel, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and a flock of Rustic Bunting.
Heavy snow towards the end of the month resulted in a lot of birds on the move: a flock of 40 Hawfinch, several Long-tailed Rosefinch, lots of Grey Starling (which are usually pretty rare in winter) and, best of all, a flock of over 100 Bohemian Waxwing with a few Japanese Waxwing mixed in. This heralded a mini-invasion of waxwings, with several groups around town. Last year was the same: they hung round for a few days in the last week of January and then disappeared. Several Peregrines were also present and were often a nice 'balcony bird'.
Seawatching in winter at the bitterly cold and windswept Tachimachi-misaki (the aforementioned cape) proved a test of endurance. On more than one occasion, I was forced by the weather to take refuge in the only shelter, a public toilet. Birds seen included Black-throated and Red-throated Divers, and Red-necked Grebe. Actually, there were many unidentified divers out there, some of which were probably Pacific Divers; but the only one that came close enough inshore to positively identify was a Black-throated. The common seaducks were present at the cape, including a regular flock of about 50 Black Scoter and smaller numbers of Red-breasted Merganser. About 40 Brent Goose were dotted around the town, and a group of 5 Common Buzzard (presumably heading south) was an unexpected sight on 22 January. A distant White-tailed Eagle seen from the town centre and a flock of Brambling were the last species of any interest in January.
February (51 species)
Basically more of the same in February. January was a pretty good month in the sense that I saw most of the species I could reasonably expect to see in winter, so February did not provide much in the way of new birds. Long-tailed Rosefinch remained, as did Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Northern Goshawk and Common Buzzard (including a very pale individual that had me going for a while, as a possible Rough-legged Buzzard). New birds in the month included Marsh Tit, a group of 4 male Eurasian Wigeon on the Shinkawa River (where there was also a peak of 16 Tufted Duck), a female Yellow-throated Bunting in the local park (where there were also Varied and Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Hawfinch, Daurian Redstart and Bullfinch), Eurasian Siskin and (finally) a second-winter Glaucous Gull. Once seen, of course, the siskin and wigeon were everywhere around town. Up to 65 species for the year.
March (63 species)
There was not much of interest in the first two weeks of March, apart from a huge passage of Common Gull which coincided with a very mild spell of weather with strong southerly winds. Thousands were offshore and on both the rivers in Hakodate. Several Black-legged Kittiwake were present and there was a peak of about 30 Harlequin Duck. A female Ring-necked Pheasant was the only new species for the year around this time.
The second half of March saw both the birds and the weather changing. The trail up the mountain became passable, which allowed me to get several of the resident forest species: Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Goldcrest, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Nuthatch and Grey-headed Woodpecker. The forest was alive with birds, including Siskin, Bullfinch, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, Coal and Marsh Tit, and Brambling. A party of 20 Whooper Swan flying north on the 24th were accompanied by an unidentified grey goose. Birds returning from the south included Japanese Skylark and Bull-headed Shrike.
I saw 2 'firsts' for Hakodate at the end of March. A female Common Pochard was on the Shinkawa River; but it paled in comparison to the Ural Owl, my first owl in Japan. This was seen on temple grounds, being mobbed by a very excited flock of Large-billed Crows. My wife, an avid Harry Potter fan, was present at the time and screamed as she thought the owl was going to get killed by the crows. The owl was trapped for a time under a bush by the crows, but I think it managed to escape. Large numbers (hundreds) of Red-breasted Merganser passed through at the end of the month, as did a small influx of adult Glaucous Gull (which would continue until mid-April). Up to 77 species for the year.
April (80 species)
April is always the best month species-wise. Most of the winter stuff lingers on into the middle of the month, while birds come up from farther south in Japan on their way north. The first real summer visitor was Barn Swallow on April 8. This was followed by Asian House Martin the next day. Also seen in early April were returning Japanese Bush Warbler and Grey Wagtail. Small groups of Eurasian Wigeon were scattered across town.
Mid-April saw several new passerines, as well as all the resident species, now in full voice: lots of Black-faced Bunting, Red-flanked Bluetail and Stonechat scattered across town, Buff-bellied Pipit on the Matsukura, large numbers of Japanese White-eye, Pale Thrush and Eastern Crowned Warbler on the mountain. Other new birds included a lone northbound Osprey, some exotic-looking groups of summer-plumaged Black-headed Gull, and several beautiful Blue-and-white Flycatcher on the mountain (including one male in a tiny front garden in the middle of town).
April 22 was an excellent day on the Matsukura-- Sakhalin Leaf Warbler (a brownish Phylloscopus warbler-- or was it a Pale-legged Warbler?), a superb male Narcissus Flycatcher (one of several across town), Oriental Turtle Dove and the first Red Crossbill of the year (it was very common in 2003 and would get commoner later in April this year). Two early morning visits to the mountain right at the end of the month brought me Asian Stubtail, Rhinoceros Auklet, and singing Grey Thrush and Japanese Thrush, as well as lots of common stuff passing through (huge numbers of Coal Tit and Great Tit, for example, plus Long-tailed Rosefinch, Red-flanked Bluetail and lots of Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers). The last day of April was spent on the Matsukura, when an Oriental Reed Warbler had the honour of being my 100th species for the year. Little Ringed Plover and Red-cheeked Starling brought me up to 102 species for the year with 3 "firsts" in April for Hakodate.
May (64 species)
For various reasons, I could not do much birding in Hakodate in May. The first 5 days in May were spent birding with Charles Harper and Ray Gossen on Tobishima in the Japan Sea, where I was amazed at their ability to get up so early and also by their wonderful telescopes. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality, Ray.
May 12 was my first decent birding day: I too got up very early and visited the mountain. Large numbers of the same migrants as April were present, plus several Siberian Blue Robin and Japanese Robin, Eyebrowed Thrush and one singing Oriental Cuckoo. The first Grey Heron of the year passed north, and there there were small numbers of Grey-tailed Tattler on the coast. Also present on this day were Common Buzzard and another 3 species of thrush (including a late Dusky Thrush which was also seen the next day). A Chestnut-eared Bunting was singing on the same patch of wasteland on the Shinkawa River as last year. Highlight of the month were the huge flocks of Red-necked Pharalope seen off Yunokawa on May 16. Calm conditions meant the flocks could be easily seen about half a kilometre offshore. Mid-late May seems to be reliable for this species, as I saw hundreds of thousands of them a few miles east last year too. A lone Sand Martin was also seen on the Matsukura, and another tattler well upstream which remained until at least the 23rd, Little Ringed Plover, singing Grey Thrush, Stonechat and Chestnut-eared Bunting. The same place provided a Common Cuckoo a week later. A final visit (until autumn) to the mountain provided a singing Arctic Warbler plus sundry warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, tits and woodpeckers. Up to 113 species for the year.
June (37 species)
Summer allowed me to wallow in lethargy. The weather was humid and foggy and the mountain was the haunt of large numbers of mosquitoes, while the leaf cover meant I couldn't see the birds anyway. Plus, Euro 2004 was on TV. The Matsukura River provided (very difficult to see) Gray's Grasshopper Warbler and Black-browed Reed Warbler (which was much easier to see). There were at least 2 of each as well as around 25-30 singing Oriental Reed Warbler on a single kilometre stretch of river. Also present and apparently breeding along this river were Little Ringed Plover, Japanese Skylark, Grey Thrush, Black-faced and Chestnut-eared Bunting, Japanese Bush Warbler, Bull-headed Shrike, Stonechat and Common Cuckoo. Nearer my apartment on the Shinkawa River there were also good numbers of Oriental Reed Warbler (at least 7 singing males on a highly-urban, mostly concreted river). Also breeding on this river were Asian House Martin, Red-cheeked Starling, Bull-headed Shrike, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Black-backed Wagtail and Great Tit. A surprise juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron was around for a few days from June 18. Up to 116 species for the year.
July (25 species)
Not much happening in July. I was surprised to see Peregrine still around (I had assumed they were only winter visitors but they appear to be resident). Immature Grey Wagtail were moving down from the foothills and a Common Sandpiper on July 30 brought me up to 117 species for the year. The end of the month was very hot and the hot spell continued for a few more weeks.
August (25 species)
Very hot weather meant little birding for most of the month. A few birds were on the move, notably Common Cuckoo and Grey Heron. The weather turned at the end of the month as the typhoon season began (several big ones this year, which is unusual in Hokkaido). The wader passage was light (or maybe I just missed them all, as the typhoons kept me indoors) with only a few Common Sandpiper and a lone Red-necked Stint. A White-throated Needletail was a nice flyover bird on August 31st, bringing me up to 119 species for the year.
September (39 species)
Most of my birding this month was on the Shinkawa River where I saw lots of southbound Stonechat, Eastern Crowned and Arctic Warblers, and the first Hawfinch since early June. All 3 Muscicapa flycatchers were present—Asian Brown Flycatcher (the commonest), Dark-sided Flycatcher and Grey-streaked Flycatcher. Sometimes 2 different species were on the same tree branch, allowing easy ID. A huge typhoon on the 8th did a lot of damage in town and even knocked out the power for most of the day. At least 2 Eurasian Hobby were seen from my balcony, from where I also saw several Pacific Swift heading south on the 14th. Several Grey Herons and 1 juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron were also on the Shinkawa River. Red-cheeked and Grey Starling were flocking ahead of migration. Up to 124 species for the year.
October (64 species)
Early October probably provided my best birding of the year. Near my apartment in the first week were 2 superb male Siberian Rubythroat. Rather common elsewhere in Hokkaido, this was a great bird to see so near home. The same clump of trees also provided a Wryneck, which remained for a week. On the mountain there were lots of birds on the move, including huge numbers of white-eye, Coal Tit, and Black-faced and Rustic Bunting. Eclipse Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail were both 'firsts' for Hakodate, as was a female Mandarin Duck—all on the Matsukura River. All 3 Accipiter species were seen on migration at the mountain, including a pair of Japanese Sparrowhawk. An Olive-backed Pipit was seen sheltering from the rain in Goryokaku Park. Eyebrowed and Pale Thrush passed through in small numbers. The end of the month was more about quantity than quality—large numbers of commoner stuff moving south (including huge numbers of Japanese Bush Warbler) as well as the return of many of the commoner winter visitors, such as Daurian Redstart, and large numbers of many of the resident species in the mountain forest. Up to 131 for the year.
November (38 species)
Two female Goosander in Goryokaku Park on the 1st was the last new species of the year. A basically lazy, quiet month also provided a very late, worn-looking Arctic Warbler on the 5th, and a lost-looking female Grey-headed Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park at the end of the month. The first Dusky Thrush was seen on Nov 25th. Up to 132 species.
December (32 species)
A pretty mild winter so far. Glaucous-winged Gull, Brent Goose, Goldeneye and Black-necked Grebe have all returned.
So 132 species is a pretty good return for a place like Hakodate. Birds I saw in 2002/3 but not this year were Common Guillemot, Smew, Common Redpoll, Rosy Finch, Slavonian Grebe, Water Rail, Japanese Green Pigeon, Intermediate Egret, Striated Heron, White's Thrush and Sanderling.
December 12, 2004: Stuart Price, Hakodate
Hakodate is located at the southernmost tip of Hokkaido, which is the northernmost of the main Japanese islands. Its location means that many migrants pass through on their way to and from Honshu (the largest, central island of Japan). The following species were all seen in Hakodate within walking distance of my apartment. The main areas near my apartment are the Shinkawa River (a glorified concreted stream) and the nearby, smallish Goryokaku Park. The river runs all the way down to the Pacific coast and a beach (well, sort of) in the south, from local foothills in the north. Farther east is the coastal suburb of Yunokawa with the slightly bigger Matsukura River and the only, tiny bits of farmland and reedbeds in Hakodate. Farther west is Hakodateyama, a small forest-clad mountain and cape. The whole area could in theory be covered by foot in a day, but you would have sore feet.
January (60 species)
The start of the year was very mild (though it would get very cold after a few days), which meant several species usually absent in winter were still around. Common birds seen in the first week of January were Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Tufted Duck, Spot-billed Duck, Black Kite, Dusky Thrush, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Brown-eared Bulbul, Rock Dove, Carrion Crow, Large-billed Crow, White (Black-backed) Wagtail, Slaty-backed Gull, Vega Gull, Black-tailed Gull, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Winter Wren, Eurasian Jay, Japanese Wagtail, Hawfinch, Daurian Redstart, Common Kingfisher, Common Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker. On the sea were Red-breasted Merganser, Japanese Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, some offshore Black-legged Kittiwake, Brent Goose and Black-necked Grebe (which were surprisingly scarce this season). A Glaucous-winged Gull was one of 2 adults present throughout the winter; in fact, they hardly seemed to move and were always in the same places. Raptors present in the first week were Common Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Northern Goshawk, Peregrine (mobbing a Black Kite) and White-tailed Eagle. The most surprising bird of early January was a lone Long-billed Plover, which had arrived on the Matsukura River at the end of 2003, and remained until the end of this month.
Next to be seen in mid-January were Grey Starling, Greater Scaup, Harlequin Duck, Common Goldeneye, Oriental Greenfinch, Blue Rock Thrush, Long-tailed Rosefinch and Meadow Bunting. January 18 on the Matsukura provided 5 new birds: a surprising pair of Little Grebe, Brown Dipper (a species I didn't see last year), a lone female Eurasian Kestrel, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and a flock of Rustic Bunting.
Heavy snow towards the end of the month resulted in a lot of birds on the move: a flock of 40 Hawfinch, several Long-tailed Rosefinch, lots of Grey Starling (which are usually pretty rare in winter) and, best of all, a flock of over 100 Bohemian Waxwing with a few Japanese Waxwing mixed in. This heralded a mini-invasion of waxwings, with several groups around town. Last year was the same: they hung round for a few days in the last week of January and then disappeared. Several Peregrines were also present and were often a nice 'balcony bird'.
Seawatching in winter at the bitterly cold and windswept Tachimachi-misaki (the aforementioned cape) proved a test of endurance. On more than one occasion, I was forced by the weather to take refuge in the only shelter, a public toilet. Birds seen included Black-throated and Red-throated Divers, and Red-necked Grebe. Actually, there were many unidentified divers out there, some of which were probably Pacific Divers; but the only one that came close enough inshore to positively identify was a Black-throated. The common seaducks were present at the cape, including a regular flock of about 50 Black Scoter and smaller numbers of Red-breasted Merganser. About 40 Brent Goose were dotted around the town, and a group of 5 Common Buzzard (presumably heading south) was an unexpected sight on 22 January. A distant White-tailed Eagle seen from the town centre and a flock of Brambling were the last species of any interest in January.
February (51 species)
Basically more of the same in February. January was a pretty good month in the sense that I saw most of the species I could reasonably expect to see in winter, so February did not provide much in the way of new birds. Long-tailed Rosefinch remained, as did Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Northern Goshawk and Common Buzzard (including a very pale individual that had me going for a while, as a possible Rough-legged Buzzard). New birds in the month included Marsh Tit, a group of 4 male Eurasian Wigeon on the Shinkawa River (where there was also a peak of 16 Tufted Duck), a female Yellow-throated Bunting in the local park (where there were also Varied and Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Hawfinch, Daurian Redstart and Bullfinch), Eurasian Siskin and (finally) a second-winter Glaucous Gull. Once seen, of course, the siskin and wigeon were everywhere around town. Up to 65 species for the year.
March (63 species)
There was not much of interest in the first two weeks of March, apart from a huge passage of Common Gull which coincided with a very mild spell of weather with strong southerly winds. Thousands were offshore and on both the rivers in Hakodate. Several Black-legged Kittiwake were present and there was a peak of about 30 Harlequin Duck. A female Ring-necked Pheasant was the only new species for the year around this time.
The second half of March saw both the birds and the weather changing. The trail up the mountain became passable, which allowed me to get several of the resident forest species: Long-tailed Tit, Willow Tit, Goldcrest, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Nuthatch and Grey-headed Woodpecker. The forest was alive with birds, including Siskin, Bullfinch, Great Spotted and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, Coal and Marsh Tit, and Brambling. A party of 20 Whooper Swan flying north on the 24th were accompanied by an unidentified grey goose. Birds returning from the south included Japanese Skylark and Bull-headed Shrike.
I saw 2 'firsts' for Hakodate at the end of March. A female Common Pochard was on the Shinkawa River; but it paled in comparison to the Ural Owl, my first owl in Japan. This was seen on temple grounds, being mobbed by a very excited flock of Large-billed Crows. My wife, an avid Harry Potter fan, was present at the time and screamed as she thought the owl was going to get killed by the crows. The owl was trapped for a time under a bush by the crows, but I think it managed to escape. Large numbers (hundreds) of Red-breasted Merganser passed through at the end of the month, as did a small influx of adult Glaucous Gull (which would continue until mid-April). Up to 77 species for the year.
April (80 species)
April is always the best month species-wise. Most of the winter stuff lingers on into the middle of the month, while birds come up from farther south in Japan on their way north. The first real summer visitor was Barn Swallow on April 8. This was followed by Asian House Martin the next day. Also seen in early April were returning Japanese Bush Warbler and Grey Wagtail. Small groups of Eurasian Wigeon were scattered across town.
Mid-April saw several new passerines, as well as all the resident species, now in full voice: lots of Black-faced Bunting, Red-flanked Bluetail and Stonechat scattered across town, Buff-bellied Pipit on the Matsukura, large numbers of Japanese White-eye, Pale Thrush and Eastern Crowned Warbler on the mountain. Other new birds included a lone northbound Osprey, some exotic-looking groups of summer-plumaged Black-headed Gull, and several beautiful Blue-and-white Flycatcher on the mountain (including one male in a tiny front garden in the middle of town).
April 22 was an excellent day on the Matsukura-- Sakhalin Leaf Warbler (a brownish Phylloscopus warbler-- or was it a Pale-legged Warbler?), a superb male Narcissus Flycatcher (one of several across town), Oriental Turtle Dove and the first Red Crossbill of the year (it was very common in 2003 and would get commoner later in April this year). Two early morning visits to the mountain right at the end of the month brought me Asian Stubtail, Rhinoceros Auklet, and singing Grey Thrush and Japanese Thrush, as well as lots of common stuff passing through (huge numbers of Coal Tit and Great Tit, for example, plus Long-tailed Rosefinch, Red-flanked Bluetail and lots of Eastern Crowned and Sakhalin Leaf Warblers). The last day of April was spent on the Matsukura, when an Oriental Reed Warbler had the honour of being my 100th species for the year. Little Ringed Plover and Red-cheeked Starling brought me up to 102 species for the year with 3 "firsts" in April for Hakodate.
May (64 species)
For various reasons, I could not do much birding in Hakodate in May. The first 5 days in May were spent birding with Charles Harper and Ray Gossen on Tobishima in the Japan Sea, where I was amazed at their ability to get up so early and also by their wonderful telescopes. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality, Ray.
May 12 was my first decent birding day: I too got up very early and visited the mountain. Large numbers of the same migrants as April were present, plus several Siberian Blue Robin and Japanese Robin, Eyebrowed Thrush and one singing Oriental Cuckoo. The first Grey Heron of the year passed north, and there there were small numbers of Grey-tailed Tattler on the coast. Also present on this day were Common Buzzard and another 3 species of thrush (including a late Dusky Thrush which was also seen the next day). A Chestnut-eared Bunting was singing on the same patch of wasteland on the Shinkawa River as last year. Highlight of the month were the huge flocks of Red-necked Pharalope seen off Yunokawa on May 16. Calm conditions meant the flocks could be easily seen about half a kilometre offshore. Mid-late May seems to be reliable for this species, as I saw hundreds of thousands of them a few miles east last year too. A lone Sand Martin was also seen on the Matsukura, and another tattler well upstream which remained until at least the 23rd, Little Ringed Plover, singing Grey Thrush, Stonechat and Chestnut-eared Bunting. The same place provided a Common Cuckoo a week later. A final visit (until autumn) to the mountain provided a singing Arctic Warbler plus sundry warblers, thrushes, flycatchers, tits and woodpeckers. Up to 113 species for the year.
June (37 species)
Summer allowed me to wallow in lethargy. The weather was humid and foggy and the mountain was the haunt of large numbers of mosquitoes, while the leaf cover meant I couldn't see the birds anyway. Plus, Euro 2004 was on TV. The Matsukura River provided (very difficult to see) Gray's Grasshopper Warbler and Black-browed Reed Warbler (which was much easier to see). There were at least 2 of each as well as around 25-30 singing Oriental Reed Warbler on a single kilometre stretch of river. Also present and apparently breeding along this river were Little Ringed Plover, Japanese Skylark, Grey Thrush, Black-faced and Chestnut-eared Bunting, Japanese Bush Warbler, Bull-headed Shrike, Stonechat and Common Cuckoo. Nearer my apartment on the Shinkawa River there were also good numbers of Oriental Reed Warbler (at least 7 singing males on a highly-urban, mostly concreted river). Also breeding on this river were Asian House Martin, Red-cheeked Starling, Bull-headed Shrike, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Black-backed Wagtail and Great Tit. A surprise juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron was around for a few days from June 18. Up to 116 species for the year.
July (25 species)
Not much happening in July. I was surprised to see Peregrine still around (I had assumed they were only winter visitors but they appear to be resident). Immature Grey Wagtail were moving down from the foothills and a Common Sandpiper on July 30 brought me up to 117 species for the year. The end of the month was very hot and the hot spell continued for a few more weeks.
August (25 species)
Very hot weather meant little birding for most of the month. A few birds were on the move, notably Common Cuckoo and Grey Heron. The weather turned at the end of the month as the typhoon season began (several big ones this year, which is unusual in Hokkaido). The wader passage was light (or maybe I just missed them all, as the typhoons kept me indoors) with only a few Common Sandpiper and a lone Red-necked Stint. A White-throated Needletail was a nice flyover bird on August 31st, bringing me up to 119 species for the year.
September (39 species)
Most of my birding this month was on the Shinkawa River where I saw lots of southbound Stonechat, Eastern Crowned and Arctic Warblers, and the first Hawfinch since early June. All 3 Muscicapa flycatchers were present—Asian Brown Flycatcher (the commonest), Dark-sided Flycatcher and Grey-streaked Flycatcher. Sometimes 2 different species were on the same tree branch, allowing easy ID. A huge typhoon on the 8th did a lot of damage in town and even knocked out the power for most of the day. At least 2 Eurasian Hobby were seen from my balcony, from where I also saw several Pacific Swift heading south on the 14th. Several Grey Herons and 1 juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron were also on the Shinkawa River. Red-cheeked and Grey Starling were flocking ahead of migration. Up to 124 species for the year.
October (64 species)
Early October probably provided my best birding of the year. Near my apartment in the first week were 2 superb male Siberian Rubythroat. Rather common elsewhere in Hokkaido, this was a great bird to see so near home. The same clump of trees also provided a Wryneck, which remained for a week. On the mountain there were lots of birds on the move, including huge numbers of white-eye, Coal Tit, and Black-faced and Rustic Bunting. Eclipse Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail were both 'firsts' for Hakodate, as was a female Mandarin Duck—all on the Matsukura River. All 3 Accipiter species were seen on migration at the mountain, including a pair of Japanese Sparrowhawk. An Olive-backed Pipit was seen sheltering from the rain in Goryokaku Park. Eyebrowed and Pale Thrush passed through in small numbers. The end of the month was more about quantity than quality—large numbers of commoner stuff moving south (including huge numbers of Japanese Bush Warbler) as well as the return of many of the commoner winter visitors, such as Daurian Redstart, and large numbers of many of the resident species in the mountain forest. Up to 131 for the year.
November (38 species)
Two female Goosander in Goryokaku Park on the 1st was the last new species of the year. A basically lazy, quiet month also provided a very late, worn-looking Arctic Warbler on the 5th, and a lost-looking female Grey-headed Woodpecker in Goryokaku Park at the end of the month. The first Dusky Thrush was seen on Nov 25th. Up to 132 species.
December (32 species)
A pretty mild winter so far. Glaucous-winged Gull, Brent Goose, Goldeneye and Black-necked Grebe have all returned.
So 132 species is a pretty good return for a place like Hakodate. Birds I saw in 2002/3 but not this year were Common Guillemot, Smew, Common Redpoll, Rosy Finch, Slavonian Grebe, Water Rail, Japanese Green Pigeon, Intermediate Egret, Striated Heron, White's Thrush and Sanderling.
December 12, 2004: Stuart Price, Hakodate
A Brief Southeast Hokkaido Trip, June 27-29, 2004
This was a Blakiston's Fish Owl trip. We flew into Nakashibetsu Airport from Haneda on Sunday the 27th. By the time we got the rental car, it was 1:00 pm, so we decided that, morning birding being lost, we might as well go on down to Ochiisi Cape. This was a two-and-a-half hour drive through slightly rolling, very open, hay and dairy country. The day was warm and fair, a welcome relief from hot and sticky Yokohama. I had an unrelenting urge to far exceed the speed limit, but my 20,000-yen speeding ticket from a previous trip put the governor on, and I never drove faster than 80 kph, which seems very slow when you're trying to get anywhere on Hokkaido's straight, open, unpeopled road system. It is beautiful countryside, but the only birds to watch along the way were on the wires: big birds were either Black Kites or Carrion Crows; medium-sized birds were inevitably Oriental Turtle Doves; and small birds were 80% stonechats, with an admixture of Eurasian Tree and Russet Sparrows and White (Black-backed) Wagtails. And Latham's Snipes on the tops of the power poles, lots of them. We were to zip back and forth through this kind of countryside several times during the three days; we also saw a fox, a dozen Hokkaido deer, and hundreds of Holsteins.
We arrived at Ochiisi at 3:30 pm to a dense coastal fog. There is a long boardwalk through an alpine-like miniature forest and out to the lighthouse (1.7 km from the closed gate). When I got to the lighthouse, there was a Eurasian Wryneck on the power line. The foghorn was blasting away and the fog was too thick to see the rocks below. I spent half an hour there, saw perhaps a dozen each of Pelagic and Great Cormorants skim in and out of the fog, then gave up on the possible appearance of anything more interesting.
We turned around and headed back along the same route to Fujiya Ryokan in Nakashibetsu (521 Yoroushi, Nakashibetsu-cho, Shibetsu-gun. phone 01537-8-2341). Going and coming I also got Gray's, Lanceolated and Middendorf's Warblers, the three Locustella, and watched the Latham's Snipes' phenomenal aerial displays, buzzing in circles like stalling-out model airplanes.
Fujiya is more a ryokan (inn) than a minshuku (pension), so the rate is higher and the food is better. Breakfast and supper are included, the latter featuring shrimp, a local specialty—and the second night we had a lovely tender Hokkaido beefsteak. 10,000 yen each per night got us a minimal room with a toilet (one-seater) down the hall. For 16,000 yen, we could have gotten a private toilet and an owl-view out our room window. It is a grandly rustically decorated place with a very hot indoor/outdoor hotspring.
But on to the owls. The trout pool they come to is ridiculous—nothing more than a small concreted backyard fish pond stocked with a few trout. The birds come sometime after dark, and Channel One on all the room TV sets is tuned to the backyard camera, so you can relax in your room and watch the pool on the TV screen until they arrive. The previous night they had arrived about 9 pm. After dinner we went back to our room and switched back and forth between Ch 1 and the Giants-Tigers baseball game. At 8 pm, there was a motionless owl suddenly appeared standing by the pond. We scampered to the dining room, where we could view it through the windows. Breath-taking, of course! A parent and one of the two juveniles stood around for perhaps 20 minutes before grabbing a fish apiece and taking off.
I went to bed at 9:30, with the alarm set for 4:30 am. Monday the 28th, I awoke without the clock at 3:30 am and it was daylight, with the sun appearing over the horizon at 4 am. The ryokan is at the end of the paved road, and there is a gravel logging road from there on through mixed woods and planted fir forest. I walked along it and back from 3:45 until 8:00, while wife and son got their beauty sleep, arose and had their breakfasts. The two mornings I did this, I heard lots of Siberian Blue Robins, Brown-headed Thrushes, Eastern Crowned Warblers (a strange experience to be mobbed by 3 or 4 of these together), Oriental Cuckoos, Japanese Green Pigeons, a few White's Thrushes and Narcissus Flycatchers, Marsh Tits, a Eurasian Treecreeper, and a surprise Ural Owl. I saw other more common woodland birds here, and of course a few mystery skulkers. The mosquitos were bad—thankfully they were low fliers, and stayed mostly around my pants legs; they kept me busy swatting, though.
After their breakfast, it took us two hours to drive to Shunkunitai, the southern peninsula separating Furen-ko (Furen Lake) from the Pacific, arriving at 10:30 am, where my wife dropped me off. It was cool and overcast, and I had a lonely walk of the place until 2 pm. Very disappointing—no woodpeckers (I was looking for possibly 5 species), no nesting Redshanks, almost no nothing. Two White-tailed Eagles. Several Middendorf's Warblers appeared nicely. It's a great-looking place—a boardwalk through bog and among alpine-like firs, a long sandbar and the sea. I did not wade across the marsh and try to get into the woods at the farther end—if I had been willing to do so, it might have been more productive.
They picked me up and we made another run to Ochiisi (one hour return from Shunkuitai). Same thing again: as we approached the coast it got foggier and foggier—I had a quick look at the point next to the cape, above the Ochiisi fisherman's wharf, but again could see nothing for the fog. So I gave up on seabirds. We drove back to Furen-ko again, around to the northern peninsula this time, birding that by car from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. It is a long narrow grassland cum bog. By this time the weather was getting really nasty—cold and blowing. I got no Lanceolated Warblers or Redshanks here, either; I didn't get out and walk much. Some large rafts of Common Scoters were out on the ocean. There were a couple of Japanese Cranes here. During this trip, we saw eight cranes in four groups in various accidental places en route.
Time and energy was expended, and we headed back to the ryokan. At a little river bridge, I pished up a gorgeous Siberian Rubythroat who perched and sang his little heart out for us. And a small raft of Common Mergansers.
After dinner, the same routine: back to the room to watch and wait for the owls on TV. This time I was quite relaxed, however, and cracked a bottle of saké . My wife was a little disappointed that we had promptly seen the owls the first night and wished that we could cancel our second night here and move to a cheaper place. Actually, the fishpond is visible from the road, so if one wanted to stay at a cheaper mishuku nearby, it would be possible to drive over, park discreetly, and wait in the dark. The view would be a much more distant one, though, and hard to see satisfactorily in the gloom. And not really cricket.
Again at 8 pm two birds silently appeared on the screen, and we went down to the dining area again to watch them. They are magnificent, but they just stood there immobile, staring into the pond. After 10 minutes, a fox came bounding out of the shrubbery and flushed them up into a tree. The fox soon left, the owls returned...and stood. Finally, I went back to the room where my saké bottle was waiting, and watched them on TV. They stood for an hour, never making a grab at a fish, and I got nicely pickled waiting and watching. I finally headed back down to the side door to take a last good look, but just then they at last took off, one soaring right above my head as it cleared the porch roof. There is road construction and deforestation going on right up the ryokan road, so who knows how long the birds will continue to come to this pond.
Meanwhile, it had started to drizzle. It rained all night and continued drizzling the next day. Tuesday the 29th, I took the same morning walk up the logging road but didn't start until 6 AM because of the rain and an owl-related hangover. With the rain still coming down and a plane to catch at 1 pm, I gave up a planned mad dash to Notsuke Peninsula and finally let my wife have a bit of a choice of itinerary. We headed west from Nakashibetsu for an hour to Lake Mashuko, a crater lake famed for its mists (!). I had not scheduled any mountain birding, so it sounded interesting. Not so: fog also increased with the increasing elevation, and the lake itself was totally invisible, the busload of tourists at the visitors' centre milling about taking pictures of each other next to the big Soft Cream Cone at the concession stand. Another Rubythroat perched and sang on an invisible bush; I heard two Grey-headed Woodpeckers calling each to each.
Other sightings of interest: a single Red-rumped Swallow and many Sand Martins; only a single White-rumped Swift; several Black-Browed Reed Warblers; Japanese Pygmy, Grey-headed and Great Spotted Woodpeckers (no Black, White-backed or Lesser Spotted); all the tits except Varied; no flycatchers except Narcissus; brandtii Eurasian Jay; and no Yellow-breasted Bunting, which is now apparently extinct in Japan, thanks to the gourmands of Thailand.
Charles Harper (May 2004)
This was a Blakiston's Fish Owl trip. We flew into Nakashibetsu Airport from Haneda on Sunday the 27th. By the time we got the rental car, it was 1:00 pm, so we decided that, morning birding being lost, we might as well go on down to Ochiisi Cape. This was a two-and-a-half hour drive through slightly rolling, very open, hay and dairy country. The day was warm and fair, a welcome relief from hot and sticky Yokohama. I had an unrelenting urge to far exceed the speed limit, but my 20,000-yen speeding ticket from a previous trip put the governor on, and I never drove faster than 80 kph, which seems very slow when you're trying to get anywhere on Hokkaido's straight, open, unpeopled road system. It is beautiful countryside, but the only birds to watch along the way were on the wires: big birds were either Black Kites or Carrion Crows; medium-sized birds were inevitably Oriental Turtle Doves; and small birds were 80% stonechats, with an admixture of Eurasian Tree and Russet Sparrows and White (Black-backed) Wagtails. And Latham's Snipes on the tops of the power poles, lots of them. We were to zip back and forth through this kind of countryside several times during the three days; we also saw a fox, a dozen Hokkaido deer, and hundreds of Holsteins.
We arrived at Ochiisi at 3:30 pm to a dense coastal fog. There is a long boardwalk through an alpine-like miniature forest and out to the lighthouse (1.7 km from the closed gate). When I got to the lighthouse, there was a Eurasian Wryneck on the power line. The foghorn was blasting away and the fog was too thick to see the rocks below. I spent half an hour there, saw perhaps a dozen each of Pelagic and Great Cormorants skim in and out of the fog, then gave up on the possible appearance of anything more interesting.
We turned around and headed back along the same route to Fujiya Ryokan in Nakashibetsu (521 Yoroushi, Nakashibetsu-cho, Shibetsu-gun. phone 01537-8-2341). Going and coming I also got Gray's, Lanceolated and Middendorf's Warblers, the three Locustella, and watched the Latham's Snipes' phenomenal aerial displays, buzzing in circles like stalling-out model airplanes.
Fujiya is more a ryokan (inn) than a minshuku (pension), so the rate is higher and the food is better. Breakfast and supper are included, the latter featuring shrimp, a local specialty—and the second night we had a lovely tender Hokkaido beefsteak. 10,000 yen each per night got us a minimal room with a toilet (one-seater) down the hall. For 16,000 yen, we could have gotten a private toilet and an owl-view out our room window. It is a grandly rustically decorated place with a very hot indoor/outdoor hotspring.
But on to the owls. The trout pool they come to is ridiculous—nothing more than a small concreted backyard fish pond stocked with a few trout. The birds come sometime after dark, and Channel One on all the room TV sets is tuned to the backyard camera, so you can relax in your room and watch the pool on the TV screen until they arrive. The previous night they had arrived about 9 pm. After dinner we went back to our room and switched back and forth between Ch 1 and the Giants-Tigers baseball game. At 8 pm, there was a motionless owl suddenly appeared standing by the pond. We scampered to the dining room, where we could view it through the windows. Breath-taking, of course! A parent and one of the two juveniles stood around for perhaps 20 minutes before grabbing a fish apiece and taking off.
I went to bed at 9:30, with the alarm set for 4:30 am. Monday the 28th, I awoke without the clock at 3:30 am and it was daylight, with the sun appearing over the horizon at 4 am. The ryokan is at the end of the paved road, and there is a gravel logging road from there on through mixed woods and planted fir forest. I walked along it and back from 3:45 until 8:00, while wife and son got their beauty sleep, arose and had their breakfasts. The two mornings I did this, I heard lots of Siberian Blue Robins, Brown-headed Thrushes, Eastern Crowned Warblers (a strange experience to be mobbed by 3 or 4 of these together), Oriental Cuckoos, Japanese Green Pigeons, a few White's Thrushes and Narcissus Flycatchers, Marsh Tits, a Eurasian Treecreeper, and a surprise Ural Owl. I saw other more common woodland birds here, and of course a few mystery skulkers. The mosquitos were bad—thankfully they were low fliers, and stayed mostly around my pants legs; they kept me busy swatting, though.
After their breakfast, it took us two hours to drive to Shunkunitai, the southern peninsula separating Furen-ko (Furen Lake) from the Pacific, arriving at 10:30 am, where my wife dropped me off. It was cool and overcast, and I had a lonely walk of the place until 2 pm. Very disappointing—no woodpeckers (I was looking for possibly 5 species), no nesting Redshanks, almost no nothing. Two White-tailed Eagles. Several Middendorf's Warblers appeared nicely. It's a great-looking place—a boardwalk through bog and among alpine-like firs, a long sandbar and the sea. I did not wade across the marsh and try to get into the woods at the farther end—if I had been willing to do so, it might have been more productive.
They picked me up and we made another run to Ochiisi (one hour return from Shunkuitai). Same thing again: as we approached the coast it got foggier and foggier—I had a quick look at the point next to the cape, above the Ochiisi fisherman's wharf, but again could see nothing for the fog. So I gave up on seabirds. We drove back to Furen-ko again, around to the northern peninsula this time, birding that by car from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. It is a long narrow grassland cum bog. By this time the weather was getting really nasty—cold and blowing. I got no Lanceolated Warblers or Redshanks here, either; I didn't get out and walk much. Some large rafts of Common Scoters were out on the ocean. There were a couple of Japanese Cranes here. During this trip, we saw eight cranes in four groups in various accidental places en route.
Time and energy was expended, and we headed back to the ryokan. At a little river bridge, I pished up a gorgeous Siberian Rubythroat who perched and sang his little heart out for us. And a small raft of Common Mergansers.
After dinner, the same routine: back to the room to watch and wait for the owls on TV. This time I was quite relaxed, however, and cracked a bottle of saké . My wife was a little disappointed that we had promptly seen the owls the first night and wished that we could cancel our second night here and move to a cheaper place. Actually, the fishpond is visible from the road, so if one wanted to stay at a cheaper mishuku nearby, it would be possible to drive over, park discreetly, and wait in the dark. The view would be a much more distant one, though, and hard to see satisfactorily in the gloom. And not really cricket.
Again at 8 pm two birds silently appeared on the screen, and we went down to the dining area again to watch them. They are magnificent, but they just stood there immobile, staring into the pond. After 10 minutes, a fox came bounding out of the shrubbery and flushed them up into a tree. The fox soon left, the owls returned...and stood. Finally, I went back to the room where my saké bottle was waiting, and watched them on TV. They stood for an hour, never making a grab at a fish, and I got nicely pickled waiting and watching. I finally headed back down to the side door to take a last good look, but just then they at last took off, one soaring right above my head as it cleared the porch roof. There is road construction and deforestation going on right up the ryokan road, so who knows how long the birds will continue to come to this pond.
Meanwhile, it had started to drizzle. It rained all night and continued drizzling the next day. Tuesday the 29th, I took the same morning walk up the logging road but didn't start until 6 AM because of the rain and an owl-related hangover. With the rain still coming down and a plane to catch at 1 pm, I gave up a planned mad dash to Notsuke Peninsula and finally let my wife have a bit of a choice of itinerary. We headed west from Nakashibetsu for an hour to Lake Mashuko, a crater lake famed for its mists (!). I had not scheduled any mountain birding, so it sounded interesting. Not so: fog also increased with the increasing elevation, and the lake itself was totally invisible, the busload of tourists at the visitors' centre milling about taking pictures of each other next to the big Soft Cream Cone at the concession stand. Another Rubythroat perched and sang on an invisible bush; I heard two Grey-headed Woodpeckers calling each to each.
Other sightings of interest: a single Red-rumped Swallow and many Sand Martins; only a single White-rumped Swift; several Black-Browed Reed Warblers; Japanese Pygmy, Grey-headed and Great Spotted Woodpeckers (no Black, White-backed or Lesser Spotted); all the tits except Varied; no flycatchers except Narcissus; brandtii Eurasian Jay; and no Yellow-breasted Bunting, which is now apparently extinct in Japan, thanks to the gourmands of Thailand.
Charles Harper (May 2004)