Lake Biwa in December
Lake Biwa boasts rafts of wintering ducks which every year produce rarities
This is a trip report for Lake Biwa on December 19 to 25, 2021, from someone that hasn't been to Biwa before. I've spent the last three years going to Izumi for the cranes in the winter because we were living in Kyushu. With the pandemic and such, we decided Biwa might be nice for our trip this winter. I've never been there, and I don't see trip reports with a lot of detail from Biwa on Kantori, so I tried to pick some birding spots based on eBird hotspots and the "Birdwatching Spots in Japan" custom Google Map. The custom map seemed like it might be a bit outdated, but I wanted to give it a shot anyway, because it was pretty useful for finding spots when we were in Kyushu, where there's significantly less eBird data. We spent about half of our time at the north part of the lake (based at Nagahama) and the other half at the south, from Moriyama. I spent most of my time with my Nikon D500 & Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF.
North Biwa
The day before we left, we saw the weather report of "heavy snow", but we weren't sure what that meant. After getting stuck in the snow in the Kuju Mountains in Oita last year, I made sure we had snow tires this time. When we got in, there was quite a bit of snow built up, but it seems that they ran the plows pretty well, and there wasn't much mountainous driving. We wished we had packed our snow gear, as all I had were my hiking boots, not my snow boots, but luckily most of it melted off by Tuesday, so my trekking on Monday didn't have much snow going over the top of my boots.
For the north, I had marked off several hotspots that I thought I'd check, including:
- Koganryokuchi parking lot
- Kohoku Waterfowl Park
- Kohoku Wild Bird Center
- the alleged spot for the Steller's Sea Eagle (like 35.453368, 136.172856)
- 湖岸緑地大浦園地 Park (35.485850, 136.123214)
- 河原の浜 (35.485368, 136.116231)
- Makino Sunny Beach Takagihama
- Lake Yogo Hydrangea Garden
- Yogoko Visitor Center
One inconvenience was that there weren’t tons of places to pull off the road if you saw a spot that you wanted to check out a bit. The road that runs along the lake is pretty busy, so “car birding” is mostly out, and I usually ended up trying to find parking and then walking to where I wanted to go. Based at Nagahama, I took a lot of walks along the coast from Nagahama-ko Port up to the woods near (35.385569, 136.246809), which allowed some birding of reeds, regular coast, trees and a small beach. Something that makes sense in theory, but which I’ve never really thought about, is that the groups of ducks don’t necessarily stay in the same location day-to-day. So at the beach (Taikoido) the first day was a group of Falcated Ducks, the next day mostly Tufted, and the following day a bunch of Mallards. This at least made it interesting. I don’t have the patience to be the birder who sees a group of 400 wigeons and looks for the possible American Wigeon or who scours the Tufted Ducks in search of a scaup, so keep that in mind. I’ve put bird lists into eBird (see link at the end of this report), but I’ll just take a minute to list some of the birds I spotted at each of the sites. We can assume that there are always the regulars—Eurasian Tree Sparrows, White-cheeked Starlings, Carrion and Large-billed Crows, Brown-eared Bulbuls, White Wagtails, Eurasian Coots and Black Kites, also the occasional Grey Heron and different egrets.
Along my stretch of beach from Sunday to Wednesday, I saw tons of Tufted Ducks, Eurasian Wigeons, Mallards, Eastern Spot-billed Ducks, Common Pochards, Eurasian Teals, Falcated Ducks, Northern Pintails and a few Common Goldeneyes, lots of Little and Great Crested Grebes, as well as Great Cormorants, on the water. In the reeds, I managed to spot a Long-tailed Rosefinch, Black-faced and Meadow Buntings, Bull-headed Shrikes, Daurian Redstarts, and Japanese and Grey Wagtails. There was a Common Kingfisher that patrolled the coast, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk that hunted in the morning and evening, and Grey-capped Greenfinches and Long-tailed Tits in the trees. There was a single Western Osprey that covered most of the northern part of the lake.
Up at the Kohoku Waterfowl Park and wild bird center we got to see the big guys—Tundra Swans (100+) and Taiga Bean Geese (40-ish). I also had my first sightings of Common Mergansers and a few Common Goldeneyes, and I saw my first weasel of the trip down by the water.
I saw a nice bird blind (35.434848, 136.195137) from the road and ended up parking at (35.432953, 136.197073) and walking over to it. If I waited long enough, the swans and geese would swim out in front of me, giving a pretty good view and some decent shots of them; they were pretty skittish, so I had to be still. I saw my second weasel here and tons of buntings, Daurian Redstarts, and other small passerines. I also managed to accidentally flush a male Green Pheasant from the reeds, which was very unexpected. I visited this blind each day I was there and got pretty good views from it.
The Steller’s Sea Eagle was present, and I saw it in the trees on two days. I parked at the Nodanuma parking lot (35.451968, 136.196764) and walked north across the road, where photographers were set up on the first day, to see it perched near Ishikawa Shrine. I had good views from near the crosswalk (35.453887, 136.198847). The next time I went to see it, I parked in the same spot but followed the path around the pond at Nodanuma Ryokuchi Park and could see it perched from the east side of the lake. There were farming fields between my spot and the perching spot, and lots of photographers were set up on the roads there with their cars and chairs and scopes. It’s not my thing to wait for a bird to fly, so I watched it for about an hour both times and moved on. I don’t know if it roosts in that area or flies over in the morning, but I saw it around noon the first time and around 0800 the second time, and it was not flying.
On Tuesday morning, we drove over to the northwest side of the lake and encountered a lot more snow once we got through the tunnel near the eagle spot. First we visited the cove near the Okubiwako campground (35.485850, 136.123214 and 35.485368, 136.116231). It’s a nice, protected cove and fishing harbor, but there wasn’t much activity on the water—just a few Common Mergansers and Gadwalls—so we packed up and headed over to Lake Yogo and parked at the Yogoko Visitor Center (which was closed). Lake Yogo was full of Great Cormorants and Eurasian Teal. I got some good shots of the teal and Eurasian Coots in the snow. A small flock of Northern Lapwings were present in the fields, and right next to the visitor center was a small marsh where I spotted four Common Snipe. The lake also afforded me the only view of an Eared Grebe for the trip.
I did not make it to Makino Sunny Beach or the south side of Lake Yogo as it was getting to lunchtime and the snow was deeper than it was back on the east side of the lake.
Central Biwa
On Thursday, we drove down to the south of Biwa but made two stops in what I’ll call Central Biwa. We stopped at Hikone Castle / Genkyuen Garden (eBird List 14), where the only new species were three Mute Swans (and the castle was disappointing).
Then we stopped near Lake Sainoko and ended up parking at よしきりの池 Park (35.157591, 136.123686) to check the reeds along a path starting at (35.166743, 136.121215) for Long-tailed Rosefinches. I did not spot any, but there were hundreds of Eurasian Tree Sparrows, and I did get some shots of a group of crows mobbing a fox. There was also a flock of around 20 Northern Lapwings in the fields to the east. On the way down the road I also spotted two raptors, probably Eurasian Sparrowhawks, but I could not ID them.
South Biwa
For South Biwa, I had marked out some hotspots that seemed more tightly packed than in the north. Additionally, there were a lot more places to pull off the road along the lake if you saw something you wanted to investigate. It was just as busy on the road, but there’s more ‘civilization’ near Moriyama. The sites that I had marked of interest were:
Unfortunately, I did not make it south of Omi Ohashi Bridge, so I did not visit the last three spots.
At the bridge for the avocets, the closest parking I found was near (35.119872, 135.970230), so I parked there and walked to the bridge. I spent about an hour looking, but the only waders I saw were a couple of egrets and a heron. There weren’t many ducks present either, just a curious Bull-headed Shrike.
I started my first morning parked south of 湖岸緑地 津田江-2 at (35.063567, 135.930935). That site looked the most promising, but there was nothing of interest at all. The best free parking I found in the area was at (35.068866, 135.934763), which was great for checking the two hotspots at the museum. Right on the bay near this parking were Gadwalls and other ducks, but they were pretty skittish. I saw my third weasel here as well. I walked along the Biwa shore around the museum as someone was flying a drone over in the grass field on the northeast corner of this green space. It had the crows going crazy, and it was pretty annoying to me as well. I walked along the lake for about 45 minutes, spotting nothing of note, and eventually the drone went away.
I had the most diversity of the trip in this green space, mostly along the sidewalk at (35.075110, 135.937698). The trees to the south were buzzing, as were the reeds to the north. There was a large raft of Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards on the water. In addition to the regulars, I did spot all three species of wagtails, both Dusky and Pale Thrushes, Grey-capped Greenfinches, Long-tailed Tits, Warbling White-eyes, and many Meadow and Black-faced Buntings, as well as a Long-tailed Rosefinches that displayed very well in the reeds. On the water was my first most exciting moment, when I found some Baikal Teal (a lifer) out beyond the raft. After that was the highlight lifer of the trip, a Red-crested Pochard. I didn’t find the Red-crested Pochard on my first visit, but I did find it the second time, and I was honestly surprised that I found it amongst the other ducks; I spent about 90 minutes watching it and trying to show anyone else that showed up where it was while keeping my COVID social distancing and not speaking Japanese.
On Thursday, we drove down to the south of Biwa but made two stops in what I’ll call Central Biwa. We stopped at Hikone Castle / Genkyuen Garden (eBird List 14), where the only new species were three Mute Swans (and the castle was disappointing).
Then we stopped near Lake Sainoko and ended up parking at よしきりの池 Park (35.157591, 136.123686) to check the reeds along a path starting at (35.166743, 136.121215) for Long-tailed Rosefinches. I did not spot any, but there were hundreds of Eurasian Tree Sparrows, and I did get some shots of a group of crows mobbing a fox. There was also a flock of around 20 Northern Lapwings in the fields to the east. On the way down the road I also spotted two raptors, probably Eurasian Sparrowhawks, but I could not ID them.
South Biwa
For South Biwa, I had marked out some hotspots that seemed more tightly packed than in the north. Additionally, there were a lot more places to pull off the road along the lake if you saw something you wanted to investigate. It was just as busy on the road, but there’s more ‘civilization’ near Moriyama. The sites that I had marked of interest were:
- A site where three Pied Avocets were spotted a while back (35.122939,135.974067)
- Mizonomori Water Botanical Garden (35.075013, 135.940514)
- Lake Biwa Museum (35.075426, 135.936214)
- 湖岸緑地 津田江-2 (35.066984, 135.933284)
- 湖岸緑地 志那2 (35.056715, 135.925566)
- 矢橋帰帆島駐車場 (35.005739, 135.909389)
- Zeze Castle Site Park (34.995290, 135.895656)
- Sunshine Beach (35.001820, 135.892473)
- Nagara Park (35.007291, 135.856321)
Unfortunately, I did not make it south of Omi Ohashi Bridge, so I did not visit the last three spots.
At the bridge for the avocets, the closest parking I found was near (35.119872, 135.970230), so I parked there and walked to the bridge. I spent about an hour looking, but the only waders I saw were a couple of egrets and a heron. There weren’t many ducks present either, just a curious Bull-headed Shrike.
I started my first morning parked south of 湖岸緑地 津田江-2 at (35.063567, 135.930935). That site looked the most promising, but there was nothing of interest at all. The best free parking I found in the area was at (35.068866, 135.934763), which was great for checking the two hotspots at the museum. Right on the bay near this parking were Gadwalls and other ducks, but they were pretty skittish. I saw my third weasel here as well. I walked along the Biwa shore around the museum as someone was flying a drone over in the grass field on the northeast corner of this green space. It had the crows going crazy, and it was pretty annoying to me as well. I walked along the lake for about 45 minutes, spotting nothing of note, and eventually the drone went away.
I had the most diversity of the trip in this green space, mostly along the sidewalk at (35.075110, 135.937698). The trees to the south were buzzing, as were the reeds to the north. There was a large raft of Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards on the water. In addition to the regulars, I did spot all three species of wagtails, both Dusky and Pale Thrushes, Grey-capped Greenfinches, Long-tailed Tits, Warbling White-eyes, and many Meadow and Black-faced Buntings, as well as a Long-tailed Rosefinches that displayed very well in the reeds. On the water was my first most exciting moment, when I found some Baikal Teal (a lifer) out beyond the raft. After that was the highlight lifer of the trip, a Red-crested Pochard. I didn’t find the Red-crested Pochard on my first visit, but I did find it the second time, and I was honestly surprised that I found it amongst the other ducks; I spent about 90 minutes watching it and trying to show anyone else that showed up where it was while keeping my COVID social distancing and not speaking Japanese.
My visit down to (35.005739, 135.909389) was pretty much a bust, but I did see some birders with scopes back up at (35.056715, 135.925566). Both of these sites had dedicated parking. The birders were probably looking for the Lesser Scaup reported in the area. I spotted some Greater Scaup amongst the ducks, but I was more interested in the male Common Goldeneye I saw. I noticed that there were several tents set up in this park, where people were camping. It was actually a frequented site in South Biwa, with campers getting up to fish. I even saw one man fly-fishing.
We left a day early because snow was headed in on Sunday and we figured we’d get out before it arrived. Lake Biwa was a fun trip with tons of species, and I managed nine lifers: Steller’s Sea Eagle, Red-Crested Pochard, Common Goldeneye, Baikal Teal, Common Merganser, Taiga Bean Goose, Tundra Swan, Long-tailed Rosefinch, and Common Gull.
We left a day early because snow was headed in on Sunday and we figured we’d get out before it arrived. Lake Biwa was a fun trip with tons of species, and I managed nine lifers: Steller’s Sea Eagle, Red-Crested Pochard, Common Goldeneye, Baikal Teal, Common Merganser, Taiga Bean Goose, Tundra Swan, Long-tailed Rosefinch, and Common Gull.