Chasing geese in Miyagi

Back in the 80's I walked across the tarmac to transit in Samarkand Airport building on several occasions. Does this mean I've been to Uzbekistan? Well, politically no but geographically yes I suppose it does. Similarly I've stood on the deck of a ferry while docked in Sendai numerous times, almost touching distance to Miyagi but until last week it had remained one of two Japanese prefectures I'd never set foot in.


Miyagi is a bit out of the way if you're based in Kyoto, whenever I head north I drive the quicker Japan Sea route rather than along the Pacific side of the country. However I finally made the pilgrimage to see the goose flocks of Miyagi and ticked the prefecture off my list.


It's still rather early in the season to see the spectacle of the geese flying up from Lake Izunuma, there will be five times the current number of geese pretty soon. So why go now? One reason is that it's still shirt sleeve weather up there. Another being Japan's first record of Red-breasted Goose! This was a fairly open secret as I drove up but during the three days I was there it became increasingly obvious the news was already spreading rapidly even in the Kansai area. So I don't think it can be considered a secret any longer.


Even if the goose numbers haven't peaked, the sight is still very impressive. If Kyushu has the dawn flight of cranes at Arasaki and Hokkaido has the astonishing sight of flocks of sea eagles sitting like gigantic sparrows in the trees of Rausu town, then this must be Honshu's contribution to outstanding birding sights of Japan.


The geese start to lift from the lake pre-dawn and just keep on coming, wave after wave, throughout the sunrise.

The vast majority of the geese are Greater White-fronts, Taiga Beans are numerous enough to be found fairly easily but other species can take time depending on your luck. I was finding flocks of geese as far as 30km form the lakes and presumably they spread out in all directions, so that's a lot of ground to cover.


I arrived at midday Thursday after a 12-hour drive and I spent the afternoon around Lake Izunuma, where I'd been informed the Red-breasted is sometimes seen. No luck with that but an immature Snow Goose was the first of the possible species which, with luck/effort, can be seen here. Snow and Cackling are still extreme rarities in western Japan (I've only seen one of each down here), though records may increase as the wintering population of these two species is increasing in northern Honshu. Lesser White-front is rare but more frequent in western Japan and it also has a larger Izunuma population compared to the other two species.

The first of two Greater Snow Geese; this bird could be seen without much effort as it was always in the general Lake Izunuma area and of course because it stood out like a sore thumb.

I had been curious whether I'd see any difference between the Miyagi and Shiga Taiga Bean Geese but the appearance of Miyagi birds was both very consistent and a good match for majority of the Shiga population.

On Friday morning I was positioned pre-dawn at the western end of Lake Izunuma with a crowd of photographers waiting for the geese to leave the roost.

I know I said shirt-sleeve weather... but this was early. Still, I think they it's a bit over the top, I thought a sweater quite enough. I can imagine it'll be pretty brutal in a couple of months though.

Most geese headed off north west and I followed hoping to find the Red-breasted. I didn't find it but I know now I was on the right track. Later in the day, and a good few kilometres away I came across this rather attractive Greater White-front. With my very limited knowledge of colour aberrations I think this is an example 'pastel' dilution.

A rather attractive ghostly Greater White-front.

On the same fields as light was failing I finally connected with my only Cackling Geese of the trip, unfortunately I couldn't get closer than this and they weren't in these fields the following day.

A record shot of my only Cackling Geese of the trip, found in the nick of time after the sun had set. 

I decided not to watch the post-roost dispersal on Saturday morning. There were other places I wanted to try, particularly the fields where the Cackling had been the previous day then further west beyond Lake Naganuma where I'd already found large concentrations of geese.


At the first port of call there were about 250 Whooper swans, the largest gathering I saw, and a Snow Goose close to the track (I think this was the same bird as yesterday), then more geese stretching away across the fields. This was so so enjoyable I spent about 2.5 hours watching these birds, far longer than I had intended, before making my way to Naganuma.


We get large numbers of Tundra Swans in western Japan but Whoopers aren't common. It's a pity really, I find the first winters very attractive, more so than either the adults or similarly aged Tundras.

After checking through the flocks near Naganuma I pushed further west and came across the only Lesser White-fronts of the trip. I counted 35 birds on the first sweep but I soon noticed more distant birds plus others flying over and it's probably no exaggeration to say there must have been 50 birds in small parties mixed in with the Greater White-fronts in that area. There was also another immature Snow Goose, this definitely was a different bird.

Six Lesser White-fronts with two Greaters (right).

Most Lessers were in fields with longer vegetation, coincidence or preference I don't know.

Their high-pitched flight calls made them easily recognisable at any distance.

At this point I had planned to head back to the Friday morning area and right on cue I received a message to say that's where the Red-breasted was! Sad to say, I never made it. Someone didn't stop at a crossroads (it was completely flat and completely open!), hit my van just behind the rear wheel and I went rolling down the road. Not long after I'd climbed up and out through the skyward passenger side door and dropped down to the road the ambulance arrived. That was fast! It seemed I had no option but to go to hospital, they were very insistent, which meant I left all my belonging, including phone and wallet inside the van.


After wasting time at the hospital... I was fine apart from my nose, the police kindly chauffeured me to the correct wrecker's yard, at the second attempt, where I could collect my money, phone and optical gear from the dead van, then sadly back to Tome to catch a bus to Sendai (that with the port I'm very familiar with, as mentioned earlier) and then shinkansen back to Tokyo/Kyoto. The policeman had suggested a taxi to Sendai... taxi to Sendai! good grief how much do they get paid.


So the upshot is my wife's new van is dead, my wife's angry... no no no... my wife's apoplectic, and I suffered a very painful dip.


And now, just one last Japanese prefecture to visit; I wonder what it has in store.

A few geese at Lake Biwa

I already mentioned that the Cackling Goose was the big attraction at the north end of Lake Biwa when I posted about the swans at the weekend. It's only the second I've seen in Japan, and though numbers of wintering birds are increasing nationally it's still a rarity this far south. It's been present all winter but I'd actually forgotten about it till a second person emailed to say they'd seen it so I decided to get up there pronto remembering I blew the only the only opportunity I've ever had to see Greylag in Japan because I put off going to see a 'certainty' till too late.


The timing turned out to be very good, according to the Met Office there had been 75cm of snow just north of the lake a week earlier but this had entirely disappeared because of the unusual mild spell and persistent rain. Now, a week later, reports give a more normal snow depth of 66cm... there's even a rare covering in Kyoto city this morning!


As well as the Cackler there was also the usual contingent of middendorffii Taiga Bean and a few Greater White-fronts. The latter occurs in very small numbers considering the large flocks just over the prefectural border in Fukui, usually fewer than 20 here. Unfortunately I couldn't find any of the rarer Tundra Bean which may be annual but only in very small numbers.


More often than not views of the Bean are restricted to rather distant sleeping birds on the islands off the Wild Bird Center at Kohokucho but this was one of the few and far between occasions I see them in the fields at the opposite side of the lake. When they're on the water at the opposite side (as they were on Sunday) they are even more distant than at the usual spot.

The Cackling Goose dwarfed by the Tundra Swans.

Fortunately it kept coming closer until it was almost at the leading edge of the flock right under our noses.

You just can't ask for closer views than this!

There were nine rather distant Greater White-fronted Geese on Friday and 12 birds gradually coming closer in a different area on Sunday. I didn't hang around as they slowly marched across the field... it was just getting too cold and I'd come dressed for the much milder Friday weather.

The Taiga Bean were in a different area, at the north west corner of the lake. They were far more skittish and difficult to approach even inside the car.

A good example of the swan-like middendorffii bill. The only time I ever saw a Swan Goose in this flock it was smaller than many of these 'Middendorff's' Taiga Bean, they really are huge.

geese

Lake Biwa hosts the nearest wintering geese to Kyoto, with over 200 Taiga (Middendorff's) Bean annually at Kohaku-cho at the north east end of the lake and there is also a small but increasing number of Greater White-fronted with them. Rarer geese sometimes occur, I've seen Swan, Tundra Bean but unfortunately missed the best of all, a Greylag.

Taiga on Lake Biwa, February 2014.

The geese are usually quite distant here, often swimming or asleep on the wrong side of the island, fortunately this tiny Tundra Bean wandered into the foreground.

A family of Tundra in the foreground, middendorffii behind.

Further north into Fukui there are huge flocks of Greater White-front, especially around Sakai-cho, Fukui city and on up into Ishikawa where there are more Taiga Bean at Katano Kamo Ike. Every winter there'll be a few Lesser White-fronts to reward effort sifting through the flocks. In 2006 there was also a Swan Goose and Cackling Goose with the White-fronts. The former is rare in Japan and the latter becoming more frequent further north.

This Greater White-front dropped onto Hegurajima as many singletons do in early October.

This old video-grab provides an excellent comparison of head and bill between the two species.

A poor quality video-grab of a very rare combination of geese.

Swan Goose with Taiga Beans on Lake Biwa, 8 November 2013. This goose wintered here.

Strictly speaking Lake Shinji (Shinjiko), Shimane isn't within Kansai but it's doable as a day trip with an overnight drive from Kyoto. It's worth spending longer if possible as it's a fantastic place for birding. In the winter of 2008/09 there were many rare birds wintering in the area and one of them was Snow Goose, a species which is much easier to see further north in Japan and can't be expected in Kansai but its presence to the west shows it is at least possible.

A fantastic bird to see within a day trip from Kyoto.

There are always a few Black Brant on the sea in the Tsu/Matsusaka area in Mie but they are invariably rather distant.

Black Brant looking very small off-shore with Mallards and Falcated Duck in Mie, Janurary 2014.