Where next?

After disembarking from the Hegura ferry and back in Wajima once more I quickly returned to the headland that had been so foggy that morning. The foggy morning full of anticipation seemed distant even then, now far more so. And bathed in hot late afternoon sun it could have been another season. There was no sign of the morning's Reef Egret nor of the Japanese Woodpecker but Kamchatka Leaf Warblers were still singing, the single Narcissus too.


My plan was bird here till dusk then head south to a still undecided destination. And bird I did, though I failed to add anything new to the day list and eventually, with a couple of photographers setting up tripods to catch the sunset across the bay, I thought that was enough. I hadn't eaten since pre-dawn so it was time to sample the delights of a local convenience store.


Sometimes when I order coffee in a convenience store I think I detect a friendly but knowing look across the counter; of course a foreigner wants the large size. When I order three large coffees no one bats an eyelid. He must have a car-full outside - a bus even!


Feeling much better I was ready to go again and my mind was made up; Shiga. I'd head down to Shiga and try for owls tonight then in the early morning... early morning stuff. There was no great rush heading south and four hours later, at my first port of call, I picked up a wild boar in the headlights. It wasn't as spectacular as it might sound, in fact it was a spotty little piglet that looked way to young to be out on its own. This was followed by a racoon dog, another young animal that insisted on bounding along the narrow potted, crumbling asphalt in front of me rather than diving off to one side or the other. One side was steeply up, the other precipitously down, not so daft after all then. And there were also sika deer, several, including a handsome multi-pronged buck that blocked my path until I reached for the camera. I didn't hear even a single owl, none of the usual nocurnal singing cuckoos either, no Grey Nightjar. I confess I slept for at least half the three hours I was there but if an owl or anything else had started up I'd have woken. Certainly if it had been reasonably close at any rate, it was a dead still night. The moon had set early and the stars were fantastic from the hill top.


At about 2am I it was time to try somewhere else. So off I went, and the second choice proved a good one. On arrival was met by singing Grey Nightjar and both Lesser and Northern Hawk Cuckoos; still no owls but birdwise this was a massive improvement on the previous stop.


Once day proper got going birding was pretty good, Japanese Woodpecker and Narcissus Flycatcher were two of the commonest birds (okay, maybe there might have been more Brown-eared Bulbuls if I'd been counting), there were several Oriental Cuckoos higher up and I was able to locate White-bellied Green Pigeons sitting prominently in a couple of spots. Also there were a few Blue and White Flycatchers but only two Japanese Thrushes singing. I've had surprisingly few Great Spotted Woodpeckers lately, just a bad run I suppose, especially considering the way Japanese have been lining up for me. Then I heard the unmistakable drumming of one not far off, I followed the sound round the contour of the hill and it must have been sitting in a track-side tree as it immediately took flight across the valley as I appeared round the bend. This was my first compared to over 20 Japanese seen or heard over these two days, and my first for about a month. Even White-backed have been putting up more of a show than that.




One of about 20 Japanese seen. 

Narcissus were common but not always willing to sit in the open.

Another bird that was quite common but difficult to see well, sticking mainly to forest understorey. It's one I don't often come across on my usual travels; Red-billed Leiothrix.

Mammals had been performing quite well and I added Japanese macaque to the trip list here.

There were quite a few macaques around.

Photobombed by a sika deer.

It must have had a flea in its ear seeing me there... sorry.

Unsurprisingly the deer didn't hang around, the macaques lingered a little longer but they weren't comfortable with my intrusion.

And back at the car park, right next to the van, I heard another Great Spotted Woodpecker. That bad run must be at an end.

Waiting for the Hegura ferry

I arrived early in Wajima early, with enough time to do some birding before the ferry left, otherwise it's such a waste of a bird-filled dawn when sunrise is at 4:30. The sun may rise then but you'd have been forgiven for thinking it simply hadn't bothered that particular morning. Dense fog, or more accurately a blanket of low cloud, kept light to a minimum and gave everything a drippy grey uniformity.


Funnily a female Blue Rock Thrush, which would normally be no more than variations on a grey theme anyway, managed to transform itself into this fetching brown...

There were several singing Kamchatka Leaf Warblers that remained invisible in the foggy tree tops and a Narcissus Flycatcher that brightened the gloom of the understorey. When the clouds eventually began to rise a small number of Pacific Swifts were circling the light house on the hill top. So there were migrants around. Hegura might still produce something at this late date.


Both Japanese Pygmy and Japanese Woodpeckers were easy to see in the early morning murk.

The other highlight while waiting for the ferry was this Pacific Reef Egret. They are often too far out on the rocks to allow photography but high tide didn't leave this bird too many options.

One other pleasant surprise was a bedraggled Japanese Marten but it made off before I could get a decent shot of it.

Lots of thrushes

I had hoped to get back to Hegurajima this week but it wasn't to be. I set off on the off-chance the sea might calm sufficiently to allow the ferry to sail. As I continued to check the marine forecast while heading north it became clear this wasn't going to happen so I didn't waste my time driving up the Noto Peninsular to Wajima.


I had left home the afternoon before yesterday allowing time for a quick stop in the hills on the way up, even if the ferry had been running. No sign of Copper Pheasant, display has tailed off somewhat but this showy Japanese Woodpecker was nice.

Ashy Minivets were frequently overhead but none came within decent camera range and this pair was the best I could manage.

I was disappointed I wasn't going to make it out to the island, the weather looked promising but it meant when I arrived in Kanazawa there was time to grab a little sleep before dawn. When I did clamber out of the van I had this snowy reminder that some parts of Japan get real winter, unlike Kansai.

To be honest the winter scene was the second surprise, the first was before I even clambered out of the van. There were Eyebrowed, Brown-headed and Dusky Thrushes running round on the short grass next to where I'd parked. Dusky I could understand but the other two are often no more than a fleeting tail breaking from the undergrowth before vanishing through the canopy. Unfortunately in the early light they required a very high ISO to capture them so the results aren't as impressive as they might have been.

Almost a nice grouping: male and female Eyebrowed Thrushes but the Blue and White Flycatcher (tail just visible behind a branch on the left) chose to move before I could get the shot.

A stunning male, they don't even look this good in field guides.

Brown-headed Thrush.

There were plenty of other migrants around, the place was teaming with phylloscs, Eastern Crowned were everywhere, very vocal, very active, and Sakhalin Leaf were fairly numerous too. A couple of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings became half a dozen as the morning wore on and an Ashy Minivet heard only once probably passed straight through. Two or three Japanese Robins were singing and there was at least one Siberian Rubythroat as well. Several Narcissus, Asian Brown and Blue and White Flycatchers were dotted around the park but I came across just a single Japanese Yellow Bunting. Also represented by a lone individual, Oriental and Northern Hawk Cuckoo sand intermittently throughout the day but I only saw the former. Another invisible songster was an Oriental Reed Warbler, quite what it was doing in woodland I don't know but there were several in more expected habitat nearby. Just as good for me was an Azure-winged Magpie so I'll mention it with the migrants. I don't see them in Kansai and this is the closest to home I can find them, great looking birds.   

Chestnut-cheeked Starlings is a passage migrant in my region.

My drive up to Hegurajima is my only chance to see Azure-winged Magpie, if I have the time to stop and look.

Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Because the park had a good selection of migrants it was easy to the feel things were on the move and something could really good turn up. Unfortunately it didn't and by day's end I was wishing I'd been on Hegura. The marine forecast didn't look any better for today so I stayed overnight but this morning seemed much quieter. In fact the same birds were present but less vocal, the periods of drizzle perhaps dampened the birds' exuberance, making everything seem harder work. I'd walked for 11 hours yesterday but there was no way I could muster the enthusiasm to repeat that even if I'd had the time. Someone saw a Japanese Paradise Flycatcher early in the morning in an area I'd spent a lot of time yesterday so that may have been newly arrived.

Female Meadow Bunting caught in a rare sunny moment.

Forest Wagtail - Miike

January 7th I planned to try again for Scaly-sided Merganser, then once as far as Satsuma it would be easy to cut across to Miike for the Forest Wagtail.


I covered every possible visible inch of the Sendai River from Satsuma town up to and beyond the first major dam. Japanese Wagtails were common and surprisingly a new bird for the Kyushu trip. There were about 40 Barn Swallows along the river in Satsuma town - enough to make a summer? Plus I heard my first Great Spotted Woodpecker of the trip. Another good bird along the Sendai was Crested Kingfisher and I'm bound to include an awful record shot as it was a photograph tick for me.

The drive to Miike is easy apart from the 40 km/p/h speed limits across much of the Ebino Plateau and a number of (surely) tourists willing to stick to them creating long tailbacks. It must drive the locals nuts; it would me anyway.


I'd already run into Chris Cook guiding a couple of Brit birders two or three times at Arasaki and they arrived at Miike just moments before me. Chris had already located this Japanese Woodpecker boring a deep hole into the underside of a branch with a quiet intensity that made it seem oblivious to our presence.

Japanese Woodpecker.

They then headed down to the lakeside to look for Baikal Teal while I stayed in the car park to look for the Forest Wagtail. I couldn't face another duck dip. In any case the Wagtail was the reason I'd come after all and the car park is the place to look. In fact this small car park is without doubt the best place in Japan for this species, though why they come here every winter is a mystery to me. Apparently there are two this winter.

After watching the Wagtail to my heart's content I drifted down to the lake to see how the others were doing. I hadn't bothered getting my scope from the car and expected to just roll up and enjoy great views of Baikal through theirs. But no, it wasn't only me having a bad duck day, there were no Baikal to be seen.


Chris and co were staying at Miike that night but I was headed back to Arasaki; I definitely wasn't going to stop off and spend the night in Satsuma to make it third time unlucky with the Scaly-sided the following morning.