Yuwandake area, Amami

As I've already explained in the Amami Nature Observation Forest post, I shifted my daily routine to a roughly 14:00-21:00 sleeping regimen to allow early morning and nocturnal birding without the headaches from lack of sleep I'd been suffering after pushing my self to do round the clock birding after arriving on the island.


Images from that post may also have given a false impression of bright in Amami weather. Don't be fooled, it was mostly rain as the following images will attest.


Amami Thrush was only seen at Yuandake (two individuals) but I've covered that, the main objective of the trip, in a different post.


I'd leave my hotel between 23:00-24:00 and drive south to Yuwan (Yuan?) and cover the roads through the forest in that general area before heading up to the top of the Yuwandake road just before dawn. Incidentally there was usually a Ryukyu Scops calling from the shrine near my hotel in Amami City and I saw others (and Woodcock) on roads on the outskirts of town without needing to head further south. But the quality of the forest down there made for a far better experience. If you go to Amami, why settle for Amami lite?


Firstly nocturnals in the rain; Amami Woodcock and Ryukyu Scops Owl, neither of which I'd photographed before, were my main bird targets. The Woodcock was a resounding success, it can be comfortably seen and photographed from the dry car interior, but I couldn't get my photo tick of the Scops. The Owl wasn't difficult to see per se but it required getting out of the car to get decent views, which was fine for me, but I didn't want to mess around with the camera in the rain. The honorary bird of the trip was to be Amami black rabbit which I'd missed altogether on my only previous trip to the island. This turned out to be far easier to see than I'd expected, even if slightly more camera shy than the Woodcock.

Roadside Amami Woodcocks were easy to pick up in the headlights. Some would flush early, though some of them would settle in the tree overhead, while others wouldn't budge and after a good view you could leave them in peace.

The best views were of birds not directly in the headlights. Some, like this one, allowed quite close approach on foot.

A big plus due to everything being sodden was the number of frogs on the road. I was crawling along anyway so frogs hopped across far more quickly than I approach but nevertheless it was necessary to keep an eye out for late dashers. I wish I'd had the time to stop and look at them all but there are only so many hours in a night and I was still hoping to get better views of Ryukyu Scops.

Otton's frog wasn't nearly as exotic-looking as some, but it was the largest species I saw.

There are 'beware of the rabbits' road signs all over the island but it was only in this area that I saw them. Saw them on every visit in fact though 12 sightings in a night was my highest count.

Unlike the Woodcock, rabbits didn't hang around so photo opportunities were more rushed.

And now diurnals in the rain: Lidth's Jay is quite common and found in various habitats but it's primarilly a forest bird and can therefore be tricky to photograph. Unobscured views were few and far between.

Lidth's Jay could be seen and even more commonly heard everywhere I went on the island. The word 'shower' clearly defines a brief period of rain during an otherwise lengthier dry period. Do we have a word to equally succinctly express the opposite, a brief dry spell in an otherwise rain soaked day, and if not why not? It's not as though the UK is particularly known for an abscence of precipitation, is it? Well, I photographed this Jay during a 'drier'. 

Pacific Swallow... in rain.

Ryukyu Minivet... in fog (low cloud), with alternating light and heavy drizzle. Not unlike crude oil, heavy is less preferred in most situations. 

minivets to Paradise Flycatcher

Ashy Minivet seems to be declining in numbers while Ryukyu is possibly expanding in range. In Kyoto city Ashy is a migrant and parties can sometimes be seen on the surrounding hills but it's much easier to find in the forested hills to the north or in the mountains of Nara and Wakayama. It is frequently heard and seen flying overhead and I'd be slightly surprised not to see them (or at least hear them) if I were spending a day in Ashyu Forest or the spine of the Kii Peninsular. However it's more difficult to get good perched views, a matter of being in the right place at the right time with such a mobile species. You can't go rushing off the trail in persuit on the steep-sided hills but on the other hand these steep slopes make it possible to get eye-level views of this canopy species. Ryukyu Minivet seems to be expanding into Kyushu but as far as I'm aware there has never been a record this far north. It's common in the Nansei Island forests and its habits are much like Ashy, it's more often seen flying overhead than perched, however I have seen them away from woodland in coastal scrub.

Female on Mishima, Yamaguchi 4 May 2008. Birds are reasonably common on the island and good views are a more regular event with good of access to the wooded hills. 

Female Mishima, Yamaguchi 3 May 2009. 

Male Ashy Minivet on the Noto Peninsular May 2014.

Male Ryukyu Minivet, one of a party a couple of kilometres from the nearest forest. Iriomote, 4 April 2013.

Bull-headed Shrike is very common in the region and in Kyoto it will be seen on any walk near  scrubby riparian habitat or arable land. They are early breeders and though quieter at this time they still perch prominently and are hard to miss. Outside the breeding season and their harsh calls are very much a feature of birding along the city's rivers.


Bull-headed is the only shrike that can be expected in the region, though several others turn up from time to time. A Great Grey wintered near Kyoto 2012/2013 and a Brown in Osaka the previous winter. Chinese Grey is a rare and irregular winter visitor to the Japan Sea side of the region. Other species are even less likely, Long-tailed is a rare winter visitor and Tiger, though a breeding species in Japan, is probably the most difficult species to see unless you happen to know a breeding site.

A breeding male, looking very bull-headed, along the Uji/Yodo River in Kyoto city, 10 April.

A breeding female along the Uji/Yodo River in Kyoto city, 15 April.

An immature on the Yamatogawa in Osaka, December.

A wintering male lucionensis Brown Shrike at Arasaki, Kyushu. Birds are more often seen as migrant in spring and autumn on the Japan Sea islands.

Brown Shrikes winter in the southern Nansei Islands, this one of several in heavy moult on Yonaguni in early April 2013. 

Japan's first Red-backed Shrike wintered in Shikoku (3 March 2007).

Isabelline Shrike on Hegurajima May 2014.

A wintering Great Grey Shrike in Kyushu, 2014/15.

A wintering Chinese Grey Shrike in Kyushu.

Black-naped Oriole is mainly seen as a spring migrant on the Japan Sea islands. Despite their bright colouration their habits make them very difficult to see, hence they're more often heard than seen on the larger forested islands. A pair may have bred at a site east of Kansai in 2013 but even there it was very difficult to see a bird. On smaller islands such as Hegurajima getting a decent views is far more likely.

A video grab of a bird on Hegura.

Drongos are rare in the region, Black and Ashy have both been recorded in recent years. Black is possibly increasing as a rare migrant in western Japan, I found three on Tsushima in 2012 and I heard of 3-4 others during that week.

A bird at the northern end of Tsushima 29 April 2012.

Two of a threesome at the southern end of the island on the same date.

Ashy Drongo, Hegurajima October 2014.

Japanese Paradise Flycatcher breeds in broadleaf forests in the region but is nowhere common. I see more migrants on the islands than in the region.

If I'd had a camera rather than digiscoping I'd have got some great shots of this obliging cliff-top spring migrant on Mishima.