Spring migration has been underway here in the southern part of Japan since mid-March and we have seen quite a few rarities making landfall briefly as the wintering birds make their way northwards toward their breeding grounds in northern China and the Russian Far East. Many birds travel between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese [...]
It’s the beginning of spring, and the first of Japan’s wintering species are beginning the long journey back to their breeding grounds in the Russian Far East. I am talking about the vulnerable Hooded Crane (Grus monacha), which together with smaller numbers of White-naped Crane (Grus vipio), are now passing over my part of Japan [...]
Perhaps the most important winter refuge for Hooded and White-naped Cranes in the world is the famous Arasaki area in Izumi city, Kagoshima, Japan. From late November each year, thousands of these magnificent birds migrate to this spot on the southwestern coast of Kyushu, and by the end of December most of the more than [...]
I always feel very fortunate to live in an area of Japan that is surrounded by some of the best winter birding locations in the country and, indeed, in all of East Asia. From my home in Shimabara, Nagasaki, it is just a short ferry ride and drive to Hikawa and Yatsushiro in Kumamoto, while [...]
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