The Japanese government will now allow hunters to shoot bears in populated areas after dangerous human encounters with the wild animals hit record levels. The revised wildlife protection and management law, which was approved by the cabinet Friday, allows ’emergency shootings’ following complaints that hunters were hampered by red tape. The environment ministry hopes to […]
Tag: japan
Japan relaxes bear-shooting laws amid rise in attacks
Japan is to relax its strict hunting laws to make it easier to shoot bears, amid a rise in dangerous encounters with the animals in built-up areas as their numbers increase and their natural habitat dwindles. The government will revise wildlife protection and management laws to give local councils the power to authorise hunters to […]
Hundreds of whales to be harpooned as Iceland issues new hunting licenses
On Dec. 6, Iceland‘s caretaker government announced it had issued five-year licenses to hunt fin and minke whales in Icelandic waters. It granted the fin whale hunting license to Hvalur hf., the country’s only remaining fin-whaling company, run by billionaire Kristján Loftsson, and the minke-hunting permit to a ship owned by Tjaldtangi ehf., a whaling […]
Autumn Migration
Raptor and passerine migration is now well and truly underway in my region of Japan. The Chinese Goshawks have finished and now it is the turn of the Oriental Honey Buzzards, Grey-faced Buzzards, Eurasian Sparrowhawks and smaller numbers of Northern Hobby and Japanese Sparrowhawk. The Eurasian Kestrels have just arrived at Isahaya, along with the […]
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (juvenile)
Some images of a juvenile Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) that I encountered this morning at Moriyama reclaimed land area.
Japanese Night Heron, Gorsachius goisagi
This species had eluded me so far in Japan, so I jumped at the chance when I heard that there was a “friendly” bird in Kyushu. I observed it for about an hour and a half while it hunted in the grasses bordering thick woods for prey such as earthworms, frogs and snails. A big […]
Narcissus Flycatcher (female)
Photos of a female Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina) taken yesterday morning on Mt Unzen.
Recent Birding Tour of Northwestern Kyushu
Between September 16 and 19 I led a couple from Canada around birding spots in Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. Before the tour started, I took the ferry across to Kumamoto from Shimabara, spotting a large flock of Streaked Shearwater just out from Shimabara Port, and then Brown Booby as the ferry neared […]