mclisa

My friend and I had just spent 9 days in Hokkaido and planned four days (i.e. 27 Dec – 30 Dec 2008) in bird-watching.  As a beginner, I did not have much experience in making a detailed field report but hope the information may be useful to bird lovers who would visit Hokkaido someday.  The places we visited were mainly around Nemoro. The temperature was from minus 7 to minus 2 degree and the weather was quite good, sunny without snowing. The wind, however, sometimes blew heavily near the coast that we could hardly open our eyes.

27 Dec
Akan Kokusai Tsuru Centre-Tancho Observation Centre 阿寒丹頂之里
Red-crowned Crane
White-tailed Eagle
Black Kite
Dusky Thrush
Tree sparrow
Large-billed crow (They were seen everywhere in Hokkaido)

鶴見台
Red-crowned Crane
We could see them flying above our head in the sunset.  

28 Dec
Kushiro City Marsh Observatory 釧路濕原展望台
We went there to see the overview of the Kushiro Marsh and spent just a few minutes without any record of bird.

Akkeshi Waterfowl Observation Centre 厚岸水鳥觀察館
Mallard
Harlequin Duck
Common Merganser
Whooper Swan (There were many of them, both in juvenile and adult plumage)
Black Kite
Slaty-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

Kiritappu 霧多布岬
Cormorant (We did not know the species by then as we are not familiar with their differences.)
Black Scoter
Peregine Falcon
Slaty-blacked Gull
Glaucous Gull
Tree sparrow
Large-billed Crow

29 Dec
Lake Furen 風蓮湖 – Shunkunitai春國岱
Whooper Swan
Eurasian Nuthatch
Great Tit
Marsh Tit
Glaucous Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

Lake Furen 風蓮湖 – 白鳥台 (no English translation could be found, sorry.)
Whooper Swan
Steller’s Sea Eagle
Glaucous Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

Attoko- 厚床 (a path in forest)
Steller’s Sea Eagle
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Brown ear Bulbul
Marsh Tit
Glaucous Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

Hashirikotan 走古丹
Black Scoter
Harlequin Duck
Long-tailed Duck
Common Golden Eye
Smew
Common Merganser
Slaty-back Gull
Glaucous Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

Cape Nosappu 納沙布岬
Pelagic Cormorant (They were distinguished by their metallic green color,black beck, and comparative smaller size.)
Red-faced Cormorant
Black Scoter
Harlequin Duck
White-tailed Eagle
Glaucous Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Tree Sparrow
Large-billed Crow

30 Dec
Cape Nosappu 納沙布岬
Ｄiver (Actually, I recognized they were divers because of the angle of their beck to their body and the shape. I guessed it was red-throated as a Japanese birder told me that we could see them there.  They were very far away from the sea.)
Pelagic Cormorant
Common Scoter
Harlequin Duck
Red breasted Merganser
Common Merganser
Ancient Murrelet
Glaucous Gull
Slaty-backed Gull
Tree sparrow
Large-billed Crow

31 Dec
Sapporo
Coal Tit
Large billed Crow
Rock Dove
Tree sparrow
Large-billed Crow

During the short trip, we rented a car.  As there was GPS (Global Positioning System) installed, it was very convenient to locate the site as we simply need to input the telephone no. of the observation centre or any place nearby. The system will lead us the way. Some of the routes were suggested by Matsuo-san, the inn-owner of Lodge Furen. It was a min-shuku that we would highly recommend. Matsuo-san, himself was an experienced bird-watcher and he gave us many good advices in the location for bird-watching during our stay.  He also had a little library in the dining room and he could speak English well.  We also met a couple from Holland and 6 local Japanese people stayed there for bird-watching. We exchanged some ideas on environmental conservation and education in our place.
The Holland couple birders told us that there were owls and Gyrfalcon in Cape Nosappu.  Matsuo-san also introduced a place for us to see rosy finch but we just did not have enough time.  For experienced birders, they probably would see more than we did as we are just beginners.  We had not set up our digi-scoping yet and so no photo could be shared with you this time, hopefully other birders would visit the place and shared them with us later.

mclisa

We only spent a day in Kushiro and we stayed in the Hotel Taito.
It is a beautiful and quiet hotel and the owner, again, is a bird-lover and it contains a little library containing many bird and natural books.  It locates in Tsurui Village (鶴居村)which is very near the Kushiro Wetland. The disadvantage is that you can only make reservation via phone call and they only accept 2-month reservation.  We only got the help from Matsuo-san to book the room for us as we did not speak Japanese.  However, my family member could reach me using distant call during my stay. I think it was OK if you can try making phone reservation. You can find the necessary information e.g. address, phone no and price etc in its website http://www.hotel-taito.co.jp/.  Breakfast, dinner and hot spring are included in the price.  For two of us, it's around 9400 yen per person, around 800 HK dollars. It is as beautiful as it shows in the website, I must say. I personally love it very much.  
I bought an English Kushiro Wetland Guidebook in the hotel as well. It’s in English and I think it contains the information that would be useful to your trip.  I can lend it to you.   I read from the book that in early March, the crane would leave their feeding place such as Akan and go back to the breeding site in the wetland near the river side looking for a desirable nesting place.  Some would continue to stay in Akan due to the sufficient food supply.  I noticed that foreigner birders usually suggest to watch the cranes in Otowa Bridge and in Akan International Crane Centre in Winter.  In my experience, you can get a very close view there and those would be good places for photographing. However,I am not sure if it is a good place in spring.  If you want to lend the guidebook, please feel free to email me mclisa2312@yahoo.com.hk and make a day or I don’t know if it is possible for me to put it in the office of HKBWS for you to pick up.  Hope you can take many beautiful photos to share very us in the trip!
Cheers,

Lisa