Birding Tour Japan: Spectacular Winter Birds

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, covering a huge area of 145,937 square miles (377,975 square kilometers) along the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, offering some world class birding. We will visit three of the five main islands (Kyushu, Honshu, and Hokkaido) on this exciting winter birding tour of Japan. This Japanese bird tour will start in Kirishima and end in Tokyo, Japan’s high-tech capital and largest city (though which also offers great birding along the edge of Tokyo Bay). Although one of the most populous countries in the world, around 75% of Japan is mountainous, with much of that area uninhabitable, so the population is crammed into multiple mega-cities. Japan has a fascinating cultural history and is unlike anywhere else in the world, and we will get a great sample of this as we travel around on our Japanese birdwatching tour.

Steller’s Sea Eagle is one of the many spectacular highlights of this Japanese winter birding tour.

This Japanese winter birding tour is designed around the spectacular gatherings of cranes and sea eagles which make Japan their winter home, as well as a range of Japanese endemic birds on offer. The first leg of this Japan bird tour will be around the island of Kyushu, this will be the furthest southwest we venture, and here we will search for the localized Japanese Murrelet and the wintering hordes of Hooded Cranes and White-naped Cranes, with an accompanying cast of other winter visitors, which may include tough world birds like Black-faced Spoonbill and Saunders’s Gull.

White-naped Crane will be enjoyed on our Japan birding tour.

The second leg of this Japanese birding trip will be on and around the island of Honshu, home to Tokyo. We will meander through the forests, hills, and lakes of central Honshu to seek out specials such as Green Pheasant, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Varied Tit, and perhaps, if we are lucky, the shy and endemic Copper Pheasant. We include visits to lakes to look for Baikal Teal and Mandarin Duck, and to a valley where endemic Japanese Macaque and Japanese Serow (a goat-antelope) make their winter home.

The final leg of this bird tour in Japan will be to the winter wonderland of Hokkaido, this will be the furthest northeast we go. Here, in a landscape dominated by dramatic volcanoes, calderas, coastal plains, and rugged peninsulas, species numbers are low, but quality is extremely high! We visit the feeding and roosting grounds of Red-crowned Cranes, seeing them at close range where they are easily photographed, perhaps with a White-tailed Eagle overhead. We see flocks of wintering Whooper Swans and other waterfowl, look for Crested Kingfisher, seek out winter roosts of Ural Owl, and visit a feeding site of the rare and Endangered (BirdLife International) Blakiston’s Fish Owl. During our time on the Shiretoko and Nemuro Peninsulas we spend time watching arguably the world’s largest and most spectacular raptor – Steller’s Sea Eagle. Coastal sea-watching and offshore boat trips will allow us to search for an array of exciting wintering seabirds, including sea ducks, loons (divers), grebes, and an assortment of alcids.

We also offer a short three-day extension to this tour which will visit Miyake-Jima (Miyake Island), a volcanic island in the Izu Archipelago, located approximately 110 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of Tokyo. This trip will make use of a ferry crossing, with a morning spent on the island looking for the specials. The purpose of this trip is to look for Izu Thrush, Owston’s Tit, and Izu Robin on the island, as well as Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross, Short-tailed Albatross, and Tristram’s Storm Petrel out at sea.

Please note, depending on availability of services (and other factors beyond our control) we may have to switch the ordering of the three islands/legs of this trip. We will, however, ensure we spend the same number of nights as described below, and target the same species.

Green Pheasant, one of several Japanese endemics we will be looking for on this tour.