In late April we headed over to Japan for a mates wedding in Osaka but as it was my first time to Japan we decided to make a longer trip out of it to see some sights and get some Japanese birdwatching in while visiting the Palearctic bio region for the first time.
Arriving in the final week of April, we were expecting the weather to be mid-spring, often with mild days and some rain about. Outside of the main cities, Japan is a very mountainous country as we came to find out while driving from Tokyo through to Osaka. Our route was optimised for a variety of habitats and elevations, we started by flying into Narita and renting a car before heading out to Karuizawa and Matsumoto in the mountains and then on to Nagahama on the shores of Lake Biwa before heading south into the metropolis of Osaka.
Narita and Karuizawa
On the first day we had a long drive (approx. 5 hours) to cover between Narita and Matsumoto so we decided to spend a bit of time birding around the rice paddies before hitting the expressways across Tokyo. Before breakfast on our first day, we decided to walk around a small forested area next to our hotel (ART Hotel Narita) which was predominantly coniferous forest with some bamboo and low dense undergrowth. Here we picked up our first lifers of the trip with Eastern Spot-billed Ducks flying over, Oriental Turtle-Doves calling and a number of passerines including Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Eurasian Jay, Asian Tit, Japanese Bush Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, Warbling White-eye, and Brown-eared Bulbul which would prove to be a constant across the country.
After breakfast, we headed to Jimbee Park which was a small roadside park surrounded by rice paddies, farms, and alongside Lake Imba-Numa. Here it was very easy to walk around the park, however, the habitat is quite monotonous and it is difficult to spot small birds amongst the mud, rice and reeds. It was here that we extended our list with a pair of Mandarin Ducks sitting in a tree, flushed a Chinese Bamboo-Partridge and Chinese Hwamei, and saw our first Little Grebe fishing in the river. On our way out of the parking lot, we spotted some local birders scoping out a tiny bird in the fields, and to our delight it turned out to be our lifer Little Ringed Plover! We’d previously dipped on this species in both Singapore and northern Australia so it was a great surprise to come across one on our first day.
Now it was time to hit the road for the long drive up to Karuizawa for some afternoon birding before arriving at our accommodation in Matsumoto. Given we were birding Japan for the first time, we decided that hiring a car was the best option as while Japan has an extensive, cheap, and efficient public transport system, you still can’t beat the flexibility of having a car to be able to stop at roadside parks, lakes/ponds, trails and forests when it comes to birding. Driving in Japan was quite easy and the road rules weren’t an issue coming from Australia. One noticeable difference however was the much slower speed limits compared to Australia, often around cities you’re driving 30 or 40 km/h and expressways are limited to 60 or 80 km/h although the vast majority of drivers were cruising 20 to 30 km/h over the limits. Finally, you will spend quite a lot on tolls, around 6000 yen between Tokyo and Osaka.
On the drive across Tokyo to Karuizawa, it was predominantly apartment buildings and farm land before becoming more forested as we headed up the mountains. During a few stops at Konbinis (local convenience stores like 7Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart), we came across a few extra lifers in White and Japanese Wagtails, as well as an Eastern Buzzard.
Arriving at Karuizawa, it reminded me of alpine towns in southern Australia like Bright (Victoria) or Cooma (NSW). There were a number of artisan stores and lots of holiday accommodation/resorts however as we approach Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary it became clear this was a popular destination for birdwatchers in the country. Pulling up at the car park, we found a group of 10-15 photographers focussed at a small stream. Peering over the edge, it became clear why they were so fixated. A small black bird with striking yellow-orange highlights was perched on a log and I immediately identified it as one of our key targets, a male Narcissus Flycatcher! This was a bird that we both really wanted to see and it turned out to be fairly populous as we spent a few days in the mountains, seeing multiple individuals across multiple locations. The wild bird sanctuary was a large hilly area, and consisted of both deciduous and coniferous trees without much undergrowth. Multiple fast flowing streams and hiking trails traversed the area, making it a fantastic spot to go birding. As we drove slowly towards a less busy area we spotted a bird flush off the road, pulling over we realised it was a Japanese Waxwing, a striking bird that looks like it has a beauty filter on it with its incredibly smooth plumage. As we were admiring it, another new bird flew into view, perched on the side of a tree with a burst of red on the back of its head, we were looking at a Japanese Woodpecker, another key endemic target.
We arrived at the top car park, and were greeted with warning signs of bears in the area. The Asiatic Black Bear is a resident of highland Japan, and they can grow to be over 150kg and more than 1.5m long. Generally not aggressive, the advice is to make a bit of noise as you enter an area to scare them off however there have been reports that wearing things like bear bells (designed to keep making noise as you hike) can actually draw bears in and there have previously been reports of attacks on hikers that strayed too close. As with any large animal, these are wild animals and can be unpredictable so it’s best to keep your wits about you but know they aren’t deliberately out to get you. On most of our walks while in the mountains we tried to stick to trails where there were plenty of other nature-lovers about and in quiet places we tended to stick near the car, especially if visibility was low.
On this small final walk in Karuizawa, we saw a number of Narcissus Flycatchers but also saw lifer Coal Tits and Eurasian Nuthatch, a bird that reminded me of Australia’s Sitellas although a bit larger.
Wrapping up the day, we headed west to Matsumoto, a town nestled in a valley with great views of snow-capped mountains nearby. The drive was through farmland that sat on volcanic slopes, and we saw Green Pheasant, Oriental Greenfinch, Carrion Crows and in roadside streams the occasional Brown Dipper.
Matsumoto and surrounds
On the second day, we had planned to spend the whole day birding as we had 2 nights in Matsumoto as a base. Our plan was originally to head out to some hiking areas at Azumino to look for Copper Pheasant however we woke up to a rainy day so decided covering more ground and doing more stops would likely yield better results. Armed with bento boxes the hotel provided for breakfast, we headed out to Kotori-no-mori Bird Forest, a heavily forested area on a steep slope that contained a variety of trees, birds and places to stop and have a look around. As we arrived, we could hear the bird calls through thick fog and saw warnings that bears had been seen the day before in the carpark so decided it was best to walk along the road to spot any birds but avoid any of the long trails. This was quite a good spot for us, finding 7 new species in the hour or so we were there including Willow Tit, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail and Meadow Bunting. As we headed down the mountain, we heard the cricket-like calls of Asian Stubtails in the undergrowth on the sides of the road and spotted a Eurasian Treecreeper scaling a cypress tree. As we exited the forest, and were just about to get back on the highway, a tiny bird flitted off the road and onto a rock to reveal a Daurian Redstart.
Our next stop was to head further into the mountains around Suwa and Kirigamine where in the higher elevations we managed to see Eurasian Wren, Brown-headed Thrush and Amur Stonechats. Arriving back in Matsumoto, we took a walk around Matsumoto Castle and spotted both Eurasian Moorhen and Mute Swan gently floating in the moat around the base of the castle.
Nagahama and Lake Biwa
After we finished our stay around Matsumoto, we headed south-west towards Lake Biwa and the city of Nagahama where we hoped to add a bunch of waterfowl to our list. And we were spoiled indeed, racking up 5 new ducks including Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Garganey and Green-winged Teal in our afternoon around the Hayasaki Biotype Park as well as a lovely pair of Grey-headed Lapwings looking after 4 chicks in a gravel parking lot. Generally a large bird, they are difficult to spot on the open ground due to their grey and brown appearance acting as camouflage however we were alerted to them as one of them squawked after a Black Kite that strayed too close to their car park.
The next morning we wanted to visit the Kohoku Waterfowl Park however we had a few hours to spare before it opened so we decided to go for a walk around the Nodanuma Greenspace which is a lightly vegetated area surrounding a pond. On the trail around the pond we stumbled upon a few regulars we had seen earlier like Green-winged Teals, Grey Herons, Asian Tits, and Black Kites but also turned up a number of Common Snipe and a pair of calling Bull-headed Shrikes which have a wonderful trilling call that almost sounds like a small chainsaw. As we wrapped up the morning we headed to the Kohoku Waterfowl Park before heading down to Osaka. At the waterfowl park they have a fantastic setup of scopes lining the windows complete with bird lists and seats so you can sit for hours and scope out the lake for various migratory ducks and other birds. With a bit of help from the staff and a lot of pointing at illustrations to overcome our language barrier, we were able to get onto Common Pochard, Tufted Ducks and Greater Scaups before heading towards the big cities.
Osaka and Tokyo
Our final few days in Japan were spent in the metropolises of Osaka and Tokyo where our focus on birding lessened a little bit as we no longer had access to a car and also had other events and places we planned to go. That being said, there was still plenty of bird life around if you put in a bit of effort. Knowing that our birding was going to be limited we decided to walk around Osaka Castle Park which had recent reports of a few key targets in good numbers, here we came across Sakhalin Leaf Warbler and the larger Eastern Crowned Warblers in the north-western section that was predominantly planted with deciduous trees. On our way to the castle we also happened upon a Blue Rock-Thrush, one of my key targets for the trip due to it’s amazing blue and orange plumage and it’s rather interesting behaviour of perching high on building ledges as it naturally would on cliff faces. We also came across an Eurasian Kestrel gliding over the highway while on the way to drop off the car.
Once in Tokyo, the birding picked up a bit, after a rather quiet walk around Ueno Park where we snagged our only Common Kingfisher we headed to Kansai Rinkai Park the next morning. This is a huge park where the eastern side is dominated by a series of ponds surrounded by forest and weaved with cycling and walking trails while the western side is mainly parkland with plenty of lawn and a large esplanade on the coast with a few close islands that have been classified as a Ramsar Wetland. We spent a few hours in the area and managed to pick up 3 more gulls for the trip in Black-tailed, Vega, and Slaty-backed Gulls as well as roosting Eurasian Oystercatchers and many other coastal birds including huge numbers of Great Cormorants and Little Egrets.
Wrapping Up
Overall, I felt like this was a very successful birding trip, particularly for a trip where we were in a country for the first time, didn’t speak the language and the trip wasn’t primarily for birding. Japan is a great place to go birding, and offers a diverse set of families, species and habitats to explore if you’re willing to get out of the large cities and explore everything the countryside has to offer. Besides the birding, you’ll also get to experience a truly unique culture and the towns, cities, foods and practices they’ve developed. In total, we saw 90 species and 66 of those being lifers for myself. The full eBird trip can be found here.