Day 6 - Winter in Japan for Bird's Wildlife & Nature - 10th February 2026

The sun was not even vaguely up when we headed out and down to Arasaki.  The skies were initially leaden and the prospect of a sunrise as a backdrop for the Crane arrival looked unlikely but we needn’t have worried as the weather gods smiled on us and granted us the perfect rising of Sol to set out 12000 hungry and very noisy Cranes.

Arasaki.- without cranes just prior to post breakfast flight

That first flight before sun up

It was a joy to stand there once again and let the soundscape of bugles and whoops of the adults and curious passerine-like chirps of the youngsters wash over you.  It was the one occasion when taking pictures into the sun was a must.  I looked around and saw the crew (almost) awed into silence.

I occasionally distracted them with calls for Eastern Rooks, Daurian Jackdaws, Japanese Skylarks and both Siberian and Red-throated Pipits but it was the dashing immature Goshawk that was most appreciated away from the Hooded and White-naped Cranes.

White-naped Cranes

Hooded and White-naped Cranes

The little van dispensing the crane food - Elaine Chuang

With the sun already receding behind the low cloud we moved to opposite one of the feeding roads and enjoyed excellent views of four Common and two Sandhills amongst the throng while Alison found a Greater White-fronted Goose close to the road which appears to be a good bird here.  There were Shelduck on the northern pool with nine Lapwing in the grass and most of the regular dabbling ducks were seen.

Sandhill, Hooded and White-naped Cranes

Hooded Cranes

Hooded Cranes

Sandhill Crane

A raspy Eastern Yellow Wagtail called and two then flew to the roadside channel where one was watched well.  Quite grey but with olive coming through on the mantle, a yellow spot on the front and vent and a very funky swept up supercilium.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - Jim Willett

The short drive towards the visitors centre gave our van an adult female Hen Harrier scooting across the road along with two Kestrels and once there we obtained better views of the Eastern Rooks (more on those later) and several Daurian Jackdaws most of which were European-like immatures but there was one full pied adult out in the fields which was much appreciated.  Six Common Starlings flew through and there were several OTDs before breakfast beckoned and so we retraced our steps adding a cloud of dinky Russet Sparrows on the wires on the way and a flock of Falcated Ducks on the main river in Izumi.

Hen Harrier - Chris Darby

Hooded Cranes - Chris Darby

Eastern Rooks

Eastern Rooks and Daurian Jackdaws

Eastern Rook

 Russet Sparrows

 Russet Sparrows

Fed and watered and back into the field with the quest to find the ‘missing cranes’.  It took only a few minutes to find the first and being huge and white made the task fairly straightforward.  Siberian White Crane was absent in 2025 so I was very pleased that this one had lingered.  I am not sure if they can be sexed but it was not that much bigger than the White-naped it was lingering with.  This companionship had seemingly come about through disability.  The later had a broken leg that went off at a funny angle while the mighty Sibe was missing the right leg below the joint.  Both seemed to be feeding ok but it was sad to watch both birds try and scratch with the damaged appendage. That said it did not detract from the stately grandeur of either species.  

Siberian White Crane and buddies

Siberian White Crane - Chris Darby

Siberian White Crane - Jim Willett

Siberian White Crane - Jim Willett

Siberian White Crane 

Siberian White Crane 

Siberian White Crane 

We moved on without spooking either of them and in the next field along a small tractor was ploughing with an attending gaggle of Grey Herons and Great Egrets.  As with our boat trip the day before, it was clear that both forms of Great Egret were present with two towering alba and three small modesta.  Once again the size, shape and even demeanour of the Eastern modesta felt at odds to the stately albas.  The same upper leg colour differences were also apparent. 

Small, grey legged modesta and a towering alba with yellowy tibia

Small, grey legged modesta

There were many Black-backed Wagtails in the field along with two more Eastern Yellow Wagtails, three Northern Lapwings, 12 Siberian and a Red-throated Pipit.  

Northern Lapwing & Black-backed Wagtail

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - Chris Darby

Eastern Yellow Wagtail 

We carried on down to the visitors centre and climbed up to the observation area on the roof so that we could scan the fields below where many of the Cranes were assembled.  Only the Demoiselle Crane was left for us to find for a full set and amazingly it flew in right along side us and landed in the closest wet field where it disturbed some Common Snipe.  It was even smaller than the Hooded Cranes and was probably on a par with the Sandhills that we saw and it was only my second ever after the Lesvos bird a good few springs ago.

Three species of Crane (can you find the Common?) Black-eared Kite,
Little & Great Egrets and Large-billed Crows

Hooded Crane

Demoiselle Crane

White-naped Crane

White-naped Crane

White-naped, Common and Hooded Crane

Demoiselle Crane

Demoiselle Crane - Jim Willett

A Common Crane was also down below on one of the tracks and attacking a frozen fish ball but I was still concentrating on finding the other prize and thankfully out into view waddled a chocolate and cinnamon Swan Goose with a black ski slope of a bill.  A curious shape in every respect, this was one of those iconic Far Eastern birds that I had longed to see.  After just a few minutes it dropped over the bank and that was that!

Swan Goose - Jim Willett

Eastern Spot-billed Duck - Jim Willett

More scanning gave us both  European and our first Black-faced Spoonbill along with more Northern Lapwings and some fantastic aerial battles between the Black-eared Kites as they squabbled over individual fish when it would have been just as easy to pop down onto the road a grab one themselves.

 Eastern Rooks & Daurian Jackdaws. Some Rooky thoughts: The Rooks feel slighter and a little smaller than our own and you could lose the Jacks amongst them and as such they seem 'row' faster than our Western birds giving a more Jack-like feel in flight that is exacerbated by the feel of a shorter less wedgy tail.  The pale bill base does not extend up to the eye making the bill actually less obvious. These are just my in the field gut observations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Eastern Rooks & Daurian Jackdaws

Black-eared Kites

Black-eared Kites

Dave picked up some Grosbeaks in a big tree behind the car park and once everyone had seen them he began to have doubts about them being Japanese and asked for my opinion as they looked ‘off’.  I certainly could not remember white primaries before.  Suddenly it clicked and Dave excitedly exclaimed ‘Chinese, not Japanese!’

11 Chinese Grosbeaks

Chinese Grosbeaks - look at those white primary tips on the males!

Another quick round of looks and then they took off and I followed all 11 to an identical tree a little further away.  Dave, Chris and Jim ran back down and made for a van while I collected the rest of the crew and slowly followed along behind.  By the time we arrived they had already confirmed that we were indeed watching a flock of four male and six female Chinese Grosbeaks.  This is a rare bird in Japan and Dave had only ever seen one before.  More smiles all round.

Chinese Grosbeak - female

Chinese Grosbeak - male

Chinese Grosbeak - males

Chinese Grosbeak - male

Chinese Grosbeak - male - Chris Darby

Chinese Grosbeak - female - Chris Darby

Chinese Grosbeak - female - Jim Willett

Chinese Grosbeak - male - Jim Willett

The weather was beginning to close in but we did not get to move too far as the Demoiselle Crane appeared right alongside the vans with a large group of Hoodeds.  I do not think I can remember noticing the pinky-red tipped bill in the books before.  The Siberian even poked his head over the bank opposite to say hi!

Demoiselle Crane 

Demoiselle Crane 

Demoiselle Crane 

An 1w Taimyr Gull was on the adjacent river where it was trying to ponce off the Oriental Crows and we followed the road around to the village of Shio Matchi to try our luck at Chinese Penduline Tit.  We had no joy but we did see a mixed group of 11 Black-faced and three Eurasian Spoonbills on the basin where they were trying to get out of the cold wind.  The Persil white of the BFSs made the Euro ones look quite sullied.  I had not been this close to them before and had never seen the little yellow leathery crescent within the bill base.

Two Ospreys were vociferously calling and offered up some great views overhead but there was little nothing else of note so we opted to head up valley back to Kogawa for an afternoon for Bunting Hunting.  

Taimyr Gull & Oriental Crows 

Black-faced and Eurasian Spoonbills

Black-faced and Eurasian Spoonbills

Osprey - Jim Willett

Grey Heron - Jim Willett

Osprey 

As it was the weather did its very best to thwart our attempts at small birds and although I could hear Grey Bunting at the same spot as last year, there heavy rain rattling off hoods and leaves gave us no hope of seeing the actual bird.  Similarly there were Masked and Meadow Buntings along the route but almost nothing played ball so it was a good thing that the ducks obliged.  Last year we found a surprising gathering of over 500 Baikal Teal (which had all gone by the Dave returned two weeks later). This time there were even more and by stitching all the images together we were able to count at least 1321.  They are such spectacular ducks. 

Baikal Teal

Baikal Teal - part of the two main flocks

Baikal Teal - tricky through the trees - Jim Willett

The Old Bamboo...

Of course the other species we were after was Mandarin and they did not disappoint and our final tally for these was a very respectable 74.  The weather did not help and being so flighty we had to stay in the vans and watch them but I think that seeing them in their native environment was as special for the group as it was once again for me.

Mandarins in the murk - it was tipping it down!

A break in the weather at the very end of the day gave us some time on foot where calling Buntings surrounded us invisibly and a couple of Ryuku Minivets were heard trilling and then seen at the very top of the highest, most distant trees while Pale Thrushes clucked from the reservoir slopes and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers buzzed in the trees.  Common Kingfishers were heard and seen and a female Goosander whirred over as we were packing up for the day to head back down to Izumi.

Common Kingfisher - Elaine Chuang

Once again it had been a day to remember and I am sure that everyone went to bed with the sound of Cranes still reverberating in their heads.