JAPAN CRUISE DAY 7: OKINAWA

Now this was a day i'd long dreamed about. The famous Okinawa Rail is a bird that has been at the back of my mind for many years and it was with a mixture of eager anticipation and total abject fear at dipping that I left the cruise ship this morning. In fact I was the very first person ashore and was soon driving the couple of hours to the very north of the island and Yanbaru National Park. It was around 9am by the time we reached the area and began driving around some local rail hotspots and with each passing minute my hopes were fading. It's a bird you by rights need to be searching for at first light, and not what I was doing and trying for it mid-morning in the incredible heat and humidity. I began thinking how stupid I was to be trying this but I had no choice. 

Anyway, an hour went by and things were looking bleak. Very bleak. The road we were on was in a well wooded area and with the windows open we were also keeping an ear out for Okinawa Woodpecker, and sure enough one called just as we drove by it so we hopped out and found it relatively easily feeding about 20 metres away. The views were brief and a little obscured but enough to tick it and I felt a little stress ease away. So we kept on driving around the same lengthy circuit hoping to jam into a rail at the side of a road or leafy track..... Yeah right! On our 3rd circuit we hit the jackpot and as we crawled slowly along a narrow road I glanced down a side road and there it was..! The unmistakeable shape of a big, dark rail. It was only a flipping Okinawa Rail just standing there, back on and standing next to the only piece of trash on the Okinawa roads i'd seen totally messing up my photo!! I didn't really care about that at the time as I was so excited and flipping relieved to have nailed one. 

The first Okinawa Rail. Oh yes baby!!!

Fist pumps and that adrenaline rush you can only get from seeing a lifer followed and I had the whole 'shaky hand' syndrome due to my excitement and it's amazing any of my photos are anywhere near sharp!!! When the rail eventually decided to walk into the undergrowth and disappear. As luck would have it we drove a few hundred metres more and there on another side road were 2 more Okinawa Rails. One disappeared almost immediately but the other stood there looking at us for a while before walking towards us a little and it too melted away into the undergrowth. Wow!

The second sighting of the rail

So what now? Well I was after Okinawa Robin so headed up into the national park where another Okinawa Woodpecker gave spectacular views and 3 Ryukyu Minivets showed briefly. I was particularly pleased with the latter sighting having missed it on Ishigaki the day before. But no robin yet. 

Okinawa Woodpecker

After a short respite for lunch we made a last ditch attempt at another site and with an impending storm approaching we were on a countdown. But I needn't have worried (isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?) as I stumbled across a very aggressive Okinawa Robin singing from it's perch beside the trail I was on. Wow! WHAT A BIRD! 

Okinawa Robin

I did mess up my photos and only got one decent shot out of 50 or so I took. But it was a stunning looking bird and my 4th lifer of the day! And that was it. it took nearly 3 hours to get back to the port, with some heavy traffic making me sweat a bit but I made it in plenty of time in the end and I celebrated with some very cold beers, cocktails and wine tonight, which I paid for with a hangover the following morning!!

JAPAN CRUISE DAY 6: ISHIGAKI-JIMA

 I'd been looking forward to visiting Ishigaki since the day we'd decided to visit Japan, because it has a couple interesting endemics and subspecies. Rather frustratingly we arrived into port a little later than originally scheduled but once Mrs B and I had walked off the ship, we jumped straight into a taxi and went to the car rental office. What I like about Japan is the formalities are very quick and within a few minutes of arriving a the rental office we were in the car and off to a Family Mart to buy some sandwiches for lunch. From the town it's only a 10 minute drive to Banna Park, where you can get pretty much all of the specialities. On the approach road a Ryukyu Green-Pigeon was perched on telegraph wires over the road. Good start! 

Ryukyu Green-Pigeon

Once in the park we walked along a quiet road and in no time at all i'd got the first of three Ryukyu Scops-Owls to be seen this morning. Despite the heat and humidity they were active and seemed to be hunting despite the late hour - I think I probably heard another 4 birds during the day as well! The three I saw were very bold and responded to my squeeking with avid curiosity as you can see from the photos.....

Ryukyu Scops Owl

The forest was rather quiet and I was hoping for Ryukyu Minivet, but that one would elude me all day. I did find a Ryukyu Flycatcher though, albeit an immature and not the male I would have liked. But hey-ho a tick's a tick and I spent a good few minutes watching it and taking photos...

Ryukyu Flycatcher

Then we drove up to the observation tower and had a great view of the island....

A nice view from up here...

Just a few minutes down the road was Ishigaki National Park where I had my first view of Ruddy Kingfisher, but apart from some Warbling White-eyes there wasn't much else doing, so returned to Banna Park. Undoubtedly the best sighting here was this Ruddy Kingfisher carrying a frog that I photographed from the car.....

Ruddy Kingfisher

So I decided that a change of habitat was needed and drove over to one of the beaches, where a bunch of Black-naped Terns were perched on the rocks, several Pacific Reef Egrets were present, and most surprisingly a Chinese Egret was here. So what to do next? I still needed Ishigaki Tit (well, it's lumped in Japanese Tit but sounds better) and Ryukyu Minivet and with just over an hour to kill I checked out a random wooded spot. And lo and behold, there was a pair of tits here. 

If it's split, then this is Ishigaki Tit. But for now just Japanese Tit..

But no minivets. So it was time to return the rental car and get back to the ship. And once we had set sail, I enjoyed a pretty decent seawatch over a 2h 20mins period as we sailed 75kms north:

3 Brown Noddy

3 Sooty Tern

25 Bridled Tern

9 Black-naped Tern

1 Roseate Tern

2 Bulwer's Petrel

110 Streaked Shearwater

26 Wedge-tailed Shearwater

5 Brown Booby

 So not a bad day at all...!

 

JAPAN CRUISE DAYS 4 & 5: TAIWAN

We docked at Keelung Port later than scheduled and I didn't get off the ship until the ungodly hour of 9am. The wall of heat and humidity hit me on exiting the terminal and I was glad to meet up with young local guide Joshua. We had an easy day planned visiting a few mountain sites around Taipei and after a 50 minute drive we reached the first site up in the hills. A steep walk up to a small lake which was notable for the first sighting of Taiwan Barbet today. I'd get better views at the next stop but it's kind of neat to see these again after such a long time. I think my last visit to Taiwan was maybe 2015.... 

Not the best Taiwan Barbet photo you'll ever see....

There was also several Grey Treepies, Light-vented & Black Bulbul, and a couple calling Taiwan Scimitar-Babblers. As we left here and drove down the road a cracking Taiwan Blue Magpie was perched on a bollard beside there road and in hindsight I should have gone back to get a photo as it's such a stunning bird, but we expected more views later. In fact we saw quite a few more magpies, but always whilst on a highway of a busy road and never did get a chance to get a pic. Oh well. 

We checked out a site to see if there were any lingering Black-faced Spoonbills, but there wasn't any. No surprise there, but did see Yellow-bellied Prinia, Vinous-throated Parrotbill and a few Rufous Turtle-Doves and Eastern Spot-billed Ducks. 

The first Malayan Night Heron sighting..

The second sighting was this adult...

The 3rd sighting was this bird on a nest

By the time we reached Taipei Botanical Gardens dark clouds threatened the anticipated afternoon rains, but fortunately the downpour was delayed, giving us a good hour to walk around. It's a very good birding site and I had an immature Malayan Night Heron in a tree, a very close adult beside one of the quieter paths and another adult sat on a  nest with a tiny white fluff ball of a chick. They are cracking birds and I very much enjoyed seeing them. Also see was a Black-naped Monarch on a nest, several Swinhoe's White-eyes, a pair of confiding Taiwan Scimitar-Babblers, but it was a shame the calling Black-streaked Scimitar-Babbler failed to show. 

Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler

And then the rain started so I decided to call it a day and Joshua drove me back to the port in Keelung where I wa glad to get back onboard ship, have a shower and sip a few more cocktails! 

For Day 5, we were meant to be in Hualien, where I hoped to access more montane areas for a good selection of endemics but the port was closed so we had to remain in Keelung. So a spare day to relax and prepare for a busy schedule ahead was much appreciated. 

JAPAN CRUISE: DAYS 1 - 3 AT SEA

We left Yokohama Port at 4pm and sailed south through Tokyo Bay, getting nice views of Mount Fuji in the distance. On some pontoons I saw a few Common Black-headed Gulls, several Slaty-backed Gulls and a couple of Black-tailed Gulls. The best bird was a single Japanese Cormorant perched on a buoy, and followed a few sightings of Great Cormorants - so making a good comparison. 

Mount Fuji across Tokyo Bay

A flyby Grey Heron seemed a little odd as we sailed along, but it wasn't until late in the day that Streaked Shearwaters started appearing, and I counted approx 260 birds. It was a little frustrating as I was just getting into these shearwaters and would possibly have had something really good but the light was fading fast.

Grey Heron

Two days at sea followed s we steamed south. The first day was very breezy with choppy seas and it made viewing difficult even from the stable platform of this large cruise ship. I only noted a few Streaked Shearwaters, but did have a bit of excitement with Leach's Storm Petrel appearing in the morning and a dark petrel flying parallel to the port side for a while, that proved to be a Bulwer's Petrel. Rather frustratingly I had two other birds that were too far away and kept disappearing behind the huge waves.... The first was a small storm petrel with a white rump, and I was thinking it could have been a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel as the white on the rump wasn't too obvious plus the bird seemed to have quite 'stiff' wings and wasn't so flappy as a Wilson's... The other bird was another dark-looking petrel without a white rump, that seemed different to the earlier Bulwer's, and had kind of a lighter flight reminiscent of a Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, but I just couldn't be certain. So frustrating indeed.

The second full day at sea was calmer with more birds, the bulk of which were Streaked Shearwaters. 

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

I also had some nice views of several dark phase Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and some came reasonably close to the ship but my photos are poor. There were lengthy periods with no seabirds at all, during which i'd wander around the ship, call in to one of the bars for a coffee, or meet Mrs B for lunch. It was during one of these lengthy seabird-less periods that I retired to the cabin to cool down (it's very hot and sultry during mid-June here) and I sat on the bed to catch up with some news on the tv. After a few minutes something caught my eye in the mirror next to the tv, as I could see the port hole reflected in the glass, and I thought it was a booby. No, couldn't be. Shrugging this off I returned to the news and shouted a few choice comments at Slimy Sunak on BBC news when something flew past the port hole again. Yes it was a booby. So I shot outside onto the deck but nothing was around, so on a hunch I made my way to the aft and found 2 Brown Boobies trailing in the ship's wake. 

Brown Booby

Well, it's something!!!!! Must admit I was a little rejuvenated with this sighting (yes i'm easily pleased) and stayed out until early evening and was rewarded with some Short-tailed Shearwaters mixed in with the other two shearwater species in a large, loose flock all heading south. Again I had a couple all dark petrels that defied identification but i'm pretty sure they weren't Bulwer's Petrels...... And that's it. Now for Taiwan....

JAPAN DAYS 4 & 5: MIYAKE-JIMA

The ferry arrived at Miyake-Jima just before 5am and once ashore we were met by the hotel owner who helped us get to the rental car place a few minutes drive up the island. Along the way I saw my first Izu Thrush as it stood on the road in front of us!  By 5.30am we were off in the rental and heading to the first site.... just 5 minutes away. A narrow lane took us a few hundred metres up the hill and I parked in a lay-by and hopped out. Straight away I could hear Izu Robin and Ijima's Leaf Warbler close by, but the surrounding forest was rather dense and I couldn't see much. Just then an Izu Robin hopped out on the road in front of me for a short while and fed totally oblivious to me before flying back into the forest. A cracking Izu Thrush then came out onto the road - what an absolute stunner but was there for less than a minute before flying off. Both the robin and thrush are very special and can only be found on these Izu I islands. Suddenly an Ijima's Leaf Warbler sang close by and I managed to find it in a small bush at head height and as I watched it I noticed some movement directly above it. Focussing my bins on the movement, I was delighted to see an Owston's Tit feeding quietly. Wow! Again the warbler is a very special bird and is basically only ever seen on its breeding grounds in the Izu and Tokara Islands of Japan and the tit is only found in the Izu Islands. That was 4 very good  lifers in less than 10 minutes, but not only lifers but four of the main targets on this island! Needless to say I was ecstatic with that little lot..! 

My next target was Pleske's Grasshopper Warbler so I pulled up the location on Google Maps and headed to a coastal area about 20 minutes away. As I was parking up I heard the gropper singing, got out and there it was perched on a low bush right by the road. Not in the extensive grassland but in an area of tiny low bushes. OMG!! I managed to phonescope it singing from another songpost a bit further up the road and then got some photos when it did finally fly into the grassland where it belonged. 

This wasn't what I was expecting at all and my preconception of a typical skulking gropper that i'd have to wait hours for was totally incorrect! This bird used to be called Styan's Grasshopper Warbler and breeds on several of these small Japanese islands, as well as in South Korea and far eastern Russia. 

Pleske's Grasshopper Warbler

A little scan across the calm sea revealed a shed load of shearwaters, approximately 400+, and they were Streaked Shearwaters when I scoped them. There were some annoying little flies here and my hands got mullered, so after seeing a Meadow Bunting I drove to another forested road as I still had one last target.

Ijima's Leaf Warbler

Walking along a leafy track, there were plenty more Ijima's Leaf warblers singing and with better light now I could get a few photos. More Izu Robins & Izu Thrushes sang from the understorey and suddenly a weird low rumbling call came from the canopy way above me. After a little searching I managed to spot my first Japanese Woodpigeon - and 6th lifer in just over an hour and a half! And what a beast it was. Another really good bird that only breeds mainly on Japanese islands, with some also in South Korea and apparently Taiwan too. 

Japanese Woodpigeon

So I was done here and it was only 7am. What to do now? Check-in wasn't until 3pm at our hotel and her in Japan shops don't tend to open until 9am and restaurants/cafes don't until 11am or 11.30am. Well, I needed photos of these really great birds so headed to a different forested road to try my luck. Well, I saw all these birds again but none out in the open apart from the warbler. I really wanted a photo of the robin but failed at that miserably, but I enjoyed watching them all the same. 

Izu Robin

So for the next few hours I drove around checking out a few spots seeing all the same birds, along with a few more Meadow Buntings, a Slaty-backed Gull, and frustratingly only heard a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker. After lunch at a little cafe we drove up to the hotel and checked in early. and then slept for the rest of the day!! Dinner was a typical Japanese meal with sushi that I couldn't eat, so feasted on raisin bread and grapes in my room! 

Overnight the weather changed, well deteriorated to heavy rain that didn't abate all through the next day. I mean it was torrential and made birding impossible. It rained and rained and rained and then we had gale force winds. Jeez! We were worried the ferry wouldn't run today so headed to the small airport to see about flights, but they were all cancelled too so had to hope the ferry was on. It was a nervous few hours wait until the little ferry terminal opened. Quite a few people were arriving but we couldn't get much info, only that it was touch and go for the ferry to be able to dock. Fortunately, the ferry driver was amazing and despite the gale force winds, waves crashing over the wall and huge swell the ship docked and we ran onboard. Getting soaked along the way but we were on. Phew! 

First views of Streaked Shearwaters

The sailing was around 6.5 hours and i was excited to see what was out there. Well, i estimated 4,000+ Streaked Shearwaters. It was incredible and there wasn't a minute without these shearwaters on view. 

Leach's Petrel

I also picked up a Leach's Storm-Petrel, several Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and a couple pterodromas that were just too far away through the mist and sea spray to identify. Bugger! 

Still need to get a better photo of Streaked Shearwater

And after docking at 8pm we walked a few hundred metres away to the very posh Intercontinental Grand Hotel for a very comfortable nights sleep.