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.

JAPAN DAY 3: MOUNT FUJI - TOKYO

Crikey was I tired last night. I even managed 6 hours straight sleep despite my feet burning from all the insect bites because i'd failed to read the info sheet in our room about keeping the balcony door shut last night blah blah blah.... Anyway, the alarm woke me up at 5am and I poked my nose out onto the balcony to see thick mist enveloping the gardens. Oh bugger! It did cross my mind to leave it an hour as there appeared to be no point in venturing out just yet, but I was awake anyway so got my kit together and headed to the hotel lobby. And I was amazed to see bright blue skies and sunshine on this side of the hotel! And my first view of Mount Fuji from the hotel car park was breathtaking. 

First view of Mount Fuji from hotel car park at 5.15am

It only took 20 minutes or so to reach the entrance gate to Mount Fuji and a further 25 minutes to drive up to start birding. On the drive up I had Japanese Thrush, Red-flanked Bluetails and Narcissus Flycatcher actually on the road and I enjoyed listening to a really great chorus of birdsong through my open car window. I'd pinpointed a spot where the not-so-splendid Japanese Accentor had been seen recently. As I got out of the car, I could hear several Japanese Leaf Warblers singing from the slope above but couldn't initially locate any. The trail headed uphill and was extremely steep, consisting of volcanic rocks and a series of stone steps and boy did it make my legs hurt! I was thinking that this would be no good with a group but stubbornness got the better of me and I continued upwards. I paused after a couple of hundred metres to take a breather and enjoyed fine views of several Spotted Nutcrackers, along with a female Red-flanked Bluetail, and my first glimpse of a distant Japanese Leaf Warbler. 

Spotted Nutcracker

Then I spotted something pale perched on a dead tree way above me, and when I got the scope on it I was delighted to see it was a Bull-headed Shrike - a bird that has always eluded me until now. I struggled up more extremely steep steps, taking a few pauses to catch my breath and look at the stunning view. I was a little surprised that it was so hot up here so early in the day, considering it was 2,600m.

Cracking view from up here..

The one and only Mount Fuji looked very close

I decided to try one more section of steps and a good job I did as there was a very bold Japanese Leaf Warbler singing its heart out right next to me. 

Japanese Leaf Warbler

More bluetails, nutcrackers, Olive-backed Pipit, a Coal Tit, Willow Tit and an Eurasian Wren were seen as the conifers became shorter and I tried a few calls of the accentor at various points but there was no response. 

Olive-backed Pipit

Deciding to cut my losses I walked back down the steep trail, knees aching every step of the way! So what to do now? I thought it was a good idea to drive further up to the end of the road, where there's a large complex of shops and a hotel and walk from here. I did but couldn't locate any accentors so drove back to the hotel to meet Mrs B for breakfast, and making it with 5 minutes to spare before the breakfast service ended. They are very punctual over here!! But worh it for the eggs and bacon!

Once we'd checked out, I decided to try my luck on the other side of Mount Fuji, which took a good hour to drive around to. The road was narrower on this side and not so well maintained as on the more touristy side I visited earlier. Driving through fantastic moss-encrusted forest, I reached the top which must have been close to the treeline. But who could tell as the mist had descended and it was practically 'white out' up here. And chilly too. There was a trail going up but it was blocked off by a fence and scaffolding, but that wasn't deterring the hikers who made the navigation of scaffolding and wire fence look easy. I was a bit clumsier but got through and began walking up a steep set of steps. Sod this I thought, as my knees and aching calf muscles were screaming at me. It was misty. Nothing was singing. And I was beginning to wonder if I was really crap at finding birds as everyone else sees the stupid, ugly accentor...!! That's my ADHD playing tricks with me! Within 0.5 seconds of playing the call, a very small exocet missile from the slope above flew past my ear and landed on a small tree stump next to me..... It couldn't be, could it? Well, flipping heck YES!! The oh so delightful Japanese Accentor really wanted to be seen and sat on the stump for a good 5 minutes, about 4 metres away from me. Even the mist began to lift and all was right with the world once again! 

Stunner isn't it...?!!

How your birding fortunes can change in an instant! Even my knees and leg muscles stopped hurting for a few minutes!  So with that in the bag we drove slowly back down the mountain, making a few stops to get better photos of Japanese Leaf Warbler.....

Japanese Leaf Warbler

An Eurasian Jay looked pretty cool with its stripey head, there were more Lesser Cuckoos calling and even a Northern Hawk Cuckoo called but didn't respond to playback. 

Anyway, we eventually found ourselves in the very large town of Gotemba at a Denny's diner where I had steak and fries before driving another 90 minutes into Tokyo. This is where s$&t got real as I missed the turning to the hotel where we are leaving our big suitcases at for a couple nights whilst we were going to be in Miyake-Jima and ended up seeing a lot of Tokyo in the rush hour!! Say no more! Eventually we reached the hotel, dropped luggage off and made it to the Nissan car rental place. You have to fill up at the gas station closest to the rental office and present the receipt to show them! The free shuttle bus took us back to Haneda Airport where we had dinner in a sports bar (spaghetti bolognese baby!) before catching a taxi to Takeshiba Ferry Terminal. It was all very efficient and after a bit of a wait we boarded the 22:30 overnight ferry to Miyake-Jima. We had bunk beds in a shared room (this is what they call a 2nd class cabin) as there's no 1st class on the ferry. And we went to sleep pretty quickly, with me being excited at the birding possibilities to come tomorrow and Mrs B wishing she was anywhere else right now!!!!

JAPAN DAY 2: KARUIZAWA - MOUNT FUJI

So thankful I managed to nail Yellow Bunting yesterday evening as today has been a total washout. I woke at 5am to see heavy rain from my hotel window in Karuizawa and as I write this at 9pm from my hotel room at the base of Mount Fuji it is still raining. And it hasn't eased up all day! I did have a little walk along one of the forested tracks in Karuizawa Bird Sanctuary, but got really soaked. Still, I admit I did enjoy just birding with binoculars, having left camera and scope in the car. It was a real joy to listen to all the different birdsong and reacquaint myself with Blue-and-white and Narcissus Flycatcher songs. 

Karuizawa... home of Copper Pheasant... Allegedly!!

I did get my bins on several of each species, which wasn't easy in the dense foliage with raindrops making every leaf move. Lesser Cuckoo, Brown-eared Bulbul and Japanese Bush Warbler added to the chorus. I semi-hoped the weather would increase my Copper Pheasant chances...... But it didn't. So I dipped this one and it wasn't unexpected to be honest. 

As we are on a recce for next year's tour, birding isn't entirely the all-consuming pastime it normally is. There's other logistical considerations to be made, and finding the right hotel and restaurants is also very important. So on this note, Mrs B and I had a very productive meeting with a hotel owner that we now intend to use for next year's tour. I mean, getting a full english breakfast here is going to be a treat. And the dinner options are amazing, including a fantastic vegetarian option as well. With hotels nailed, supermarkets and restaurants nailed, we were flying and decided to hit the outlet mall where I had my lifer Japanese Wagtail as well as a delicious club sandwich and fries. Yes, you can still keep your sushi...! Anyone who knows me personally understands I don't do fish!

View from hotel room at Mount Fuji. And yes it is raining...

From here, it took a good 3 hours to reach the next hotel at Mount Fuji, arriving 6.30pm and just in time to get an Azure-winged Magpie before it went to roost. And that's all for today.

Japan Day 1 (At Last)!

So we missed our rest day before things kicked off in Japan. I managed to rejig the itinerary a little at the start and we ended up at an airport hotel close to Narita Airport. It's about an hour's drive from Tokyo Haneda Airport and I was mighty glad to reach it last night at around 8.30pm after a long 13 hour flight from the UK. Nissan car rental were very efficient and it took a matter of minutes to complete formalities, input the ETC card into its slot near the dashboard (so we can use the toll routes) and we whizzed up to Narita. My thinking was that I wanted to be as close to the marshes and roadbeds along the Tone River so I could check out a few sites early doors this morning. Well, when I say early, I was awake from 2am and lying in bed mulling things over. In the end, my lack of patience got the better of me and I got up at 3.30am, got dressed and headed 17 floors down to reception and the in-house convenience store to buy some water and sandwiches. By now it was 4am and starting to get light as I gunned the engine and set out on the 35 minute drive to the marshes. Having seen Marsh Grassbird and Ochre-rumped Bunting many times in China, I wasn't personally bothered about seeing them. As it turned out the grass bird wasn't displaying today, as it's probably a bit late in the season. I did see the bunting distantly but I was more intent on checking the area out for next year's tour. 

Obligatory reedbed shot due to lack of bird pics

I covered three sites, walked many kilometres and got a really good feel for the area.  The massive reedbeds held a healthy population of Great Bitterns - I counted 5 booming males in one area. Oriental Reed Warblers were very, very common, noisy and flamboyantly active. The same for Zitting Cisticola - i've never seen so many in one place. There were many egrets and herons around, flocks of post-breeding Grey-capped (Oriental) Greenfinches, a few Oriental Turtle Doves were perched on telegraph wires with White-cheeked Starlings, Tree Sparrows and several Black Kites perched on posts nearby. It was a very pleasant few hours birding and i'm sure I appreciate everything more than I did when I was younger. Is that an age thing? My knee and aching back would certainly point to that fact!

I was particularly pleased with several nice views of Japanese Bush Warbler, its rich, fluty song is almost nightingale-ish in tone and they were very active and posing nicely. According to my iGoTerra potential lifer list this was a lifer, but i've definitely seen it before in China, so not sure what's going on there! A Green Pheasant was a lifer for me - the first of potentially 35 over the next few weeks (but that depends on a few seabirds being seen). There were also a number of Eurasian Skylarks singing at all 3 sites, and they did sound quite different to those back home in the UK. Anyway, I left to rejoin Mrs B back at the hotel, arriving at 8am for a much-needed buffet breakfast. As I approached the hotel a Grey-faced Buzzard flew over the car park and as I walked to the hotel entrance a Lesser Cuckoo began calling. So, not a bad few hour's birding.

After feeding our faces Mrs B and I headed over to Naritasan Shinsho-Ji temple, as I do love a drop of culture. Oh wait...... It was only 10 minutes from the hotel and I had to show willing! In fact, it wasn't too bad. I avoided actually going in, tried to look interested and took the odd photo before suggesting we take a walk around the well wooded park behind the temple. Just to stretch our legs... As you do! 

Temple

Largely devoid of any bird song or activity for the first half an hour, I was feeling a little dejected until a Varied Tit began singing and after a careful bit of manoeuvring got absolutely stunning views down to a couple of metres away. What a corker and full of attitude too. 

Varied Tit

I reeled off a fair few photos until a Brown-eared Bulbul flew in, literally screeching at me (for some reason) from the canopy above. Again, iGoTerra indicated this was a lifer but it wasn't. Still the satisfying "ping" of a New World Lifer Alert on the IGT Pocket app is always a welcome sound. 

Brown-eared Bulbul

We walked on a bit further, with Mrs B answering work emails on my iPhone, until I spotted a raptor perched on a dead snag. Wow! It was a Japanese Sparrowhawk. Nice!

Japanese sparrowhawk

As luck would have it, as we walked back towards the car park, we ran into a second temple! Yay! This one as a famous (apparently) Buddhist one.... So that two temples & we even walked around some shops. FML!!

Temple No2

After retrieving our luggage from the hotel we set off on the 3 hour drive up into the forested mountains to Karuizawa, home of one of my most-wanted - Yellow Bunting. Everyone loves a good bunting and I really want this one! A stop at a roadside service station proved entertaining (for the nesting Barn Swallows and 3 cute young staring down at everyone fro their nest on a light fitting) and interesting. You see, i've always been daunted at the food prospects in Japan, as I don't eat fish and everyone who has been has gone on and on about how amazing sushi it. Yuck!! The shelves of weird and wonderful offerings had to be sifted through until we found double cheese rolls and bacon & cheese baguettes to quaff. 

The row upon row of vending machines selling all sorts of drink from Coke, to coffee and everything in-between have to be seen to be believed. But, all in all, it was ok. I'm pretty sure i'm not going to waste away here. There's McDonalds and convenience stores everywhere! I do love a bit of 7/11....

So, by 4pm we'd reached the resort near Karuizawa Bird Sanctuary, and checked in. it was very modern and reminiscent of a James Bond villains lair but also pretty cool and laid back. Lesser Cuckoos called in the car park and lots of bird song reverberated from the hills above. I was pretty exhausted having been up since stupid o'clock but eager to head out and go bunting hunting! Mrs B was asleep before i'd dropped the bags in the room and eagerly drove about 5 minutes up the road to a quiet 'back road' where I parked next to a pool with a pair of Mandarin Ducks, a few Eastern Spot-billed Ducks & a pair of Grey Wagtails were present. These forested hills are covered in lush green foliage and many of the trees are huge. And I mean huge. I was eager to find Yellow Bunting and tried turning every song i heard into a bunting song, until I told myself to calm down and relax. The bird would come i reminded myself, so just walk quietly and watch &  listen. You stupid fool Pike!! (Dad's Army reference - that's how old I am!) Anyhow, a Narcissus Flycatcher sang from a dense area beside the road and i'm buggered if I could see it. I walked along the road for maybe just over a kilometre, picking up some really cool looking Japanese Grosbeaks, had a nano-second on an Asian Stubtail but heard a few more deeper into the by-now extremely gloomy forest. The clouds had rolled in and it was getting quite dark, despite being only 5pm but there was bird activity, and several more Lesser Cuckoos were calling, a Japanese Thrush sang from somewhere upslope and a woodpecker species called fro ages, but I couldn't locate it. And then I heard it... THE BUNTING! Crikey. But where. First it was on my left, then on my right, then right overhead. I moved a few metres along the road to try and get a fix on the beast and there it was. HOLY F$%k..!! It's only a Yellow Bunting baby! God I wish I had my scope on me, as i'd have got some killer phonescope pics, so had to content myself with some less-than-pin-sharp images from my trusty Nikon D500... 

Yellow Bunting

I couldn't get a sharp image as I was too excited and it was really gloomy under the canopy but i sort of don't care. i captured the moment, reeling off about 30 shots before putting the camera down and gawping at it through the Swarovski bins as the bird remained on a bare snag for ages. You beauty. And then it flew down and disappeared. Elated with this, I was spurred on to continue walking but it was pretty futile so I returned to the car and had a Pacific Swift fly over to round things off nicely. 

I was feeling rather pleased with myself and things continued in similiar vein with a fine pizza and cold local beer to end the day.