best province/island to bird (1 Viewer)

[ColD]

I have browsed previous threads but wonder which is the best area and time of year to go birding in Japan ?. Should my wife and I go independent or part of a group ?

I visited Japan , Yokohama , Kobe and a port I think Shimazu back in the 60's in January/February and April, I did a little birding then, but no field guides then or internet and little knowledge of what I saw. I would like to go again while I still am able. Any advice greatly appreciated :t:

 

[HokkaidoStu]

Hokkaido in winter is pretty good.......................

 

[chris butterworth]

Hokkaido in winter is pretty good.......................

Double :t: :t: to that. No. Make that treble. On Kyushu Kagoshima-ken has Arisaki ( more Cranes than you can shake a big stick at, and up to 6 species ). The north end of Ariake Bay, Fukuoka-ken / Saga-ken usually / invariably has Black-faced Spoonbill and Saunders Gull, with a good chance ( maybe ) of Pallas' Gull.

 

[ColD]

Thank you both, Hokkaido it is then :t: starting the planning stage now

 

[Alexjh1]

A slight word of warning having just done Hokkaido in Winter at the beginning of December - Hokkaido has some really astounding birds, but if you are looking for quantity of species in addition to quality, I'd pair it up with a trip to somewhere else in Japan as the other part of the trip. On a three bird focused trip (+ travel days) I saw a fairly small range of species, in the 20s. Excellent species, don't get me wrong, but it's not a location you can just wander round and bag species easily - if you are going to do this you really need to do the planning stage very carefully if you want to hit the "high value" birds.

Anyway, I'm still glad I did it, but it's something you really will want to put a lot of thought into beforehand to make the best use of your time.

My trip report is here http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=296179 if that helps!

 

[temmie]

Hokkaido is an excellent destination. If you want to see Steller's Eagle, you have no other choice than to go in winter. If Steller's is not too high on the wish-list, most of the target birds (and more nice birds in general) in Hokkaido can be seen on a late spring trip.

I would visit Okinawa/Amami as the weather should be the best you can get in Japan, and the number of endemics/threatened birds is relatively higher than in any other part of Japan.

As a sidenote: I have visited Hokkaido in June 2014 for 2 days. I saw Red-crowned Crane and Blakiston's Fish-owl (and an array of other good birds). Definitely recommended.

 

[Petri]

Kyushu & Okinawa/Amami

Hi,

for winter, I would second the recommendations on Kyushu & Okinawa/Amami, or actually a combination of them. No snow, pleasant weather, good variety of birds (resident, wintering, endemic) and a chance to experience two different Japans. If money is no obstacle, why not Hokkaido, too, for a brief taste of winter there?

 

[ColD]

Alexjh1 a nice insight into all the pitfalls and the birds seen, thanks for the report. :t:
Temmie and Petri again thank you :t: was looking to do 3 weeks or a month, Kyushu & Okinawa/Amami and Hokkaido look the nicest option. April May will be the better option I think to get some flowers etc too, car hire instead of public transport seems to be the best way to go as well.

Cheers
ColD

 

[StuartReeves]

A friend and I had a brilliant trip to Japan last February. We took in the highlights of Honshu, Kyushu and Hokkaido. It was all good, but Hokkaido was probably the highlight for me, not for the numbers of species, but for the shear spectacle of it all. We made all our arrangements through Sarus bird tours who I would thoroughly recommend.

 

[Petri]

Just keep in mind that the cranes of Kuyshu and most other wintering birds are long gone in April/May. I think the cranes leave in late Feb/early March.