Keith and I had been on the Western Pacific Odyssey. David had flown in from Hong Kong for the short trip and had been in Japan working in previous years. He had a lot of experience of the calls of the expected migrants. Kaz did all the bookings and acted as a great guide and interpreter.
I had 28 lifers on the island. Some of the other species would have been ticks if I had not already seen them on the mainland or the WPO. Please see the following site for 3 folders of Japanese birding images taken during the trip, they are: Tobishima Island, Japanese mainland and seabirds from North of the Mariana Trench to Yokohama.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/graham_ekins_world_wildlife/sets/
Background to trip
This was part of 10 days in Japan concentrating on getting passage and endemic species. Prior to that I had spent 4.5 weeks on “The Spirit of Enderby” travelling 6,000 miles up from Enderby near Christchurch in S. Island NZ. This trip resulted in seeing 58 tube nose species including 12 Albatrosses. We also had stops at 4 islands in The Solomon’s, plus New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and Chuuk +Tol South in Micronesia. At the start of the trip I spent nearly 3 weeks touring to get the majority of the NZ endemics in both N and S Island. This will be filed as a separate trip report. It was a very successful as the weather in NZ and Japan was excellent. I managed 272 lifers with 552 species seen. On getting home I downloaded 252 gb of raw files (nearly 19,000 images).
Location of Tobishima Island and description
About 20 miles off the Japanese West coast. About 20% bigger than St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, UK. The other island that is popular with Japanese birders is Hegurajima. This is to the SW of Tobishima and is closer to the Asian mainland. An article on birding on this island has recently been published in Birding World 2009. My copy is currently being bound (May 2010) and so I do not have the specific reference available. Tobishima is much larger, has many mature trees, a stream, a reservoir and large numbers of small fields and much higher habitat diversity. Due to this diversity the island tends to hold migrants for longer as it has an abundance of natural food in the fields and forests.
Organisation
Kaz Shinoda (ornitho@pf7.so-net.ne.jp) did all the organising. He is a Japanese guide based in Kanagawa-ken, just outside of Tokyo. He writes and speaks English superbly. He has visited the UK birding and has also been to the USA. He has been visiting Tobishima during Golden Week (first week in May) for many years and has an impressive Japanese birding list. He likes this island as it is so accessible by train from Tokyo. To book the Shinkansen (bullet train) Kaz had to queue at the train station as booking seats on line at such a busy time of year was not possible. He also booked all our hotel accommodation. He has a very comfortable 7 seater people carrier which was perfect for additional birding trips. We found him incredibly efficient and would respond to emails usually on the same day and sometimes within hours. His knowledge of key birding sites and Japanese birds was impressive. Quite independently Mark Brazil kindly offered to help organise a Japanese circuit for us. He recommended Kaz as an excellent birder and guide.
Reference texts
Mark Brazil A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Japan. WBSJ 1987. Long out of print site guide-an excellent guide with lots of useful diagrams and maps.(Sean Minns kindly lent me his copy).
Mark Brazil The Birds of Japan Helm 1991. Good reference information but not a field guide.
Mark Brazil, Birds of East Asia Helm. 2009-excellent.
Olney and Scofield, Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World. Helm 2007- also excellent.
Shinji Takano A field Guide to the Birds of Japan Wild bird Society of Japan. 1982. A bit out of date and also out of print but useful reference material.
Background
Has a feel of The Scilly Isles, 20 miles SW of Lands End, Cornwall UK. With small allotments and a lot of forest and scrub. What is great is the open access to all the vegetable plots. Main road is concrete and reaches across the island. Lots of paths and 2 new sets of toilets (May 2010). Large numbers of wide footpaths suitable for bikes. Very popular with Japanese birders and photographers. Estimated 250 on the island when we were there. Peak week for migrants is Golden Week during 1st week in May. Luckily we were able to be there. During the autumn migration is far more protracted and the weather can be more unsettled. The island is also popular with Japanese fishermen and holiday makers during the rest of the spring and summer. Most stays are for a few days. The majority of the islanders (c.100) are fishermen. The commonest catch being squid. In the winter some leave the island for the mainland as winters on the island can be severe.
Weather conditions in early May 2010
Early in the morning and late in the evening it is cool and a fleece or body warmer is essential. During the day the temperature went to 23C. The trip out by ferry was very rough and birding was challenging from the boat but rewarding. On the return winds were light with a distant mist. Birding in these conditions was excellent. By paying a premium you can have seats on the upper deck and have access to the upper stern deck. However, most birds are picked up by birders on the lower deck and we found this to be a good birding location.
During our stay winds were from the W or SW which was ideal for the arrival of the rarer drift migrants from the Asian mainland.
Accommodation
Accommodation is in traditional Japanese Inns (Minshuku). Kimonos, traditional Japanese sushi and Japanese bath houses are the norm. Kaz was one of the few who could speak English. The owners came and picked us up from the ferry and took our luggage to their Minshuku. They then took us to the first section of allotments at the top of the island by car. They were very friendly and helpful.
Access
We came up from Tokyo via bullet train to Nigata then local train to Sakata harbour. About 4.5 hours in total.
Ferry
We took a pre-booked taxi to the ferry in the harbour from the train station. This takes about 10 minutes. During the previous 2 days the ferry had been cancelled due to unusually strong winds. This is rare in spring. The ferry runs twice a day in spring and summer at 10.30 and 16.30. The trip across takes about an hour and a quarter. Trying to book train tickets, taxis and ferry tickets without being able to speak Japanese would be very difficult.
Photography
The Japanese are keen wildlife photographers. There was a fortune in Canon and Nikon gear on the island. Birds are often incredibly tame and allow close views. With so many birds present you often get a 2nd chance to photograph key species.
A typical day
Birding on the island starts early with Japanese birders setting off from 04.30. They then return for breakfast at about 10.00. A box lunch is normally provided. Birders returning to their respective Japanese Inns from about 17.00.
Our circuit usually started with a walk to the disused school at the eastern end of the harbour. This was to check for migrant pipits and passerines in the trees behind the football pitch. This was then followed by a walk to the headland further East. This had scrub with woodland on the landward side. Excellent for thrushes such as White’s, Eye-browed, Dusky and Japanese. It was also good for buntings. From here we walked to the helicopter landing pad. This was a concrete area surrounded by grass cut short by strimmers. It was a magnet for migrant Thrushes, Larks, Pipits, Buntings and finches. All birders/photographers stayed on the concrete apron and so there was no disturbance to the birds. This was an area of the island we returned to regularly during the day. On leaving the helipad area we walked further along the main road for about 1km checking the trees, scrub and allotments for migrants. By this time it was about 09.30 and we returned for breakfast, checking the road edges as we went.
After breakfast and for the rest of the day we visited the complex of allotments at the western end of the island. This was the first landfall for Asian mainland migrants and would turn up new species each time we returned. We also checked the reservoir as its sheltered banks were covered in trees and were attractive to migrants such as Mugimkai Flycatcher, Arctic, Sakhalin and Eastern Crowned Warblers. Close to here was a vantage point overlooking the coast. Here we saw summer plumaged Black-throated Divers, Red-breasted Mergansers, Intermediate and Little Egrets as well as Streaked Shearwaters.
By the evening we calculated that we had walked c.12 miles/17kms.
Species seen.
--- birds were new species for me.
*Indicates rare or very rare on mainland Japan
The total numbers for each species are recorded.
For races of species please refer to the annotations on the photographs (see website).
Mallard 2MM (Scarce in Japan)
Red-breasted Merganser 2MM+F
Black-throated Diver 2 in breeding plumage on 2nd May
Great Crested Grebe 1
Grey Heron 3
Great White Egret (black-billed E birds) 3
Intermediate Egret 1(E bird with only yellow on proximal part of bill)
Little Egret 1
Temminck's or Japanese Cormorant 10
---Pelagic Cormorant 4
Peregrine Falcon 3 (including a pale bellied N Arctic bird)
Osprey 1
Black-eared Kite 10+
---Japanese Sparrow Hawk 2-3
Eurasian Sparrow Hawk 1
Northern Goshawk 1
---Latham's Snipe 1 on 2nd May
Black Tailed Gull several hundred breeding pairs
Glaucous-winged Gull 1 1st year bird in harbour
Slaty-backed Gull 5, all immature.
---Black Wood Pigeon 5 (very secretive; a rare Japanese bird)
Oriental Turtle Dove (orientalis race) 10
Brown Hawk Owl (heard)
Pacific Swift –several hundred moving through the island
*Hoopoe 1 on 1st & 2nd May
---Ashy Minivet 3 on 4th May
Bull-headed Shrike 1
Rook 1 on 1st May
Carrion Crow 2
Large-billed Crow 20
(Waxwing sp.) A small flock on 4th May
Eastern Great Tit 20+
Coal Tit 10+
Barn Swallow many migrants
Red-rumped Swallow 5
*Greater Short-toed Lark 1 on 2nd, and 2 on 3rd & 4th May
Eurasian Skylark up to 5 of the dark Japanese race plus one paler mainland Asian bird
Brown-eared Bulbul 10+
---Asian Stubtail 3
Japanese Bush Warbler -10+
Oriental Reed Warbler 2
*Dusky Warbler 1 on 1st & 2nd May
Yellow-browed Warbler 3
Arctic Warbler 1(Japanese race)
---Sakhalin Leaf Warbler 10+
Eastern Crowned Warbler 5+
Japanese White-eye hundreds moving through
---Chestnut-cheeked Starling 1 on 2 days
White-cheeked Starling 3 maximum flock size
White's Thrush 3 daily maximum
---*Grey-backed Thrush 3 on 2nd & 1 on 3rd May
Japanese Thrush 5 daily maximum
Eyebrowed Thrush 35+ daily maximum
---Pale Thrush 5
Brown-headed Thrush 10
*Black-throated Thrush 1 female on 3rd & 4th May
Dusky Thrush hundreds on island
---Japanese Robin 2
Siberian Rubythroat 1 male on 4th May
---Siberian Blue Robin up to 3 per day, all males
Red-flanked Bluetail 10 per day-predominantly females
*Swinhoe's Robin (heard on 2 occasions)
---Daurian Redstart 10- first day then became scarcer.
Siberian Stonechat 30 first day then became scarcer; some superb males
Blue Rock Thrush –red bellied E form: resident in village.
---Dark-sided Flycatcher 2 on 3rd & 1 on 4th May
Asian Brown Flycatcher 10 per day
---*Yellow-rumped Flycatcher 1 male on 3rd & 4th May
---Narcissus Flycatcher 8 per day, mostly males
---*Mugimaki Flycatcher 1 male on 2nd & 2 males on 3rd May
Blue-and-White Flycatcher 15 first day then 10; mostly males
---Russet Sparrow maximum of 5 together
Eurasian Tree Sparrow resident and common
White (Black-backed) Wagtail: 5 per day, some migrants
Richard's Pipit 1 on 3rd & 4th May
*Blyth's Pipit 2 on 1st & 2nd May
Olive-backed Pipit up to 15 per day
*Red-throated Pipit 1 in winter plumage on 2nd May
Buff-bellied Pipit 1 on 2nd May
Brambling 40-50 on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd & about 20 on 4th May
Oriental Greenfinch flocks of up to 20; migration in progress
Eurasian Siskin 6 on 1st May
---Long-tailed Rosefinch about 5 females altogether
Eurasian Bullfinch 4 of Grey-bellied Japanese form and 1 red-bellied mainland Chinese form
Hawfinch 3
---Japanese Grosbeak 3
Meadow Bunting became commoner during stay-15 per day maximum
---Chestnut-eared Bunting 2 on 3rd and 4th May
*Little Bunting 3-4 together maximum of 8 per day
---Yellow-browed Bunting 1 male on 3rd May
Rustic Bunting flocks of 20+ on first 2 days
---Elegant Bunting 1 male on 2nd May; female on 3rd May.
---Japanese Yellow Bunting 2
Black-faced Bunting several hundred on island on 4th May
---Grey Bunting 2 seen briefly on 1st and 3rd May; heard often
From the return Ferry crossing -Sakata to Tobishima.
Eurasian Wigeon-50 in harbour
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 10
Northern Pintail 1M
Eurasian Teal 3
Tufted Duck 3
Greater Scaup 4
Pacific Diver about 25 on 4th May
Streaked Shearwater-200+
Flesh-footed Shearwater 2 on 1st & 1 on 4th May
Short-tailed Shearwater about 5 on 1st May
Red-necked Phalarope 50 in one flock
Glaucous Gull 2 1st winters in harbour
Vega Gull 5 in harbour
Common Tern 5 from ferry
Little Tern 100 from ferry
Pomarine Skua 3 on 4th May
---Brunnich's Guillemot 2 on 4th May
Ancient Murrelet 2+ on 1st & 3 on 4th May
Japanese Murrelet 2 on 4th May
Rhinoceros Auklet about a dozen on 4th May
Graham Ekins
35, Church Road, Boreham, Essex, CM3 3BN UK
Mobile 0044(0)77 11 709 389.
Home: 0044 (0) 1245 460656
13/6/2010
Web link for Japanese bird images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/graham_ekins_world_wildlife/sets/