January 5th
Met up with Joyce at breakfast at the Narita Tobu Hotel, then went out to the little canal nearby for an hour in very cold conditions, with some snow lying about 0900-1000:
Grey Heron 1, Mallard 1, Eastern Spot-billed Duck 12, Falcated Duck 2m, my first sighting here, Common Teal 3f, Green Sandpiper 1, Oriental Turtle-Dove 2, Common Kingfisher 1, Dusky Thrush 4, Brown-headed Thrush 1, Bull-headed Shrike1, Japanese Bush-Warbler heard, Hawfinch 1, Brown-eared Bulbul 2, White (Black-backed lugens) Wagtail 3, Japanese Wagtail 2, Buff-bellied Pipit 1, Meadow Bunting 1
Then took Narita Express to Shibuya (big discount for foreign passport by the way, Y3000 instead of 5250 for 2), seeing 20 White-cheeked Starling 20 en route plus 1 Black-eared Kite, then on to Harajuku the exit for the Meiji Shrine, 1600-1730 there, cold and overcast:
Mandarin Duck 3 m 1f, Mallard, Eastern Spotbill 8, Brown-eared Bulbil common and very noisy, Pale Thrush 8, Red-flanked Bluetail 1, Tree Sparrow 6, Japanese White-eye 2, Varied Tit 1, Large-billed Crown common; Racoon-Dog 1, amazing view on the track at 1720, it walked towards and stood looking at us for while not 25m away; the face was quite whitish and had no back mask, I suspect an older animal.
Navigated the subway to Hamamatsucho, which was close to Harajuku luckily, and only a 5 min walk then to the ferry terminal from the South Exit. Caught the Salvia Maru at 2205, you can only board just before they sail so get there about 2100, they had about 8 pax on a huge boat so we had loads of space and could bag 4 reclining chairs on which to try and sleep. Cost was Y8900 each way.
January 6th
They reach Miyakojima at 0500 so wake you up at 0430, then get to Hachijojima at 0920, not stopping at Mikurajma on the way there this time. Very little on the sea from 0630 on, just a few Black-tailed Gulls near Hachichojma and a fairly distant albatross that we retrospectively realized was actually some sort of sub-adult Short-tailed Albatross….. doh! The guy from minshuku Mantenbo met us, and we arranged a taxi at 1000 to drop us at the Botanical gardens from 1015-1300. This was cold, windy and tedious, we basically saw lots of Oriental Turtle-Doves and Brown-eared Bulbuls and heard some thrushes chucking, probably Izu and Pale but none were actually seen. They seem to have tidied the place up and manicured the grounds since my last visit in 2011, so it was hard to find unaltered habitat. There was a fine singing Bull-headed Shrike at Mantenbo when we got back.
We returned at 1600, and fared better: Japanese Buzzard 1, Oriental Turtle-Dove 20, Japanese Wood Pigeon 1, Buff-bellied Pipit 1, Japanese White-eye 1, Izu Thrush 2m.
The Izu Thrush was lurking in some dense bamboo by the pond and showed well for Joyce and badly for me, but I found one later feeding on breadcrumbs put out near the Visitor Centre, and we got nice looks here.
Great look at Japanese Wood Pigeon- dark bottle green sheen on neck, dark legs and feet tinged dark dull pinkish, greenish tip to bill.
January 7th
Walk near Mantenbo 0645-0715 Japanese White–eye heard, Izu Thrush 1m, Japanese Bush-warbler heard. Blue Rock-Thrush 2 at harbour.
Caught the Salvia Maru 1000, getting there at 0920, then a very cold crossing back on B deck, until I had the sense to get some blankets, which made life much better. Black-tailed Gull few at Hachijojima, Vega Gull 1 Hachijojima, nothing on the sea to Mikurajma except 2 distant Black-footed Albatross, Osprey 1, Black-eared Kite 1, Miyakojima Duck sp. small and dark- white ear spot and stern, small size but distant, sat out on rocks at one point, Temminck’s Cormorant 5, Black-tailed Gull 40, Glaucous Gull 1 imm. Slaty-backed Gull 2
Oshima Triangle 1600-1715
Short-tailed Albatross 5- I adult, I near adult, 1 sub-adult, 2 dark imm. A nice view of the adult, reminded me of Wandering Albatross, underwing very white with narrow dark border, extensive black primaries and secondary patch, white back and tail, black tail tip. A near adult had nice yellow on the head; a pied winged sub-adult of some sort had a dark headband and pale face rather like the bird we saw yesterday. 2 immature birds were dark sooty brown with paler bellies and big pale bills, sadly both flying away.
Laysan Albatross c. 7
Albatross sp. c.10 distant
As Chris Cook suggested, the Oshima Triangle was the place for the albatross, and we had activity for about an hour all told from 1510 onwards. Thanks to him for his advice.
Arrived back in Tokyo at 2030 and then had to navigate back to Narita which was quite interesting on a crowded Friday night in downtown Tokyo, with the last Narita Express at 1945 anyway. Anyhow, we made it via several slow trains, despite the sign saying Narita Rapid. We came back via the Keisei Line and got back to the hotel just after midnight.
Thanks to Joyce for the chance to do the trip and finally nail Short-tailed Albatross, a case of third time lucky for me as I’d tried from Hokkaido to Oarai in 2006 and then again to the Izu Islands in 2011 without success.
Phil Gregory, Tokyo, Feb 8 2014
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