Trip reports

Field reports from Japan, written by the people who made the trips. Each one is reproduced with permission, with its species lists and photographs, and the animals it records link to their pages in this guide.

Trip report · Tropical Birding · 2025Japan in winter 2025: Steller’s Sea-Eagles, Blakiston’s Fish Owl and Red-crowned CranesTropical Birding's “Birding on Ice” tour in January and February 2025, guided by Charley Hesse and Andrés Vásquez, ran from Kyushu’s crane fields and Honshu’s snow monkeys to the sea ice and eagles of Hokkaido, with a pelagic out of Tokyo and a pre-tour extension to the Ryukyu Islands. The group recorded 197 bird species, including Steller’s Sea-Eagle, Blakiston’s Fish Owl, Red-crowned Crane, Copper Pheasant, Okinawa Rail and Short-tailed Albatross, and 14 mammals including Japanese Macaque. The report has a day-by-day account, photographs and the full checklist. Trip report · Jon Hall · 2024Eastern Hokkaido in January 2024: a winter onsen, fish owls and the missing SablesIn January 2024 Jon Hall spent three nights in eastern Hokkaido, hoping to see the Sables that once visited the Yoroushi Onsen feeders every winter. No Sable appeared, but he watched a Blakiston’s Fish Owl at the hotel, an American Mink, Hokkaido Red Foxes taking fish from the feeders and a Japanese Red Squirrel, then explored the coast near Lake Furen and Nemuro with naturalist Mark Brazil for Steller’s Sea Eagles and Yeso Sika Deer. The report covers booking the onsen, getting there and what to expect.

‹ Back to resources