This is the final posting relating to a summer trip to Japan with Nick Preston. We had started in Hokkaido, visited several sites in range of Tokyo and were now flying to Amami in the northern Ryukyu Islands where our flight departure board warned of possibly having to divert or return due to strong winds.
07 July (continued). We landed on Amami, after a fashion, 15 minutes late and
skidding in heavy rain and the forecast strong winds. We picked up the car,
another Nissan Note but with a less easy Sat-Nav, programmed our hotel and set
off south to Naze. Our hotel, the Port Tower, was easy to find and we dropped
off our bags before driving up to the Kinsakabaru Virgin Forest. It was still
raining heavily and really too wet to leave the car so we waited until dark in
the hope that the weather would improve. It didn’t so soon after dark we drove slowly
back down seeing a superb Amani Woodcock on the road. Back in Naze the full
force of the gale was evident, no more so than from our seventh floor
room which faced it. It was a noisy night although that was partly due to the air-con ...
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| Amami Woodcock, in headlights but through the windscreen |
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08 July. The diabolical weather continued during the night with
very strong winds and heavy rain. We woke at 04:00 but it had not improved,
putting paid to our hopes of any pre-dawn owling. We left the hotel at 06:45
with the wind seeming to have dropped a bit and perhaps the rain easing off. We
drove back up to the Kinsakabaru Virgin Forest and parked by the 1.5km sign. We
walked for 8 hours through superb forest to a metalled road at the far side and
back, then down to the ‘Naze 10km’ sign and back. Several times the sun tried
to break through only for the rain to pick up again, sometimes the wind
appeared to have dropped only for us to turn a corner and realise we had been
sheltered. I saw just nine species all day. Lidth’s Jays were common, at least
by voice, I saw 8 well, and we saw 4 Amami Thrushes feeding on the track
(perhaps the poor weather helped us here, and there presence made up for a lack
of most other birds). 4 Ryukyu Green Pigeons and a Varied Tit were the only
other birds of note. We were back at the hotel at 17:00 having felt too wrecked
to stay in the forest until dark for another night drive.
09 July. We were up at 01:00 and drove to the Kinsakabaru Virgin
Forest sign in light rain seeing nothing. On arrival the rain increased making
a night walk (or drive) pointless and we dozed in the car hoping it would
improve. It didn’t. We were up at 05:00 just as it was starting to get light
but nothing was calling. The rain eased off a bit and we walked to the red sign
and back seeing the endemic Amami race of White-backed Woodpecker, a male of the Ryukyu race of Narcissus Flycatcher and a superb male komadori Ryukyu Robin (Amami Robin if treated as separate species). We saw no thrushes and wondered if the previous poor weather had helped us there although we only covered the area
where one of our four had been seen. We left at 09:00 arriving back at the
hotel at 09:50, just ahead of 10:00 check out. We drove north to the airport and with
some time in hand stopped at Ose Beach just north of the airport. Here the sun
was shining and we saw some herons, waders (Lesser Sand and Kentish Plovers and
Grey-tailed Tattlers), a spoonbill (unfortunately not Black-faced) and an
unexpected Ryukyu Minivet. We dropped off the car and checked in for our Ryukyu
Air Commuter flight to Okinawa. It left on time, arriving in Okinawa in the
rain. Car hire at Naha Airport was less efficient/more time consuming than
elsewhere in Japan and we were slow getting away. Traffic in Naha was dreadful
but once clear of town and heading north on the expressway we made good
progress although the rain became progressively heavier. We arrived at Indigo,
a very pleasant rustic guest house in Oku at 19:30 where we were welcomed by
the guest house’s owners, Non and Ken. They immediately set about preparing a good
meal for us. The dining area was a bar adjoined to their kitchen where, much to
our amusement, what looked like a blow-torch appeared to be standard equipment.
Turning it onto some Tofu was, in my opinion, about the only way to make it even
close to being edible. A welcome end to what had been a long day. It was still
raining but Non and Ken were confident it would improve.
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| still raining, Nick checking what we'd seen |
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| at this stage we had not seen the woodpecker |
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| Kinsakabaru track |
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| Ryukyu Narcissus Flycatcher, considered to be a different species by some, not that the main differences (dark olive rather than jet black upperparts) are evident from this image |
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| Ryukyu Green Pigeon |
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| Spoonbill on the beach at Ose |
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| with Great White Egret |
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| Oriental Turtle Dove |
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| Nick leaving Amami |
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| over Amami |
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| over the small island of Izena |
10 July. We were up at 04:00 and although dull and overcast it was
not actually raining. We drove up towards the hills of Yanbaru stopping to
listen for owls without success although a Ruddy Kingfisher responded to a
background call on one of our recordings. We drove up towards Lake Benobi on metaled
but at times very narrow roads, on one section pushing through overhanging
vegetation with very little visibility. The more open roads were better with 2
Okinawa Rails hurriedly crossing as we turned a corner. Nice to see after
missing them in 2003 but a disappointing view. We drove around until 13:00 by
which time we were finding it hard to concentrate. We had seen 15 namiyei Ryukyu
Robins (very much commoner than their Amami counterparts), a pair of Japanese
Paradise Flycatchers feeding a fledgling on a nest and a Ryukyu Minivet but no
more rails. We returned to Indigo and dozed until 15:00 when somewhat
disappointed with what we had seen so far we headed back out to do a circuit to
the windfarm and Terukubi-rindo. Five minutes down the road an Okinawa Rail was
wandering around in the verge giving excellent views, albeit through the front windscreen.
While watching this an Okinawa Woodpecker flew over landing in a tree opposite.
I then saw 4 more rails and brought my robin total to 25 for the day.
Surprisingly I was ahead of Nick’s sharp eyes on the former but well behind his
31 robins. The male Japanese Paradise Flycatcher was still near the nest but
the youngster had moved away – we had been very fortunate with our timing that
morning. We also saw 2 juvenile Ryukyu Flycatchers and 2 Varied Tits before
returning to Indigo at 18:15. My 8th rail of the day was in a creek
at Indigo when I wandered down to the beach before eating, although it
scarpered as soon as it saw me. A Grey-tailed Tattler and 2 Blue Rock Thrushes
were less nervous. We had another good meal including some fried garden flowers
which for me were better than most Japanese food we had encountered! We left at
19:45 to go owling. Non had suggested a nearby area where she had seen or heard
owls in the past so we decided to try there. At the third or fourth attempt at
playing Ryukyu Scops Owl one responded directly overhead giving excellent
views. Feeling wrecked and planning an early start in the morning we returned
at 21:30. A predominantly dry day!
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| namiyei Ryukyu Robin, presumably a young male due to dark throat. Sometimes considered a separate species Okinawa Robin, it has greyish underparts whereas those of the Amami Robin are white with black flank streaks. |
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| Ruddy Kingfisher |
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| one of many Okinawa Rail warning signs, constant reminders of what we were looking for that were not particularly welcome when we weren't being that sauccessful |
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| looking north from Indigo during an afternoon break. Cape Hebo is the furthest point visible (and the most northerly point on Okinawa) |
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| our first good view of an Okinawa Rail, just five minutes down the main road from Indigo |
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| and through the front windscreen |
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| the first of five seen during our afternoon drive, I saw a sixth briefly by the beach at Indigo on our return |
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| Okinawa Woodpecker |
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| Juvenile Ryukyu Flycatcher, one of two seen close together although no adults were seen with them |
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| another Okinawa Rail |
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| and another and no windscreen issues this time |
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| Grey-tailed Tattler at Indigo |
11 July. Our last full day in Japan, we were up at 03:50 and
headed south towards Ada playing owl recordings at various locations. North of
the junction with Highway 2 we heard a Japanese Scops Owl. It was close but did
not call for long and we were unable to locate it. Shortly after a Ryukyu Hawk
Owl responded to a scops owl recording and Nick located it silhouetted in a
distant dead tree. It then flew directly towards us breaking off at the last
moment to land in a nearby tree - rather intimidating for us so very alarming
for a small owl. We drove a couple of different circuits around Terukubu-rindo
and Benoti Dam. They were generally better than yesterday although Okinawa Rail
views, I saw 7, were not amongst our best. Nick saw 51 Ryukyu Robins. I managed
44, 12 Okinawa Woodpeckers, Ruddy Kingfisher, Ryukyu Minivet and 3 Varied Tits
but the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher family had moved on. We returned to Indigo
just before 13:00 seeing 2 Black-naped Terns sat on a rock along the coast. We
slept for a couple of hours before going out again to Cape Hedo, hearing an
Okinawa Rail calling from a thicker part of the garden and another when we
arrived at the cape. Japanese Bush Warbler was the best bird seen but views were
nice and included a distant Indigo, even further Yoron Island and a giant
Okinawa Rail on a hillside (we were very pleased we had seen real ones). Before
diner at 18:00 we walked down to the beach and picked up a few small corals to
take home. No sign of the previous evening’s rail but a male Blue Rock Thrush
instead of juveniles. Diner was excellent, no tofu(!!), and we settled up with
Ken and Non as we would be leaving early in the morning. They had been
excellent hosts and we were very pleased to have stayed with them. An Okinawa
Rail in their garden made it even better while Non showed us a robin
nest in the roof of one of their rooms – they had fledged 3 youngsters and
sometimes visited her in the kitchen. We heard a Ryukyu Scops Owl calling
behind Indigo but it wasn’t particularly close so we returned to the area where
we had heard Japanese Scops Owl that morning. No response but good views of a
Ryukyu Scops was some compensation.
12 July. Our last morning, we were up at 04:00, packed the car and
returned to the area where we had heard Japanese Scops Owl but only heard a
distant Ryukyu Scops there and at one or two other places as it got light. A
circuit of Terukubu-rindo and the wind turbines produced good views of 4
Okinawa Rails (most unfortunately through the windscreen) and for me 19
Ryukyu/Okinawa Robins (Nick saw more). We drove to the West Coast, seeing our
best Okinawa Rail and an Okinawa Woodpecker, and south calling in at the bridge
to Kouri Island. Here we had reasonable views of Roseate and Black-naped Terns
before heading towards Naha and the expressway. A brief stop at the estuary by
the Manco Wildfowl Centre produced another Spoonbill (unfortunately not Black-faced)
and Osprey but little else. We dropped the car back at ABC, caught their shuttle bus to the airport and hung around for several hours there and then at
Haneda before our comfortable flight to Paris. There after varying degrees of hanging around I flew to Heathrow and Nick to Newcastle.
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| Okinawa Rail |
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| Okinawa Woodpecker |
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| Osprey by the Manco Wildfowl Centre |
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| juvenile Blue Rock Thrush on the Manco Wildfowl Centre lawn |
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| Okinawa airport, note large ferry on the horizon |
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| civilian and military use |
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| over Naha |
An enjoyable if rather tiring trip. Travel arrangements went
much smoother than I had anticipated, thanks to Nigel Moorhouse’s expertise and
a bit of internet preparation checking train timetables etc. Most signs having an
English translation helped immensely as did English options on ticket machines. Birding was harder than anticipated, not helped by
what felt like more than our share of adverse weather - without it we felt we might
have found Grey Bunting and done better for owls but perhaps we wouldn’t have been so fortunate with Amami
Thrush? Thanks to Dave Cooper and Nick Gardner for
valuable pre-trip info, Nick for the usual excellent companionship and Takeyoshi (Take) and Mesako Matsuo at Lodge Furen, Mitsuo, Hiroka and Diasuke
(Dice) at Edohara Pension and Non and Ken at Indigo for making us so welcome.
