A textbook winter trip in Hokkaido – Japan

Brown house with a green roof (a graffiti of tufted Puffin in the front)

When it comes to Hokkaido, It started like one of the Disney movies, “In a Kingdom of far far away, all the animals lived very happily”.  After doing the Inner Mongolia trip in 2015, i have become obsessed with the winter and while vetting for the next wintering location and a casual talk with Roger, Hokkaido became our target for 2016 winter. I have looked at Japan for numerous times and passed it because of the cost. While a trip to Hokkaido sounds delicious but the money involved brings jitters. A piggy bank was opened last year for the trip which went quiet good and the expenses went slightly above the expected as the hotel & inn’s have increased their prices compared to the previous year. All in all, it was a fantastic trip comprised of serene landscape, exotic birds of east asia, most humble human beings on planet earth and last but not least the lip smacking food.

Getting into Hokkaido :

Arrived at Tokyo through Spring Airlines at Ibaraki Airport, an exclusive airport for budget airliners. Currently the International flights are only from China and Korea. The airport is pretty far from Tokyo but have a airport shuttle for passengers at a discount rate(500Yen/person) but has to reserve first. The reservation can be done on the following website prior to 30 days. The destination station is Tokyo station and it will take about 90 minutes. Other alternatives are take the shuttle bus to Mito station and take the Joban line to Tokyo but expensive.

We took the Sunflower ferry from Oarai to Tomakomai. Oarai can be easily reached from Tokyo, using the Joban line from Tokyo station and exchanging to Kashimarinkai Tetsudo line at Mito station. A colleague of mine helped to book the standard cabin in advance as there is no English spoken in their booking office but it may not be required as majority of the cabins were empty at the time of boarding. We purchased the ticket at Tomakomai JR station for the next day’s travel to Kushiro, it has to be done through a counter located on the left side of the entrance gate. The transfer was all good at the Chitose station. The Super Ozora limited express train took 4 hours to reach Kushiro station and costs 8530Yen/person for an unreserved seat from Tomakomai station. Same train was used on the way back to Sapporo for our return flight to Shanghai. Train timings can be found from Hyperdia.

Hotels :

All the hotels were booked through Mr.Takeyoshi Matsuo(Matsuo-san) of Lodge Furen.

Green Park Hotel, Tsurui : Stayed for two nights. One of the two big hotels in Tsurui village. 10950Yen/Person including tax. Very spacious rooms compared to the Tokyo hotels. Their main highlight is the dinner and the Onsen. The kitchen staff went out of their way to prepare an egg less dinner on the second night when i told them i’m allergic to eggs.  Online booking can be done through Jalan but it’s only in Japanese, with bit of a google translation, this can be done easily.

Lodge Furen, Nemuro : There is nothing to add about Lodge Furen or Matsuo-san as its the major base for almost everyone who visit Hokkaido. Bookings are through only e-mail communication(matsuo-t@plum.plala.or.jp) and he can help to make further bookings at Green Park and Washinoyado. As of March 3, Matsuo-san charges 7200Yen/person.

Minshuku Washinoyado : The good old Blakiston’s Fish Owl place. They messed up with our booking and put us into one of their sister-inn, a km away from the Inn on the main road towards Aidomari. This place has been renovated recently, so fresh smell of adhesive reeks and which in fact gave all of us a throat infection, to top up this, the heater in Roger’s room stopped working in the midnight. Dinner was alright but breakfast screamed of “Seicomart”. 9700Yen/Person. If not for the owl, this is a trash place, not the good old Washinoyado anymore. The Daiichi hotspring hotel in Nakashibetsu is a strong alternative, bookings can be done through Jalan.

Car Rental :

Tocoo‘s site was used to book a Nissan Wingroad from Nissan Car rental. It’s just one block away from the other car rentals at Kushiro JR station but not very far. Tocoo’s prices were cheaper than rental outlets (including CDW and Tocoo’s service charge(810Yen/day)). Our total expense was 86000Yen for ten days (including compensation coverage/exclude Noc and Tocoo service charge). The boot was just enough to fit all our luggage.

Hokkaido Birding Itinerary :

Day 1 – Feb 24

It was supposed to be a full day birding from the ferry. I spent 10 mins outside on the deck at 5AM and immediately succumbed to sea sickness which sent me back to the bunk. Plenty of Auklets which i could not focus on, Slaty-backed Gull and Pacific Kittiwake’s were big enough to ID on a very sick day. By the time ferry arrived at Tomakomai, i was feeling much better, Embarking took a while and the front office had the same deserted look as in Oarai. I had a little bit of signaling game with the girl at the tourist center to know the shuttle bus timing. Taxi to the JR station cost 1750Yen. Accommodation was at Dormy Inn, laid out prices as they are bit away from the JR station but it was very well compensated by an outdoor onsen on the 9th floor and free sobu noodles. Took a small stroll to the JR station to find out the timings of the train but ended up with buying tickets at the counter for the next day.

Day 2- Feb 25

First half of the day was well spent by travelling to Kushiro while admiring the limited express Super Ozora train and the landscape of Hokkaido. While the train was nearing Kushiro, it went parallel to the coast for couple of Kilometres, plenty of waterfowl floating on the sea but could not confirm anything but at a turn, the big-dawg “White-tailed Eagle” was sitting on the sea-wall totally ignoring the super fast Ozora. At Nissan rent a car, the process took 10 minutes to verify the documents and process the payment. Soon, I was enroute to Kushiro Tancho Airport to pickup Roger who has arrived at Kushiro airport from Hongkong. I picked up a single “Steller’s Sea Eagle” perched on a electiricty pylon enroute to the airport. After exchanging greetings, we set our GPS to Tsurui Ito Tancho Sanctuary. The 25km ride took more than 30 mins with the speed limit in Hokkaido is 50km. We stopped short of our destination as we found the Cranes at Tsurumidai and by the 2PM feeding time, there were 300+ Cranes at Tsurumidai and the whole place was total chaos. The Supporting cast were Whooper Swan, Black-eared Kite, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Brown-eared Bulbul, Dusky Thrush and Marsh Tit. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Tsurumidai photographing the Cranes and counting the Chinese photographers.

Day 3 – Feb 26

Early morning started at the Hokkaido’s own, the world famous Otawabashi bridge where hundreds of Photographers congregate to shoot the roosting Red-crowned Cranes over the Setsurigawa river(It’s not famous for the Cranes anymore). The bridge is right behind the Tsurumidai feeding area and if coming from Tsurui, it’s the first T-junction after the feeding area. We were bit late, so the potential spots were already claimed. Neverthless, it’s not the Zombie apocalypse, we still managed to get some typical Otawabashi bridge shots.

We then proceeded to Lake Kussharo for the Swan Lake, the ride took slightly more than an hour with a stop over at a farm for a pair of Red-crowned Cranes, far from the madding crowd.

The weather at Lake Kussharo drastically changed from blue skies to heavy snow shower. We utilized the little time before the heavy snow to capture  a very confiding Falcated Duck. The support cast among the waterfowl were Mallard, Common Merganser, Eastern Spot-billed Duck and ofcourse numerous Whooper Swans. The woods around Lake Kussharo had good no of Eurasian Jay, Long-tailed Tit, Japanese Tit, Marsh Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Brown-eared Bulbul and Dusky Thrush.

When the weather got bad, we decided to head back to Tsurui Ito Tancho Sanctuary. Well, this is the place of photographer congregation. Yesterday we were at the wrong Crane place. Again, lots of Chinese Photographers. A Photographer from Zhejiang said the winter feeding places in Japan is much more photogenic than China. Yeah, can’t argue with that.

We busted shutters utilizing the golden light and went back to the hotel to enjoy the natural Outdoor Onsen and mouth-watering dinner. The maître d‘ specially prepared a squid tempura without egg and an all fruit dessert. Japanese people are the best! Back to the room and serious discussion to find out the Ural owl stake out but nothing we could figure.

Day 4 – Feb 27

We roamed across the streets of Tsurui village to find out the Ural owl stakeout. Eventually, we gave up after a while and headed to our next destination Nemuro. Our first stop was at the Ramsar site,Lake Akkeshi. Lake Akkeshi is a big aquafarm and a massive source in Hokkaido for Oysters and Clams. Several fishing boats were busy collecting them, because of this active fishing plenty of Waterfowl in the lake. Whooper Swans and Common Goldeneyes were the majority. Supporting cast at Lake Akkeshi were Slaty-backed Gull, Mew Gull(ssp kamtschatschensis), Black-headed Gull, Common Merganser, Greater Scaup, Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle. The other stop was at Kiritappu Port and Kiritappu Misaki. Kiritappu port brought lifers along with the snow shower. Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Duck, Black Scoter, Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Gull were picked out in no time. These are the majority of the harbor birds during our stay in Nemuro. Supporting cast at Kiritappu harbor were numerous Eurasian Wigeons, Northern Pintail, Mallard, Common Merganser, Eurasian Teal, Slaty-backed Gull, few White-tailed and Steller’s Sea Eagle. We then drove to Kiritappu Misaki, a Short-eared Owl was heard but we din’t see any. Overnight at Lake Furen. Matsuo-san welcome us with his trademark dinner. We got plenty of Zen over the dinner about the various happenings around Nemuro including a King Eider from Nosappumisaki and a Crested Auk from Habomai harbor.

Day 5 – Feb 28

Today is our pelagic trip from Habomai harbor. Before that, we started at the feeder in front of Lodge Furen and worked our way to the shores of Lake Furen. A simple western breakfast consisting of toast, eggs, several varieties of home made jam, coffee and Hokkaido milk was enough to start the cold day. After receiving instructions from Matsuo-san on the whereabouts of the Habomai harbor office, we set our GPS to the place. The Captain of the boat was expecting our arrival at the Habomai habor. The habomai sea cruise counter is located on the first floor of the Marine Bank, a form was given to fill the personal details and the money was paid. The captain led us to the pier where the boat was docked. We picked up our first Harlequin Ducks as the boat was leaving the harbor. Our first pelagic birds were small scattered flocks of Least Auklets. Spectacled Guillemots were the next common ones, we saw several birds in various plumages. Ancient murrelets were few and they just dived in when the boat approached them. We also had a very close encounter with a Brunnich’s Guillemot and a single Pigeon Guillemot. The three hour trip went swiftly without any sea sickness but we dint score the Common Guillemot and the Crested Auk which has been seen in last couple of days. We spent couple of hours in the Habomai harbor picking up the common harbor birds. Lunch stop at a seicomart on the way. We are pretty far from Kushiro but still the photo of the Ural Owl decorated most of the seicomart photos. We did a brief stop at the Nosappumisaki hide for the reported King Eider, Red-faced Cormorant but seen none. Next stop was at the Hanasaki harbor, which was the best harbor with almost all the species put together collectively from all the harbors. Back to Lodge Furen and Matsuo-san told us the news that there is going to be a two day blizzard throughout central and eastern Hokkaido and warned us about the situation of the roads.

Day 6 – Feb 29

Our first photo ops day at the Lake Furen feeding site. The feeding time is 9AM, we had plenty of light before the feeding time. So we decided to hit our favourite harbor , Hanasaki. No blizzard yet but it was very windy. Just before we were leaving, Matsuo-san told us that he had a Red-legged Kittiwake and Ross Gull on rough days like these. We hit the harbor without any expectation. The harbor was very quiet compared to the previous day but the rough sea has brought plenty of Harlequin Ducks into the harbor. We had 50+ Harlequin’s in the harbor compared to the 6 from previous evening. When we were focused on a pair of Harlequin’s feeding very close to the pier, two Ancient Murrelets popped out of nowhere. Rough weather indeed brings stuff. On our way back, we had four male Sika Deer’s  crossed the road, they are indeed huge. The Eagle feeding site is about 500metres from Lodge Furen towards Kushiro. There is an old restaurant in the front, a guy welcomed us and helped us park the car and duly collected the 500Yen/Person entry fee. Rest is Chaos.

Day 7 – March 1

Another morning at Hanasaki Harbor. Most of the roads were covered with Snow and it was still snowing. The road to Hanasaki harbor was bit tricky as sometimes the visibility was less than 50m. Fortunately, we made it through to the harbor, it was very quiet as expected. No fancy birds as yesterday. We then made our way to Ochiisi harbor. Same set of harbor birds plus a Rough-legged Buzzard, a fly Stellers’s and White-tailed Sea Eagle, Falcated Duck and Whooper Swans. The weather got worse in the noon and we decided to close the day bit early. On the way back, the road to Tobai(Lodge Furen) was closed and we had to double back our way to Ochiisi and then to Bettoga. The road at Bettoga was very worse, it was open but it has not been plowed. I drove based on “judgement” and no experience in driving in snow. The 30 minute drive was the longest i have ever known and my tension was finally settled when i saw the main junction. Over the dinner time, the weather news of Hokkaido announced that a person died in the car after the ground blizzard covered his car. Phew, that could have been us as we passed through certain such narrow roads.

Day 8 – March 2

Still blizzard conditions in east Hokkaido but the sun showed up in intervals in Nemuro. Most of the roads were still blocked but the main Kushiro-Nemuro road has been cleaned up over night. We hit Kiritappu again after our short session at the Eagle feeding site to look for the Short-eared Owl. Beforehand, we already collected Zen from Matsuo-san about the “brown house” with “green roof”. We checked the feeder at this place, some finch like birds but nothing affirmative. The recent rumour is that the “friendly” owner of this house has a shotgun to repel people approaching the feeder. We headed to the lighthouse and this is where we were totally owned. On Scanning the cliffs from the parking lot showed two dark alcids on one of the cliffs, for a moment, i could not believe my eyes. The views are not satisfying through the bins, so we took the extra step to reach the end of the cape just to find out that those “two” were the decoys of Tufted Puffin. On the way back, we stopped at the house again, no birds at the feeder again. We drove till the end of the road and by the time we came back, a Common Kestrel swooped down the valley behind the house and set a huge flock of 200+ Asian Rosy Finches airborne. The finches took a long time in the air and finally settled on the wires in front of us. One bird even gave us a nice song. Light was dropping fast and we still have a target bird to nail. I missed the map which Matsuo-san gave me in the morning but i had put the fragments of memory like in “Assassins Trilogy” to complete the memory block. Take the dirt road on the left side of the road after Pension Porche, park the car on the next cross road junction and walk towards the break water rocks and there waits a big flock of Brent Goose.

Day 9 – March 3

Our final breakfast morning at Lodge Furen. We bid good bye to our hosts Mr&Mrs.Matsuo-san and we headed to our final destination of the Hokkaido trip. The road towards Rausu is ultimately the home of Sika Deers and Red Foxes. We saw Foxes everyday but we had 12 foxes on this day and hundreds of Sika deers. Our first stop was at the frozen eastern shore of the Lake Furen, Steller’s Sea Eagle were dotted across the frozen lake. We scouted several ports enroute and our only Smew of the trip was seen from the Seicomart in Odaito. We then birded the Notsuke Peninsula which Matsuo-san strongly recommended as our only possibility to see White-winged Scoter as these birds prefer the shallow sand pits. Like he said, we din’t sweat to find the bird. 6 birds were seen and the only time during our 10 day birding in Hokkaido.  We also noticed the Slaty-backed Gulls were not the majority anymore as more Glaucous Gulls and Mew Gulls dominated the ports around Shibetsu and Rausu. Notsuke Peninsula is the home of Sika deers in Hokkaido. We encountered big flocks of deers on the frozen bay, on the road, on the beach, they were literally everywhere. We arrived at Rausu around 6, the owner lady’s sidekick told us in his fluent Japanglish that we will be staying at a different place. He led us to their secondary establishment and showed us the rooms. We dumped our luggage in the respective rooms and back to Washinoyado for dinner and the Owl. Dinner consisted a big hotpot and sashimi. There were about 12 people on the night and Roger alerted me about 9.30PM that he heard a call. When i put my ears into use i heard two different calls. An hour later, the boss lady came and switched off the light and alerted the other Japanese photographers about the Owl. Around 11.30, the first individual came to the pond, snatched the trout and left. The other individual came up next and after 3 failed attempts, finally caught a trout.Probably, a juvenile still learning the tricks which was later confirmed by the boss lady. She ID’d the father owl ,the son and a file picture from December, the responsible father brought all his 3 kids to the stream.

Day 10 – March 4

The main attraction in Rausu is usually the Blakiston’s Fish Owl at Washinoyado and the Steller’s Sea Eagle over the pack ice. The pack ice has been playing hide and seek game over the past couple of days and has drifted around the peninsula. So as of March 5, there is no drift ice in Rausu this year. But the cruise boats are still operating for the Eagles. We had booked the Kamuiwakka cruise(5000Yen/Person) through Matsuo-san for two mornings. Today’s supposed to be the late morning cruise which starts at 9AM. Upon arrival, the crew told us that there were couple Killer Wales have been sighted in the morning and we will go for them instead. The sudden change of target brought a new interest, the boat cruised for few km’s and one of the boat crew said “No Orca”. Back to the pier now, they docked the boat against the outer break water wall and started throwing fish in the water and on the wall. The Eagles came and settled down as close as 20 metres. Roger dropped his 800mm, 400mm and finally settled with his 70-200. We cancelled our next morning’s cruise as it was too expensive and not good photo opportunities compared to Nemuro. We hit the road again towards Notsuke Peninsula and Shibetsu Harbor. We arrived at Washinoyado bit earlier as were warned about the weekend crowds. As expected, the cabins were full that night. We heard the call very early on that day, 7PM. But the crowd was too much, the photographers who were sitting in the van hide were moving in and out. A new group came about 7.30 and set up the tripods outside the cabins. The lady boss dumped most of the people in the gaps and shooed the rest after an hour long discussion. When this drama finally came to an end, the Owl has also gone. There were 30+ people in the observatory and in the van hide. After 9, the photographers started to thin out but the movement outside the observatory din’t. Finally at 11.30, the Adult Owl came to the pond silently without any contact calls, showcased his skills of catching fish and disappeared.

They hand out several copies on Owl Ethics, how to shoot in their setup etc. but there is no strict adherence of these rules. Eventhough, the Owl has been coming to this place for several years after generation after generation, it disappeared on the night when there was so many human movement. To sum up this, the rent for this minshuku is 9700Yen/person which is a total waste of money given the stinky rooms, broken heaters and seicomart breakfast. I regret not opting for the Daiichi hotel in Nakashibetsu.

Day 11 – March 5

Our last day of birding. The absence of pack ice has eliminated the dramatic sunrise shots. So we decided to utilize the extra bandwidth of time to hit for the Ural Owl one more time before we leave Hokkaido. It’s not a needle in a needle stack any more, as we got the zen from two American birders about the location and they said they have seen it whenever they visited the stakeout. We hit the stakeout(43°11’54” N 144°23’32” E) and as expected, the cutest Ural Owl was posing in the tree hole. The location is very straightforward, if coming from Tsurui village, it’s the same road to the Otawabashi bridge, follow the road, after the Dosanko’s farm, the road wil curve, after this curve, there is a dirt track goes downhill on the left side and there is a small space to park the car on the right. Walk on the track on the left and it finally ends at a rope barrier, the big tree with a hole and Owl in it is straight ahead. After seeing the pictures of the “Owl in the hole” in every Seicomart Outlet of Hokkaido, I was finally able to put my thoughts to rest. A fantastic finishing touch to the Hokkaido trip. Many thanks to Roger for the great company and his endless supply of additional batteries and SD cards.

Some Hokkaido scenery in the below gallery

Species List :

No	Species	Count	Location	Date
1	Brant Goose	12	Biwase Observation Point	2-Mar-16
2	Whooper Swan	50	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
3	Falcated Duck	1	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
4	Eurasian Wigeon	20	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
5	Mallard	12	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
6	Eastern Spot-billed Duck	1	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
7	Northern Pintail	1	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
8	Eurasian Teal	4	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
9	Common Pochard	2	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
10	Tufted Duck	5	Shibetsu Port	4-Mar-16
11	Greater Scaup	30	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
12	Harlequin Duck	50	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
13	White-winged Scoter	6	Notsuke-hanto (Notsuke Peninsula)–Narawara	3-Mar-16
14	Black Scoter	30	SakakiMachi Port	27-Feb-16
15	Long-tailed Duck	2	SakakiMachi Port	27-Feb-16
16	Common Goldeneye	50	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
17	Smew	1	Odaito–Hakuchodai Parking (rest stop)	3-Mar-16
18	Common Merganser	3	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
19	Red-breasted Merganser	4	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
20	Black-necked Grebe	2	Habomai-ko (Habomai Harbor)	28-Feb-16
21	Great Cormorant	1	Hanasaki-ko (Hanasaki Port)	29-Feb-16
22	Pelagic Cormorant	10	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
23	Black Kite	5	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
24	White-tailed Eagle	5	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
25	Steller’s Sea Eagle	2	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
26	Rough-legged Buzzard	1	Ochiishi-ko (Ochiishi Port)	1-Mar-16
27	Eurasian Coot	1	Kiritappu Port	2-Mar-16
28	Dunlin	4	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
29	Thick-billed Murrelet	10	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
30	Pigeon Guillemot	1	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
31	Spectacled Guillemot	20	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
32	Ancient Murrelet	15	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
33	Least Auklet	50	offshore Habomai	28-Feb-16
34	Black-headed Gull	3	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
35	Mew Gull	1	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
36	Slaty-backed Gull	25	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
37	Glaucous-winged Gull	10	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
38	Glaucous Gull	10	Akkeshi-ko (Lake Akkeshi)	27-Feb-16
39	Blakiston’s Fish Owl	2	Rausu–Washi-no-yado Inn	3-Mar-16
40	Ural Owl	1	Tsurui Ural Owl stakeout	5-Mar-16
41	Short-eared Owl	1	Kiritappu-misaki (Cape Kiritappu)	27-Feb-16
42	Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker	1	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
43	Great Spotted Woodpecker	1	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
44	Common Kestrel	1	Kiritappu-misaki (Cape Kiritappu)	2-Mar-16
45	Eurasian Jay	2	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
46	Carrion Crow	2	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
47	Large-billed Crow	4	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
48	Coal Tit	2	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
49	Marsh Tit	4	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
50	Japanese Tit	2	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
51	Long-tailed Tit	6	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
52	Eurasian Nuthatch	1	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
53	Brown-eared Bulbul	4	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
54	Dusky Thrush	1	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16
55	White Wagtail	1	Kiritappu Port	27-Feb-16
56	Asian Rosy Finch	200	Kiritappu-misaki (Cape Kiritappu)	2-Mar-16
57	Grey-capped Greenfinch	1	Minshuku Furen	28-Feb-16
58	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	10	Kussharo-ko–Sunayu	26-Feb-16