It’s no secret that I love traveling in Japan in the wintertime. In fact, a journey there in February is one of my top five favorite wildlife trips. In February 2008, our Japan’s Winter Wildlife Photo Safari offered photo opportunities and travel experiences that were just about the best I have encountered over my years of leading tours and photographing there. This year's trip was very cold, very snowy and offered a wonderful mix of clear blue-sky days, moody overcast periods and howling snowstorms!

On the first leg of our trip, the group flew from Tokyo to Kushiro on the Island of Hokkaido—the northernmost of Japan’s big inhabited islands. Hokkaido can be a wintry wonderland of rugged mountain scenery, frigid coastline, bucolic farm landscapes and a wealth of human-habituated wildlife.



Quite a bit of Hokkaido’s winter birdlife migrates there seasonally from Kamchatka, Korea and northeastern areas of the Russian Arctic. These photogenic bird concentrations of red-crowned (Japanese) cranes, whooper swans, and white-tailed and Steller’s eagles are comprised (with the exception of the Steller’s eagles) of Hokkaido’s local breeding population mixed with the continental migrants. What makes all of these species great photo subjects is the fact that the Japanese people love to feed these larger birds in winter (like North Americans and Europeans do for smaller birds at their bird feeders). And by feeding them, they become tame and incredibly photographable. They’re usually located in areas that provide aesthetically pleasing backgrounds and are easy to reach—as long as you have private transportation.

Traveling in our own comfortable 36-passenger bus (for the 12 of us) we spent our first days on Hokkaido "shooting" cranes at a variety of sites where they are offered morning grain feedings around the environs of Kushiro. During that time we had opportunities to photograph them as they practiced courtship "dancing," stood in family groups with last season’s young still in tow, and in flight shots against crisp blue sky or dark forest backgrounds. No matter how many times I have photographed these cranes, it always feels like there is never enough time on our trip to satisfy my itch to shoot them—in fact, many of the Japanese photographers we met around Kushiro (and there were quite a lot of them) specialize in shooting only these majestic cranes, and little else!

A hearty bowl of noodles and a quick cup of coffee at a nearby snack bar have us out in the field in time for the afternoon feeding at the Akan Crane Reserve—this time the birds are provided fish instead of grain. The fish attracts the "regular"—6–10 white tailed-eagles that arrive at 2 PM so precisely that you have to think they must wear watches to keep that schedule. The eagles circle around at low level offering us an extraordinary potential for flight shots. Now and then they dive on the cranes like fighter jets in a strafing run and squabble with each other—as well as sleek black kites that also show up for a free fish lunch.

With the fading light we returned to our cozy hotel for a hot geothermal bath and traditional Japanese dinner before viewing some fantastic crane photos by the hotel’s proprietor, and imbibing a drink or two, before sliding between the sheets.

Loading all our gear on the bus on a snowy morning, we waved goodbye to our hosts (they traditionally wave to a departing group until you disappear from view) and we headed to interior Hokkaido with a quick stop at scenic Lake Mashu. It was snowing so hard when we arrived that the lake was barely visible, but it was fun to shoot the artistic clusters of denuded larch trees along its banks and golden bamboo leaves projecting through the deep snow.

By mid-afternoon we were on the beach of Lake Kussharo and 300 or more whooper swans were standing at the shoreline. They were there to reap the bounty of the adjacent snack bar that provided lunch for us and was also a bottomless food source for the swans due to scores of Japanese, Hong Kong and South Korean tourists who buy bread and other groceries to offer this horde of insatiable swans. As you’ll see from the enclosed photos, swan photography is exceptional here—and the overall experience is even better.

We stayed at a lovely little hotel that feels very much like being at home. The proprietor and his wife are gracious hosts who prepared gourmet meals with a delightful fusion of European and Japanese influences. As we sat in the dining room and looked out into the dense forest, throngs of little birds came to the bird feeders placed only a few feet from our seats. Dazzling Eurasian jays, great spotted woodpeckers, great tits and marsh tits zipped in and out of the feeders.

Here at Lake Kussharo, our group encountered one of two true white-out blizzards we faced on this trip. Without much warning, wind whipped up over the frozen lake in excess of 50 miles per hour. Snow blowing off the ice diminished visibility to only a few feet. Before the wind started, more than half the group had headed to the swans on foot while the rest of us planned to hop on the bus. Well, the drifting, blinding snow was blowing so hard the bus crept along at less than 5 miles per hour and took us 45 minutes travel a distance that usually took less than 10. When we finally arrived at the snack bar, it was closed (due to blizzard conditions employees couldn’t make it in) and there was no sign of our group members who had been caught in the blizzard. We couldn’t even find the swans! Then suddenly a door popped open at a nearby public rest area and we collected our frozen friends and brought them on board the bus. We went back to the hotel and spent the best part of the day shooting birds at the feeders there. It was such fun we are considering extending our time there next year to include the feeder birds as part of our schedule.

From the village of Kawayu we headed northeast to the Shiretoko Peninsula. Our objective: Steller’s eagles! Most of the fishing village of Rausu is sandwiched between the ocean and a steep hillside at the boundary of Shiratoko National Park. Imagine a thin strip of land that only has enough space for a narrow road and with a depth of one house on either side of that road—then you can get a sense of the layout, except for the built-up harbor area of much of central Rausu.

From Rausu you can watch the sun rise over the volcanic Kuril Islands that have been under Russian control since World War II. And when you look in that direction you also see pack ice! Before the collapse of Rausu’s cod fishery in the late 1980s and early 90s, the waste from the winter fishery was discarded overboard by the returning fishing boats which, in turn, attracted a horde of Steller’s eagles. Steller’s eagles are the largest of the world’s "fish eagles" (think bald eagles in North America) that breed in Kamchatka and migrate to Hokkaido and the Kurils for the winter. Some thirty years ago they encountered the bounty of offal available from the fishing boats and a huge concentration of these birds was established, centering on the Rausu harbor. (It's similar in many respects to Alaska’s Chilkat River concentration of bald eagles—but the Chilkat birds rely on a natural salmon run.)

Overfishing from the Rausu fleet caused a collapse of the cod fishery by 1993 and the eagles dispersed back to their widespread island winter habitat. Now a small tourist industry spawned by feeding the eagles fish scraps on the pack ice has the makings for great photography of both Steller’s and white-tailed eagles—if the pack ice reaches Rausu.

In the last few years ice has been scarce and shooting not very good, but in 2008 there was lots of ice! There was so much ice that our group made two boat trips out to the floe edge to spend several hours each day shooting these amazing birds.

Flight shots, birds on picturesque ice blocks, eagles fighting and mantling food are part of the wonderful photographic repertoire you can shoot from the boat—often at very close range! For me, this is the highlight of the entire trip—but for others, it’s the snow monkeys.

From Kushiro we boarded a jet and flew back to Tokyo. We were met by a 55-passenger coach that would take us to Nagano and up into the snowy Japanese Alps to spend four days with the famous "hot-tubbing" Japanese macaques. We pared down our luggage for the 1-mile hike into Jigokudani (Hell’s Canyon). (This year, a few of us hauled most of the group's gear into our ryokan by sleds as our usual luggage transportation was unavailable.)

The monkeys did not disappoint, neither did the weather as we were treated to some wonderfully snowy days and great photos. Many small babies were running endlessly around the steaming hot pool, as expressive adults soaked in the warm water. As snow fell it stuck to their fur making the classic portraits that are so desired by wildlife shooters. The photo experience was great—and so was that of our traditional accommodations and onsen (geothermal baths).

From there it was a hike out to the bus and a 4-hour trip back to Tokyo before the group departed for flights home the next day. Overall, it was a fantastic trip, one I am looking forward to repeating in February 2009!


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