Allen & Nancy Chartier

We rode to Haneda Airport and caught our flight to Kagoshima, on Kyushu Island south of Tokyo. Even though our flight lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes, and was during the lunch hour, all we got was a crummy little cookie and a tiny glass of orange juice. The airplane was a brand new 777 with TV monitors in the seat backs. We watched the closed circuit channel from a camera in the cockpit, so we were able to watch takeoff, landing, and the entire flight as the pilots see it. Pretty cool.

When we landed, we drove up to a hotel inside the Kirishima Yaku National Park (set aside to preserve the volcanic hot springs, which draw many Japanese tourists, but not many westerners), southeast of Ebino on the Ebino Plateau. This was where we hoped to see the meteor shower tomorrow night/morning, but it had been raining, and it was quite foggy as we arrived at the Ebino Kogen Hotel (and spa). It was a very nice, traditional hotel, the only one in the National Park. We had to dress for dinner in the formal kimonos provided in the room. Dinner was traditional, which meant a lot of raw fish (which neither of us like). The portions were small, so we weren't satisfied for long. We turned in around 8:30 p.m.

We got into our vans and went to a tidal area surrounded by coral reefs north of the airport where we found the wintering Saunder's Gull and a good number of shorebirds. We arrived at the hotel in Naze, the Amami Grand Hotel, around 6:30 p.m. The check-in was the most organized of the whole trip. They had keys laid out on a table with all our names on cards. We only had to grab our bags, our keys, and go up to the rooms. The downside to the rooms on the second floor was no elevators, but we only had to lug the big bags up once, and down again when we left.

After brunch, we went to Sumiyu, a hilly area near the east-central coast of the island where we had excellent views of Lidth's Jays (seen in the morning, but not as well). Later in the afternoon, we returned to the hotel via the opposite end of the road through the Virgin Forest looking for Ryukyu Scops-Owl and Amami Woodcock (unsuccessfully).

We arrived in Naha at 2:35 p.m. and did the usual van organization, which took longer due to the greater population on this island. This allowed us to see the only Light-vented Bulbuls of the trip. We intended to stop for birding on the way to our hotel, but the delay with the vans prevented any more birding this afternoon. We stopped for a brief dinner at the McDonalds in Naha. We had to drive almost the entire length of the island, then out to the west on another peninsula, to our hotel, the Royal View Hotel, west of Nago. After we got settled, most of us went out looking for Okinawa Rails in the wilder areas of the northern peninsula of the island known as Yambaru, where nearly all our birding on the island would be done. We were out until midnight, but unfortunately didn't succeed.

At one final area near Yona, the access to the trail was blocked by road construction near (and eventually over?) a river. We had to cross the river, not terribly easy but not impossible, to get to the trail. We were successful in seeing one Okinawa Woodpecker well, but briefly. Another highlight was all the Japanese Fire-bellied Newts walking across the trail, and found under trailside rocks and logs.

Next we went to some rice paddies near Kijyoka, which were quite productive. We got to practice our bun jumping techniques (not bungie jumping!). Buns are the small dikes between the fields.  Allen got covered with mud, as he tended to sink in where most other (lighter) people didn't. A few people wanted to go back to the hotel for dinner, so they took taxis, while the rest of us had a quick dinner at a small, local restaurant near Yona. We went back out looking for Okinawa Rails, our last nighttime attempt. We stayed out until 11:00 p.m. but didn't succeed.

We had a quick dinner at the airport and caught our flight to Tokyo. We arrived at Haneda Airport just after 10:00 p.m. and got a bus to the ferry dock, and boarded the ferry leaving for Hokkaido. We got settled into our first-class cabins, which were bigger than some Latin American hotels we've stayed in recently, and departed at midnight.

We stayed for about 3 hours, and after getting our fill of the magnificent Red-crowned Cranes (or maybe not), we headed east to Nemuro, through the Akan National Park. There was a lot of snow on the road, and it was a very beautiful coniferous forest. But the road was treacherous, and we arrived in Nemuro too late to visit Mr. Y to see the Blakiston's Fish-Owl on his private property. Armas called ahead and made arrangements to visit tomorrow morning. We went to the East Harbor Hotel in Nemuro for the night.

On the way back to Nemuro, we stopped at a small nature center that had bird feeders that were visible from inside the building. This was a very productive and rewarding stop. At a nearby lake, there was a good number of Whooper Swans that were apparently acclimated to the presence of human photographers. We also went southwest of Nemuro, to Ochiishi Point, where we saw our only Japanese birder, and our only Alcid (although some saw Ancient Murrelet this morning). We couldn't agree on the species, and discussed it much of the afternoon.

At 4:00 p.m. we returned to Mr. Y's  and watched as the two Blakiston's Fish-Owls got restless and slowly departed their roost, seeming to move off only one or two trees at a time. We went back to the hotel for dinner. Nancy, Louise, and I went out with Armas to a nearby coniferous forest to try for Ural Owl and Collared Scops-Owl. All we heard was a fox and some of the Whooper Swans from the nearby estuary. It was snowing the entire time we were out. We got back to the hotel around 9:00 p.m., which seemed much later since it had gotten dark around 4:15 p.m.!

We went to Furenko and the Notsuke Peninsula northwest of Nemuro, with flocks of Whooper Swans in the bay and good numbers of White-tailed Eagles. The highlight, and capper for the day, was a spectacular adult Steller's Sea-Eagle sitting right next to the road.

We then drove 3 1/2 hours back to the Kushiro Airport, passing through most of the forests of Akan National Park in the dark, and following a bus in the snowy conditions. We dropped Louise off, after Armas negotiated her onto a different flight since she had missed hers. We checked in to the ANA Hotel in Kushiro and had a farewell dinner.

The flight departed at about 7:00 p.m. The pilot claimed the flight would be 10 hours and 17 minutes, which was two hours less than the flight out. Thank goodness! Especially so, since there was a lot of turbulence on the flight, preventing us from getting much sleep. Nancy's seat belt was broken for the entire trip, and the attendants were unable (and one was rather crabby) to do anything about it. We arrived in Chicago at 2:15 p.m. local time, about an hour ahead of schedule. We caught our flight departing at 5:05 p.m. and arrived home in Detroit by 7:30 p.m.