Japan offers great opportunities for birdwatching. Because the country consists of a long string of islands, climate and habitats vary widely from one end of Japan to the other.
A rich variety of bird life
The northern island of Hokkaido lies north of the "Blakiston's Line" zoogeographical boundary, and birds and animals are of the Northern Asian family. The wild coasts and heavy winter snows are host to cranes, sea-eagles and gulls, including the Red-Crowned Crane and Stellar's Sea-Eagle.
At the other extremity of Japan, the Amami Islands and Okinawa lie south of the "Watase Line", and are semi-tropical. Here can be found the Ryuku Robin, the Okinawa Woodpecker and the Pacific Swallow.
For a more complete list of the birds of Japan and where they can be found, see below.
Birdwatching opportunities
Some specialist tour operators offer bird-watching tours to Japan; arranged for small groups, these tend to be expensive.
Another option is to use the remarkable "birding pal" network which is offered for Japan. Using this, you can get in contact with local bird-watching enthusiasts who will, for the price of a tank of petrol and lunch, go with you to the best sites in their locality.
Bird listing
Hokkaido (north island)
- Ancient Murrelet
- Asian Rosyfinch
- Blakiston's Fish-owl
- Black and White-winged Scoter
- Black-footed and Short-tailed Albatross
- Black Kite
- Black-legged Kittiwake
- Black-tailed Gull
- Brown Dipper
- Brünnich's Guillemot
- Crested or Least Auklet
- Glaucous and Glaucous-winged gull
- Goldeneye
- Greater Scaup
- Gyr Falcon
- Harlequin Duck
- Japanese Wagtail
- Laysan
- Long-billed Murrelet
- Long-tailed Duck
- Pacific Diver
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Red-crowned crane
- Red-faced Cormorant
- Red-necked Grebe
- Slaty-backed gull
- Snow Bunting
- Sooty, Streaked and Short-tailed Shearwater
- South Polar Skua
- Spectacled Guillemot
- Steller's Eider
- Steller's Sea-eagle
- Tristram's Storm-petrel
- White-tailed Sea Eagle (photo above)
Honshu, central island (especially woodland)
- Azure-winged Magpie
- Brown Dipper
- Bull-headed Shrike
- Copper Pheasant
- Crested Kingfisher
- Eurasian Jay
- Hawfinch
- Japanese Accentor
- Japanese Green Woodpecker
- Japanese Grosbeak
- Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
- Japanese Wagtail
- Japanese Waxwing
- Red-flanked Bluetail
- Rustic Bunting
- Willow Tit
On Miyake Island, off Tokyo Bay
- Ijima`s Warbler
- Seven Island Thrush
- Styan`s Grasshopper Warbler
Kyushu (south island)
- American Wigeon
- Baikal Teal
- Black-faced Bunting
- Black-faced Spoonbill
- Brant
- Brown-eared Bulbul
- Buff-bellied and Red-throated Pipits
- Chestnut-eared Buntings
- Chinese Bamboo-partridge
- Chinese Penduline-tit
- Copper Pheasant
- Cranes wintering at Izumi (west coast) include:
Hooded and White-naped Cranes, Common and Sandhill Cranes,
Demoiselle and Siberian Cranes - Crested Kingfisher
- Daurian Jackdaw
- Daurian Redstart
- Dusky and Pale Thrushes
- Eastern Reef-heron
- Eurasian Buzzard
- Eurasian Spoonbill
- Eurasian Teal
- Falcated Duck
- Gadwall
- Great Crested Grebe
- Great White Egret
- Grey-lag
- Grey Bunting
- Grey Heron
- Ijima`s Warbler
- Japanese Bush-warbler
- Japanese Green Pigeon
- Japanese Murrelet
- Little Grebe
- Long-billed Plover
- Northern Shoveler
- Pallas's Reed Bunting
- Ryukyu Minivet
- Saunder's Gull
- Shelduck
- Siberian Meadow Bunting
- Temminck's Cormorant
- Varied Tit
- Vega Gull
- White-cheeked Starling
