Exploring the coast of Rausu

After and eventful morning on the frozen sea and traditional Japanese breakfast. We explore the coastal area around Rausu to try and spot some ducks.

The very first bird that I saw is this Japanese wagtail running on the ice surface.

Spotted a flock of very shy Harlequin Duck. They are consider one of the most beautiful duck.

Among the Harlequin Ducks, saw some Goldeneye  too.

Nearer to the shore, spotted some Lesser Scaup.

Is my first time seeing Red-breasted Merganser. Male on top follow by female.

Also at the same area, spotted this Goosander, also known as Common Merganser.

Another first for me is this Black Scoter. Not a bad morning so far before we make our way to another part of the Hokkaido later...

Search for the rarest owl of Japan

Another must do activity when in Rausu is to try your luck to meet the rarest owl of Japan - Blakiston's Fish Owl.

We have an early dinner so that we have enough time to set-up our gears before dark. There is no guarantee that we will get to see the owl. We can only wait at the place the owl will likely hunt for their favorite fish. Some times the owl will only appear again after 3 or 4 nights. We were told that the owl did appear at her favorite spot, we are just hoping for the best.

It was our lucky day, after about one and a half hour of waiting, the owl suddenly appear on the river bank very near to the water edge. Since fish can't hear what is above water, the hour get really near the edge and patiently wait for fish to swim nearer.

When one unlucky fish swim to the pool, the owl strike.

The hunt is successful.

By now my finger is already numb under the sub-zero temperature. Time to go back to our warm bed.

Face to face with largest bird of prey in Rausu

We have an early rest after the trip to Notsuke Peninsula . We need to set-off very early the next day before sun-rise.

We leave our home-stay very early and arrived at the pier around 4.30am. It was already buzzing with  activities.

After about an hour, our boat slowing down for us to catch the sun rise. It was dark and at times it was very slow navigating through the cracked iced sea surface.

I actually watch sun rise in The Land of the Rising Sun!

When the lighting is good enough for fast action birds photograph, we pull our attention back from the horizon to the ice surface in front of us. 

This trip really test my sea birds id skill to the max. Sea gull is one of the most difficult to id as they are just too many variations. Be it age, sex or even sub-species, is just too much for me. So, I will just call them the most common sea gull that can be found here.

Since Slaty-backed Gull is the most common gull here, I will just call them that. 

Oh... first time having a real good look at this largest raptor. When food is scarce in the winter, only the fittest survive. Will we be seeing a lot of fighting among eagles?

Fighting is almost certain during winter. The White-tailed sea eagle trying to snatch the food from Steller's sea eagle on the right.

It did not take long to witness another fight. This time round is the Steller's sea eagle trying to steal the food from White-tailed sea eagle.

The fight is not limited to just on the surface. The fight happens in the mid air too.

It was an action packed 2 hours of intense camera shutter clicks!

When we are back on land after few hours in the sub-zero temperature, my bottled water had became ice.

Is time to head back to our home stay for our breakfast!

Notsuke Peninsula of Hokkaido

Like many of the off-shore island, it is believed that Notsuke Peninsula is sinking year by year. Mainly due to sand deposits being swept away and rising sea level.

The whole of the peninsula is about 28km in length. Notsuke is considered one of the unknown tourist spot due to it's remoteness.

I saw my first ezo red fox the minute I enter the peninsula.

Some part of the sea surface was frozen during the winter and ice fishing seem to be a good past time during winter. 

Some fishing boat are left on the shore during winter.

Public are allowed to drive up to the light house area for bird watching. During summer, these area will be covered by flowers instead of snow.

Driving along the peninsula also bring you very near to the disputed southern Kuril Islands of Russia.

Unique scene during winter... natural "ice-cream cake"!

Splashes from the sea water that frozen become ice during winter.

I will be interested to come back during other season to see this beautiful place with their totally different presentation.