Miyake-jima

We stayed overnight on Miyake-jima between the ferry rides and while on the island, we spent some time, of course!, on birding.

Japanese White-eye (Mejiroメジロ) 

They are called Shichito-mejiro(シチトウメジロ), considered as a subspecies of the Japanese white-eye found in mainland Japan.

Varied tit (Yamagaraヤマガラ)

The lodging we stayed in had a bird friendly garden, which had a few feeders and a birdbath. Lovely!

The Varied tit is also a subspecies and called the Owston Yamagara(オーストンヤマガラ). Unlike the white-eye, the varied tit shows obvious differences. The ones we see in Chiba have a white forehead, nape and cheeks whereas the Owston's is orange-brown in those parts. I found the calls are a bit different too.

Oriental (Grey-capped) greenfinch (Kawarahiwaカワラヒワ)

Mr Minowa, our guide, said that these greenfinch are likely to be a subspecies called Oo-kawarahiwa (オオカワラヒワ), which are wintering here and soon going back to places like Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. Oh dear, I don't think I could follow all of the subspecies!

Japanese Robin (Komadoriコマドリ)

The Japanese robin on mainland Japan is a summer bird but the subspecies found in the Izu Islands are residents and called Tane-komadori(タネコマドリ). The obvious difference is that Tane-komadori lacks a black band between its orange breast and pale grey belly. Their songs are beautiful and they start singing well before the dawn just like the European robin, although the Tane-komadori doesn't sing during the winter.

Japanese pygmy woodpecker (Kogeraコゲラ)

【Warning】 Another subspecies!😂

Miyake-kogera(ミヤケコゲラ) are a subspecies of the Japanese pygmy woodpecker only found in the Izu islands and Yaku-shima but it is almost impossible to tell the difference by sight.

 

Japanese Woodpigeon (Karasubatoカラスバト)

No more subspecies, phew.

The Japanese woodpigeon is only found in islands in the far eastern region. Its extremely secretive and nervous character makes it very difficult to spot them even though their calls are often heard. It would be lucky if you spot them flying very fast between hills or over the canopy but we were truly lucky to see one in a tree. 

We had 8 target birds to see on the island - Izu thrush, Ijima's leaf warbler, Japanese woodpigeon, Owston's varied tit, Wren (subspecies), Japanese robin, Japanese white-eye, Japanese pygmy woodpecker - and thanks to our wonderful guide, Mr Minowa, we had a great view of each of them.

Excellent!

The map shows the locations of the Izu Islands and ferry routes.

You can visit the page of our trip to Hachijo-jima in 2014 by clicking here ↓

Hachijo-jima 1

Hachijo-jima 2 

Hachijo-jima 3

Albatross

During a ferry trip to the Izu Islands, we saw our first Short-tailed Albatrosses (Ahodoriアホウドリ)!

The left one is a young Short-tailed albatross with a Laysan albatross (Ko-ahodoriコアホウドリ) (the smaller white headed one on the right).

I wish I could have taken photos of them flying gracefully but got too excited to take my eyes off them every time they were close to the ship.

These are Black-footed albatrosses (Kuroashi-ahodoriクロアシアホウドリ), which are breeding on some of the islets and islands in the Izu Islands, so we saw more of them than the other two albatrosses species.

Streaked shearwaters (Oomizunagidoriオオミズナギドリ) are the most abundant species in the area and can be seen almost all the way to Hachijo-jima Island. 

There is no photo but we saw Parasitic & Long-tailed skuas, Japanese murrelets, Leach's storm petrels, Black-tailed gulls, Japanese cormorants and a Grey heron (Aosagiアオサギ).

The trip was led by an excellent guide, Mr Minowa, who is an ornithologist, naturalist and wildlife illustrator. It was fascinating to know about seabirds and actually see them in their element.

 

Mr Minowa's new book―"The Handbook of Seabirds" has detailed information with pictures of all the seabirds which are likely to be seen around Japan. Very handy indeed!

 

 

Streaked Shearwater

 lots and lots and lots of Streaked shearwaters!! (Oomizunagidoriオオミズナギドリ)