2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Snow Monkeys

Apr 16 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! I’ve already posted about the other Winter Wildlife so this post of the Japanese Snow Monkeys is the last of the 2018 Winter Wildlife tour of Japan.

Japanese Snow Monkeys. Having spent more than 10 days with them from my combined tours of Japan, I’ not sure what else I can say about them. Even with spending that many days with the Japanese Snow Monkeys, I still love observing and photographing them.

The walk to get there is a little long (30-40 minutes on narrow and snowy/icy path) but it’s worth it. After spending just a little time with the monkeys, it’s hard not to smile and enjoy the time with our distant relatives! I’m already looking forward to the 2019 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan so I can go back and see the Japanese Snow Monkeys!

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Red Crowned Cranes in Snow

Apr 12 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! This is the second of two posts of the Japanese Red Crowned Crane and next up, the Japanese Snow Monkeys.

So yes, the Japanese Red-crowned Cranes were in the snow the entire time we were taking photos of them, but one morning we had quite heavy snow, which was majestic to say the least.

Really glad my OMD EM1 Mark II and pro lens were weather proof! At one point though, the snow was so heavy it was almost impossible to focus, still beautiful though! More photos of cranes in the snow from the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan below:

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Red Crowned Cranes

Apr 08 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! This is the first of two posts of the Japanese Red Crowned Crane and then off to the Japanese Snow Monkeys.

Our last stop in Hokkaido was in Kushiro in search of the Japanese Red-crowned Cranes. There are a few locations you can view and photograph the cranes though having visiting all of them last year, we had a good idea of where and when we wanted to be for the cranes.

The gray crane above is actually ironically a “Common Crane” as it was the only one there that day. Made for a nice contrast against the snow and other Japanese Red-crowned cranes. See more photos of the cranes dancing, paying and flying below!

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Whooper Swans in Japan

Apr 04 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! If you have come to this post soon after posting, I’ve already posted about the Steller’s Sea Eagles and Cranes will be coming next, for now, enjoy the Whoops Swans (lake) … sorry couldn’t resist!

Of all the animals we photographed in the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan, the Whooper Swans were the hardest for me in some ways. To be honest, mainly it was because I wasn’t as interested in the swans and they weren’t as active as the other animals.

To come away with photos I was happy with, I really had to think about the story I wanted to tell with my photos of the swans in Japan, elegance, beauty and grace of the swans. Somehow I did manage to come away with some other interesting photos of the swans as well though!