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!

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Steller’s Eagles On Ice

Apr 01 | 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 third of 3 posts about Steller’s Sea Eagles, next are the Whooper Swans in Kawayu onsen!

Compared to last year, the drift ice that usually comes into Rausu was nonexistent! Apparently the captain told me that there had been very little drift ice this year due to direction of the wind and other conditions. At least we found one spot close to the shore where the water was calm enough that it had a thin layer of ice above the sea for the Steller’s Sea Eagles to land on.

For me, this worked out great and I felt I could see more personality from the eagles for some reason. Perhaps it was just because the eagles actually stayed in place for a few seconds rather than flying in and flying off! Also the reflection on the ice was quite nice.

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Steller’s Eagles Catching Fish

Mar 29 | 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 3 posts about Steller’s Sea Eagles, one more about the eagles in Japan and then off to the Whooper Swans!

I mentioned in my previous post about the eagles how I love to watch them fly. Their attack and capture is quite impressive as well! The Steller’s Sea Eagles approach is fast and efficient. Even though I knew and could anticipate what they were going to do to some extent, photographing the eagles was not easy due to their speed and agility. Luckily we had enough boat rides and time with the eagles in Rausu for me to come away with a few images I was happy with!