2017 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Dancing Red-Crowned Cranes

Mar 16 | Evan | No Comments |

Photographing the the Japanese red-crowned crane in flight was interesting but after a short time with the cranes in Kushiro, I really was enjoying their dance moves more than their flight patterns! There are a few different locations to photograph the red-crowned Japanese crane that having feeding times and it seemed the cranes were most active after getting a nice meal. Sometimes the cranes seemed to be practicing by themselves or would pick up a leaf and throw it in the air as perhaps a game.

Like the monkeys in Jigokudani, the red-crowned cranes were quite interesting to observe. In this series, it looks like the cranes are performing some kind of martial arts choreographed scene from a movie! No matter what the moves are, the red-crowned cranes were very playful and graceful.

According to the International Crane Foundation, their are only around 1700 – 2000 red-crowned cranes remaining and despite a few feeding grounds, their population is decreasing with the main threat because of their habitat shrinking. The red-crowned cranes that do live in Hokkaido do not migrate and seemed to have picked up some Japanese characteristics. Whether the cranes are dancing or play fighting, they are Japanese after all as they bow quite a bit!

In collaboration with Magic Is Photo Safaris, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers for a Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan in search of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! To see more photos from our photo safari in Japan, view the 2017 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report.

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2017 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Red-Crowned Cranes

Mar 15 | Evan | No Comments |

After a great few days with the snow monkeys in Jigokudani, Nagano Prefecture, our 2017 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan would continue on to Japan’s northern most island, Hokkaido. Our first stop was in Kushiro to photograph the red-crowned crane, also known as Japanese crane or Manchurian crane. While I had a good idea how I wanted to photograph the Japanese snow monkeys, this would really be my first serious attempt at any kind of bird photography and wasn’t sure what to expect or what I hoped to accomplish with these amazing birds. My first thought was the obvious, birds are unique because they fly, so I need to photograph them flying.

Luckily, our tour in Japan gave me 4 days to photograph the red crowned cranes to try and get a better feel for bird photography and specifically how it relates to the the red-crowned cranes. While these flying photos are fine, though they aren’t my favorite photographs of what I created with the Japanese cranes, but rather the obligatory “I was there shots”. After a short time in Kurshiro, I quickly learned was how playful the cranes were. Sometimes the cranes played by themselves picking up a leaf from the ground and throwing it up in the air and sometimes as a pair, dancing the day away…. Those playing and dancing red-crowned crane photos are coming soon!