By mid-may, most of the migration excitement is over, but there are still a variety of "gettable" waders and terns at Mai Po Nature Reserve, when conditions are right.
By mid-may, most of the migration excitement is over, but there are still a variety of "gettable" waders and terns at Mai Po Nature Reserve, when conditions are right.
Japan has two well-known "Wintering Crane" spectacles - the Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido in the northeast of the country and the Hooded Cranes on the island of Kyushu in the southwest.
Hokkaido has more snow, but Kyushu has more cranes, - many MANY more cranes. In fact over 12,000 in recent winters.
I was reminded of this recently when thumbing through Mark Brazil's "JAPAN - The natural history of an Asian Archipelago".
Kagoshima is a modestly-priced three hour direct flight (HK Express UO846) from Hong Kong, and is only 80km from the cranes.
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Visitor Centre at Arasaki |
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View from the visitor Centre |
I used a Canon 1DX II and 400mm lens, sometimes with a 1.4x converter.
All these photos were taken in three days between 31 Jan and 2 February 2024.