Cranes in Izumi and Magpies in Kurume, Kyushu

Izumi is a traditional wintering place at Kyushu which is boosted by the artificial feeding by the 76 year old rice farmer and birdwatcher Matano-san. He started this feeding in 62/63. With great success, measured both by the current number of cranes as well as by the increasing environmental efforts by the local goverment, which has recognized the touristic impact. Pictures of the cranes can be found all over Izumi city. Busses with tourist watch only from one or two spots, so the disturbance seems minimal.

I was lucky. In October a Demoiselle Crane was already spotted, but since my last information also a Siberian Crane had arrived, and this Sunday a Sandhill Crane was observed for the first time this season. The Siberian Crane quietely moves within the big group, usually accompagnied by White-naped cranes, but the other two species are smaller than the others, and pestered and pecked at by the Hooded and White-naped Cranes. As usual there are some Common Cranes as well as hybrids, Hooded x Common Crane.

Besides the cranes there were big flocks of rooks and of ducks on the ricefields, mainly consisting of Wigeon, Pintail and Mallard. Other observations I was happy with in the area: an immature Saunders Gull hunting for crab in a mudflat (rather uncommon for this part of Kyushu), two Eurasian Spoonbills, a Red-necked Grebe (my first in Japan) and a Gray-headed Bunting. And from the train I was able to see in total 10 Magpies (my first in Japan) in the neighborhood of Kurume, south of Fukuoka.

The weather was perfect, not cold in the night and early morning, bright and sunny during the day. No wind. I did not visit the reedbeds west of the Minshuku of Matano-san and checked only the crane fields and the river.

A good source of information is the report The Cranes Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. The full title is:

Meine, Curt D. and George W. Archibald (Eds).  1996.  The cranes: - Status 
     survey and conservation action plan.  IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and 
     Cambridge, U.K. 294pp.  Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page.
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/birds/cranes/cranes.htm
     (Version 02MAR98).

Cranes in Izumi, Kyushu

November 6-7, 1999

1. Red-necked grebe Podiceps grisegena [Akaeri-kaitsuburi] Winterplumage with prominent yellow bill.
2. Little grebe Podiceps ruficollis [Kaitsuburi]
3. Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo [Kawa-u]
4. Mute Swan Cygnus olor [Kobu-hakuchoo] 2 males.
5. Spot-billed duck Anas poecilorhyncha [Karu-gamo]
6. Mallard Anas Platyrhynchos [Ma-gamo]
7. Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata [Hashibiro-gamo]
8. Green-winged Teal Anas crecca crecca [Ko-gamo]
9. Northern Pintail Anas acuta [Onaga-gamo]
10. Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope [Hidori-gamo]
11. Herring Gull Larus argentatus [Seguro-kamome] 1 ex above the sea
12. Saunders's Gull Larus saundersi [Zuguro-kamome] 1 immature hunting for crab near the bridge over the river during low tide. Strange was the beak; black and sturdy as it should be, but the white of the skin covered half of the upper mandible. Otherwise a normal Saunder's: black legs with red feet, sturdy neck, ear patches.
13. Black-crowned night-heron Nycticorax nycticorax [Goi-sagi]
14. Little egret Egretta garzetta [Ko-sagi]
15. Intermediate egret Egretta intermedia [Chuu-sagi]
16. Great egret Egretta alba [Dai-sagi]
17. Gray heron Ardea cinerea [Ao-sagi]
18. Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia [Herasagi] 2 ex in the canal along the seadyke, in the polder NE of the polder of Matano-san's fields. There is a big white building with a green roof. On the NE of the building is shallow water, apparently.
19. Common crane Grus grus [Kuro-zuru] > 2
20. Hooded crane Grus monacha [Nabe-zuru] > 6000
21. Sandhill crane Grus candensis [Kanada-zuru] 1 ex. Adult. Overal grey, some feathers on back had brown ends, red head patch, lighter colored cheecks. Seemed to prefer the presence of a family of White-naped Cranes.
22. Demoiselle crane Anthropoides virgo [Aneha-zuru] 1 ex. Adult. White patch on head is dirty light grey. Thin black neck made it easily identifiable at a distance. Also the way it walks is different. It keeps the head more stationary when it walks: it first put forward the head, then walks the rest of the body underneath it, and puts the head forward again. The bigger cranes do this in a slower less noticable way.
23. Siberian white crane Grus leucogeranus [Sodeguro-zuru] 1 ex. Adult. Likes the water.
24. White-naped crane Grus vipio [Mana-zuru] >2000.
25. Common Gallinule Gallinula chloropus [Ban]
26. Little ringed plover Charadrius dubius [Ko-chidori]
27. (Northern) Lapwing Vanellus vanellus [Tageri] > 70
28. Common sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos [Iso-shigi] > 10
29. Dunlin Calidris alpina [Hama-shigi] > 40
30. Common snipe Gallinago gallinago [Ta-shigi] > 20
31. Greenshank Tringa nebularis [Aoashi-shigi] 1
32. Osprey Pandion haliaetus [Misago] 2
33. Black kite Milvus migrans [Tobi] > 5
34. Common buzzard Buteo buteo [Nosuri] 1
35. Peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus [Haya-busa] 1 ex. Posing next to the ducks on the edge of a ricefield.
36. Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus [Chougenbou] 2 ex hunting for Skylarks.
37. Bamboo Partridge Bambusicola thoracica [Kojukei] > 20
38. Common pheasant Phasianus colchicus [Kiji] > 4
39. Rufous turtle dove Streptopelia orientalis [Kiji-bato] >10
40. Rock pigeon Columbia livia [Do-bato] > 5
41. Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis [Kawa-semi] > 8
42. Skylark Alauda arvensis [Hibari] > 30
43. Gray wagtail Motacilla cinerea [Ki-sekirei] > 5
44. White wagtail Haku-sekirei [Motacilla alba] >10
45. Japanese wagtail Motacilla grandis [Seguro-sekirei] 2
46. Water pipit Anthus spinoletta [Tahibari] > 10
47. Brown-eared bulbul Hypsipetes amaurotis [Hiyodori] 5
48. Bull-headed shrike Lanius bucephalus [Mozu] 1 (female without black eye patch)
49. Daurian redstart Phoenicurus auroreus [Joobitaki] > 5
50. Stonechat Saxicola torquata [No-bitaki] 1 ex
51. Fan-tailed warbler Cisticola juncidis [Sekka] 1 ex
52. Siberian meadow bunting Emberiza cioides [Hoojiro] . 10
53. Gray-headed Bunting Emberiza fucata [Hoo-aka] 1 ex near matano's sans Minshuku.
54. Oriental greenfinch Carduelis sinica [Kawarahiwa] > 200
55. Tree sparrow Passer montanus [Suzume] >200
56. Gray starling Sturnus cineraceus [Mukudori] . 50
57. Daurian Jackdaw Corvus dauricus [Kokumaru-garasu] 2 ex, dark subspecies. (why so few this time?)
58. Rook Corvus frugilegus [Miyama-garasu] > 6000
59. Carrion crow Corvus corone [Hashiboso-garasu] > 10
60. Jungle crow Corvus macrorhynchos [Hashibuto-garasu] > 20