Birding with the Ryugasaki Birdwatching Club

Ukishima - Hasaki 9 am - 4 pm, June 14, 1998


Invited by Terada-san and Asuka-san we joined a pleasant birding event of the Ryugasaki Birdwatching Club. In the morning we visited the reedland of Ukishima along the coast of Kasumigaura. A little south-west of Ukishima Asuka-san showed us a possible breeding site of the Oriental Pratincole: two birds were flying over the sandy field. We had lunch next to a heronry in Azuma-machi, where Cattle, Little, Intermediate and Great Egret, as well as Grey Heron and Black Crowned Heron were breeding. And in the afternoon we had a look around the harbor of Hasaki, just north of Choushi, the fishing port at the mouth of the Tonegawa river, which separates the prefectures of Chiba and Ibaraki.

Highlights: superb views of Japanese Reedbunting, Japanese Marsh Warbler, Fan-tailed warbler, Great reed warbler (red mouth), Black-browed Reed Warbler (yellow/orange mouth) and Red-necked Phalarope.

Participants: ASUKA Haruhiko-san, Neil Fergusson, Fer-Jan de Vries, ASUKA Haruhiko, NARITA-san and TERADA Kazumi-san. In Ukishima a number of members of the Ryugasaki Birdwatching Club were present, including Kantori member KASE Yoshiko. Weather: Rather rainy at moments, but somehow we were lucky that the worst moments were during lunch and on the way to and from Choushi. Not cold. 20 degrees celsius or so.


  1. Spot-billed duck Anas poecilorhyncha [Karu-gamo] Ukishima
  2. Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris [Umineko] Hasaki: several.
  3. Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus [Shiro-kamome] Hasaki: 3 ex.
  4. Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris [Hashiboso-mizunagidori] Hasaki
  5. Common Tern Sterna hirundo [Ajisashi] Hasaki
  6. Little Tern Sterna albifrons [Ko-ajisashi] Hasaki
  7. Chinese Little Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis [Yoshi-goi] Ukishima: 2 ex
  8. Black-crowned night-heron Nycticorax nycticorax [Goi-sagi] Ukishima:
  9. Cattle egret Bubulcus ibis [Ama-sagi] Ukishima
  10. Little egret Egretta garzetta [Ko-sagi] Ukishima
  11. Intermediate egret Egretta intermedia [Chuu-sagi] Ukishima
  12. Gray heron Ardea cinerea [Ao-sagi] Ukishima
  13. Little ringed plover Charadrius dubius [Kochidori] Hasaki: 1 ex.
  14. Snowy plover Charadrius alexandrinus [Shiro-chidori] Hasaki: 3 ex.
  15. Northern Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus [Akaeri-hireashi-shigi] Hasaki: 1 female in summer plugage. Turning around and around and around in a 5 cm deep rain water puddle on the beach. Pecking behind her tail in the water, while circling and circling. Every now and then she would stand up and show a few cm of leg... Not shy at all. We could approach as close as 5 meters. She seemed to be in good health and able to fly.
  16. Indian Pratincole Glareola maldivarum [Tsubame-chidori] 2 ex possible breeding on dry sandy field 1 km sw of Ukishima.
  17. Rufous turtle dove Streptopelia orientalis [Kiji-bato] Ukishima: 2 ex
  18. Rock Pigeon Columbia livia [Do-bato] Hasaki
  19. Skylark Alauda arvensis [Hibari] Ukishima
  20. Barn swallow Hirundo rustica [Tsubame] Ukishima
  21. White wagtail Motacilla alba [Haku-sekirei] Hasaki
  22. Brown-eared bulbul Hypsipetes amaurotis [Hiyodori] Ukishima
  23. Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus [Mozu] Shin-tone: 2 ex.
  24. Bush warbler Cettia diphone [Uguisu] Hasaki
  25. Japanese marsh warbler Megalurus pryeri [Ou-sekka] Ukishima: at least 10.
  26. Fan-tailed warbler Cisticola juncidis [Sekka] Ukishima: at least 10.
  27. Great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus [Ou-yoshikiri] Ukishima: at least 10.
  28. Black-browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps [Ko-yoshikiri] Ukishima: at least 4.
  29. Japanese reed bunting Emberiza yessoensis [Ko-jurin] Ukishima: at least 6.
  30. Tree sparrow Passer montanus [Suzume] Ukishima
  31. Gray starling Sturnus cineraceus [Mukudori] Ukishima
  32. Carrion Crow Corvus corone [Hashiboso-garasu] Ukishima

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