INTERESTING BIRDS IN JAPAN: SWANS, IMPALERS AND PHEASANTS

BIRDS IN JAPAN

three-toed woodpecker

Winter is a good time to enjoy birdwatching in Japan as that is when many species of migratory birds, especially ducks and other waterfowl, spend their time in Japan. In the spring they fly off to their nesting grounds further north. Japan is an important stop for birds using the East Asia-Australia flyway. Birds such as golden plovers and warblers stop in rice fields in Japan during their migrations between wintering areas in the southern hemisphere and breeding places in the Arctic.

Yata-garasu is a giant three-legged crow that played an important role in Japan’s creation myth. The son of the Sun Goddess, he led the descendants of the sun Goddess to the homeland of the Japanese in Nara Prefecture. Yata-garasu is the featured on the emblems worn by the Japanese national soccer team. Pheasants are the national bird of Japan. In 2008, a South Korea group decapitated pheasants in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to protest Japanese claims on a groups of islets claimed by both Japan and South Korea. See Below

Many birds seen in Japan are also found in Asia. The Ural owl is one of the most commonly seen and heard owls in Japan. It has been said its hoot gave birth to stories for yokai monsters. Woodpecker are rare and mainly seen in Hokkaido. They include Pryer's woodpecker (Sapheopipo noguchii), the White-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos Ieucotos owstoni, Amami-oshima subuspecies) and the three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus inouyei, Japanese sub-species). Peafowls (peacocks) have overrun the small resort island of Kohamajima in Okinawa prefecture. They are blamed for the decline of Kishonoue’s giant skink, the largest lizard in Japan.

Bird Guidebooks “Guide to the Birds of China” by John MacKinnon (Oxford University Press), “A field Guide to the Birds of Russia and Adjacent Territories” by V.E. Flint (Princeton University Press)and a “Birdwatchers's Guide to Japan” by Mark Brazil (Kodansha). Birding Websites: Birds of Japan Gallery by Monte Taylor Birds of Japan ; Birding Hotspots JapanBirding Hotspots Birdwatching in Japan Birding Pal; ;Bird Life International birdlife.org

Wading Birds and Raptors

Wading birds such as herons, egrets, and storks do well in rice paddies, where they feed on fish frogs, crawfish and aquatic insects. For them paddies are like a kind of marshland. However the numbers of "common" white egrets, great gray herons (blue herons), and black-crowned night herons are declining due to the deterioration of the rice paddy environment and loss of forest nesting sites.

Wading birds are birds that wade in water that reaches part way up their legs. Large waders include herons, storks, ibises, spoonbills, flamingos and cranes. These birds have long legs, a long bill and wade in water to feed. The shape of the bill is often the key to identification.

Large waders are associated with wetlands. They typically stand in shallow water and feed on frogs, fish and insects. For large prey such as snakes, fish and frog, the bird’s maneuver the prey insides their mouth so it goes down head first. Otherwise the legs might get caught up in the bird’s throat.

Even though wading birds spend much of their time in wetlands they often have forest nesting sites. Many large waders migrate considerable distances to escape the cold. Their migration is prompted by a search for food and the fact their large bodies are difficult to keep warm.

Many endangered raptor species, including falcons and goshawks, have taken up residence in high rises in Tokyo and other cities, using pigeons as their primary food source.

Herons and Egrets

White Heron at Water's Edge (1873) by Takahashi Bihō

There are 61 species of heron. They have straight bills and long legs and differ from other birds in that they have specialized feathers, called powder down, that never molt but fray at the tip and grow continuously.

Herons lack the large oil gland in their skin that most birds have and use to anoint their feathers and keep them water repellant. Instead herons condition their feathers with fine talc-like dust, powder-down, that is produced by the continuously fraying of the tips of special feathers scattered through their plumage.

Some herons use bait like a fishermen. They collects some bread or a worm and throw it on the surface of a lake. When small fish come to feed the herons snatches them.

Egrets are a kind of heron. The word egret is derived from the term “aigret,” which described the filamentous breeding plumes found in six species of white heron. The definition has since been broadened to include several species of herons that lack the glamorous plumes and are not white Egrets were once slaughtered for their plumes which they displayed only during the breeding season and were valued decorations for women’s hats.

Herons in Japan

Herons are common sights in Japanese rice paddies. The black-crowned night heron, or goi-sagi, and the gray heron, or ao-sagi are the two mostly widely distributed species. Their favorite time to catch food is at dusk. Kevin Short wrote in the Daily Yomiuri, “Standing still in the shallows or in the reeds along the bank, the herons' varying shades of gray, blue and black blend perfectly into the fading light and deepening shadows. Often, one does not even become aware of them until they move.”[Source: Kevin Short, Daily Yomiuri, September 23, 2010]

“Herons are superb hunters, standing patiently in ambush, waiting for an unwary fish or frog to wander into striking range. Then their neck snaps out with lightning speed. Unlike birds of prey, which rip their prey apart, herons simply swallow everything whole. To do this they often have to reposition the captured frog or fish so that it slides down their throat head first. Otherwise the legs or fins could get hung up and choke them to death.”

“Both these species are gray and blue-black, with plumes extending backward behind their head. The gray heron, however, is a much larger bird, nearly a full meter from tail to tip of bill as opposed to only 60 cm or so for the night heron. Also, the gray heron has yellow eyes and bill, while the night heron's eyes are fiery red and its bill black.”

“In addition to being great hunters, these herons are among the most eerie of creatures. To begin with, their large, fierce eyes have an almost hypnotic power. Also, when they take to the sky they utter hoarse "Guwah! Guwah!" croaks that can only be described as "murderous," or at least "bone-chilling." Not surprisingly, the Japanese have since long ago considered these herons to be "ayashii," a wonderful term that when used in this sense carries the connotation of being "spooky," "weird" or "eerie." The kanji character for ayashii, which can also be read as "kai," is used in combination with another character, "yo," which means to be "bewitching" or "enchanting," to form the compound "yokai" “a general term for various types of Japanese fairies, ghosts, goblins and demons.”

“Eerie heron appear in two of Japan's most famous books of classical yokai. In Sekien Toriyama's 1776 Konjaku Gazu Zokuhyakki (The Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Past and Present), for example, is a drawing of a yokai known as the Aosagi no Hi, or "Flame of the Grey Heron." A heron sits hunkered down on a tree branch, emitting rays of eerie light. A very similar portrayal of a night heron, called the Goi no Hikari, or "Glow of the Night Heron," comes from Shunsen Takehara's 1841 Ehon Hyaku Monogatari (A Hundred Illustrated Tales).

“Herons, along with bitterns and egrets, are members of the Ardeidae, a family of aquatic wading birds with about 60 or so species worldwide. Japan, endowed with rice paddies and various other rich waterside habitats, is home to about 20 species. Bitterns are smaller birds with shorter legs and necks, usually colored a speckled brown. They are shy and secretive, and so excellently camouflaged that they are rarely glimpsed.”

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Steller's sea eagle “Friends often ask me about the difference between the English words heron and egret, both of which are referred to generically as sagi in Japanese. Actually, the use of these two terms is based more on custom than on biology or taxonomy. Generally speaking, white birds are called egrets, and darker ones herons. The largest of the white forms, for example, is commonly called the great egret (dai-sagi in Japanese), but is actually in the same genus as the gray heron (Ardea). On the other hand, a black form called the eastern reef heron (kuro-sagi) is classified in the same genus (Egretta) as the smaller white forms like the little egret (ko-sagi) and intermediate egret (chuu-sagi).”

The gray heron (A. cinerea) is common clear across the Eurasian continent. A separate but very similar-looking and closely related species, the great blue heron (A. herodias), inhabits North America. This causes some confusion, as the Japanese name for the grey heron, ao-sagi, literally means "blue heron."

Steller's Sea Eagle

The Steller's sea eagle is one the world's most spectacular looking birds. Black, except for white stripes on its tail legs and wings, it is slightly larger than the American bald eagle, with a wingspan of up three meters, a body length of one meter, and weighing between 5.5 and 9 kilograms. They often look bigger because they often fluff up their feathers for better insulation.

Steller's sea eaglets are black and fledge in 90 days. Their striking white shoulders, tail, legs and forehead do not develop for six to eight years.

Inhabiting the frigid coastal waters off of eastern Russia and Hokkaido, Japan, they gather in the winter at Nemuro Channel to feast on small fish known as o-washi in Japan, sometimes resting on platforms of sea ice. About 6,000 to 7,000 Stellers' Sea Eagles remain, with about 2,000 gathering to feed off the northeast coast Hokkaido in the winter. Many follow fishing boats or gather in the morning near fishermen to collect leftovers.

Steller's sea eagle are named after George Steller, a German naturalist who explored the Kamchatka in the 1740s. They have been carefully studied by Russian biologist Alexander Ladygin.

Stellar sea eagles have problems with lead poisoning in their wintering ground in Hokkaido. Their main prey walleye pollack has been reduced by overfishing. Many eagles have turned to eating sitka deer carcasses left by hunters that are filled with lead shot. Environmentalists suggest requiring hunters to use copper bullets or shotgun shells rather than lead shot.

Blakiston's Fish Owl

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Blakiston's fish owl is the world's largest owl. Found in east half of Hokkaido and the Russian islands of Sakhalin, Kunashiri and Etorofu, it has a wing span of 1.8 meters and measures 70 centimeters in height and weighs four kilograms. The Ainu gave it many names and revered it as a guardian of villages and a god that cries at night and protects the country. The Japanese have traditional associated owls with happiness and good luck and are fond of buying owl ornaments.

Blakiston's fish owls like most owls are nocturnal. In Japan they primarily eat freshwater fish such as “ayu” (sweetfish), salmon and trout as well as the occasional rodent. Male and females call each other with a closely synchronized “ bo-bohhh”, “ bo-bohhh” that sounds likes they are coming from a single bird.

Blakiston's fish owl is seriously endangered. There are about 130 birds living in Hokkaido. This is better than 1984, when there were 30 or 40. Naturalists hope the number will increase to 200 in the not too distant future. To help them they have built over 100 government-funded nesting boxes and handful of winter feeding stations, where naturalists leave out fish because the owls can not catch fish in frozen rivers. There are plans to make tree corridors to link forested areas together.

The Blakiston's fish owl is also known as the Blakiston's eagle owl. It is named after Thomas Wright Blakiston, a British businessman and amateur naturalist who lived in Hokkaido in the late 1800s, and ironically has as much to do with the bird’s demise as anyone. After bringing lumber equipment half way around the world to harvest timber in eastern Siberia he was denied permission to take the trees there in 1861 and instead came to Hokkaido where he hauled away timber from the island’s riche old-growth forests.

Red-Crowned Cranes (Japanese Cranes)

Red-crowned cranes are the national bird of China and the largest birds in Japan. They are very important to both countries. Declared "special natural monuments," they inhabit parts of China, Siberia, Korea and eastern Hokkaido. They are known in Japanese as “tancho” (“red mountain”) and in English as the Japanese crane and the red-crowned crane. Many places and families across Japan have the word “tsuru,” or crane, in their names. Sources: Jennifer Ackerman, National Geographic, January 2003, Tsuneo Hayashida, National Geographic, October 1983]

Red-crowned cranes are the second rarest crane in the world. They can be found at the Amur River basin in eastern Russia and in southeastern Asia, including China and Japan. They are a migratory species that spend their springs and summers in the wetlands of temperate East Asia and their winters in the salt and freshwater marshes of China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. A non-migratory population lives year-round in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. [Source: Victoria DeCarlo, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

Red-crowned cranes live in northern temperate areas with a climate similar to the northern U.S. and Europe. They can also be found in marshes and other wetlands as well as agricultural areas and nest and feed in marshes with deep water. This habitat preference is unusual for cranes; most of whom prefer shallow water. Red-crowned cranes only in areas with standing dead vegetation.

Ducks in Japan

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Seven species of duck are commonly spotted in Japan even in big city parks: 1) Spot-billed ducks are large, with brown makings and a distinctive bright orange spots on the tips of their bill. They only ducks that stays in Japan throughout the years, they nest in reed beds along the water’s edge and are unusual in that males and females have the same markings. 2) Pintails are large ducks with a brown head and a white mark running up their side. Their extra long tails make them easy to identify. 3) Mallard males have a yellow bill and an irredecent green head. Females are drab brown.

4) Shovellers are medium-size ducks. Both sexes have very long, wide comb-filled bills used to strain algae and plankton from the water. Males have a white body with wide chestnut band in the belly. Some say they look a little like mallard except for their distinctive bill. 5) Green-winged teals are very small ducks with chestnut brown heads and iridescent green patches curving around their eyes down to the neck. They also have a yellow patch at the base of their tail. 6) Pochards are medium-size ducks with brownish red heads and bright red eyes, black breasts, white or gray bodies and black tails. 7) Tufted ducks are small with iridescent black heads, breasts and backs and white bellies. A long black crest runs down the back of the head. The eyes are yellow.

Most ducks in Japan winter there and breed on the lakes and tundra of Mongolia and Siberia in the summer. In some places farmers uses “duck traps” to catch teals and ducks. The farmers first attract birds to a pond by sprinkling grain on the water and continue doing that for a while until the ducks become comfortable at the pond. Then one night the farmers hide in a tent and when the ducks have settled spring out and catch the ducks with nets.

Mandarin Ducks — Symbols of Love and Fidelity

Mandarin ducks (Aix galericulata) live year-round in Japan and are held in high regard in China and Japan, where they are perceived as symbols of happiness and marital fidelity. According to Chinese folklore, when a pair of Mandarin ducks becomes husband and wife, they love each other for the rest of their life. Chinese people often regard them as the symbol of love.

Mandarin ducks are unremarkable-looking birds most of the year, with a grey head and dappled brown body. But during the mating season they go through a remarkable transformation. The top of their head turns glossy green, a ruff of pointed feathers sprout from around the neck and triangular sails emerge from the wings.

Also known as Chinese wood ducks, Mandarins mainly live in river valleys and forested and mountainous areas. They prefer wooded ponds and lakes, marshland fast flowing rocky streams to swim, wade, and feed in. They eat fruit, crops and other vegetation, fish, shrimp, frogs and other small animals. They are regarded as threatened not endangered species. They can usually be found in northeast, south and east China, Taiwan, Korea, Eastern Russia and Japan but are also seen elsewhere. There is a small free-flying population in Britain stemming from the release captive bred ducks. They have been exported to the west, namely Britain, since 1745. They are bred in captivity by European avicultururalists. |=|

Swans in Japan

Three species of swan are found in Japan: 1) the whooper swan (C. cygnus), 2) tundra swan (C. columbianus) and 3) mute swan (C. olos), Of these, the mute swan or kobu-hakucho is an escaped alien species that lives year round on lakes and marshes. The other two species breed in Siberia, and migrate several thousand kilometers to spend the winter here. [Source: Kevin Short, Japan News, November 11, 2014]

Kevin Short wrote in the Japan News: “The tundra swans, called kohakucho or “little swans” in Japanese, are noticeably smaller than the whoopers. The shape of the yellow bill markings vary widely from bird to bird, but never extend past the nostrils. These swans nest on the Siberian tundra, to the north of the whoopers. Their migration route covers 4,000 kilometers.

“The classification of the tundra swan is still uncertain. Formerly the Asian and North American populations were considered to represent separate species, respectively C. bewickii and C. columbianus. The swans that winter in Japan were placed in the Asian group, and were called Bewick’s swan. Most ornithologists now believe all these swans comprise a single widely distributed species, and in newer books the ko-hakucho is now listed as the tundra swan.

Whooper Swans in Japan

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Both whooping swans and whistler swans winter in Japan. “Whooper swans, called ohakucho or “large-swans” in Japanese, are among the heaviest flying birds, with males usually weighing around 10 kilograms. These birds breed on lakes and marshes in the Siberian boreal forest zone. They leave their breeding grounds in October, and slowly work their way southward.[Source: Kevin Short, Japan News, November 11, 2014]

The whoopers in Japan breed in eastern Siberia and winter in unfrozen ponds, lakes and bays in Japan. They begin mating after reaching age of three or four and build large nests from reeds and sedges with the female incubating the eggs while the makes forages for food. The young are grey in color. They stay with their parents during the first winter.

Kevin Short wrote in the Japan News: “Radio collar research conducted by the Biodiversity Center of Japan indicates that one of the main migration routes for whooper swans passes through the island of Sakhalin (Karafuto) and on into Hokkaido, but some birds may also come via the Kamchatka Peninsula. One family that winters every year on a small artificial pond next to my home in northern Chiba Prefecture, may mark the southernmost limit of their distribution.

Great flocks with thousands of whopper swans stop in eastern Hokkaido in November and December on their way from Siberia to warm areas in Honshu. To help swans survive the winter local people often scatter grain in pond water to make sure they get enough to eat. Hundreds of swans spend the winter at Kussharo Lake in Akan National Park in Hokkaido where hot springs keep parts of the lake unfrozen throughout the winter and busloads of tourist throw bread and chips and food to them. The swans have gotten so used to the feeding ritual they sometimes eat out of

Japanese Pheasants

The Japanese pheasant is a large bird and is the national bird of Japan. The male is prized for his fearless courage and fighting spirit, while the female is idolized for her selfless devotion to her nest and brood. In one famous Japanese fairytale, Momotaro, a pheasant accompanies the boy hero on his successful mission to subdue a group of oni demons. [Source: Kevin Short, Daily Yomiuri, February 17, 2011]

Kevin Short wrote in the Daily Yomiuri, “The pheasants, or kiji, are among the most spectacular birds in the Japanese countryside. Their heads and necks are shiny purple, and decorated with a bright red fleshy wattle. Their chests are a deep iridescent green, wings bluish-grey with reddish brown markings. The incredibly long tail is light pinkish-brown with dark barring.”

“In the past, the kiji were considered to be a local subspecies of the common, or ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), that is distributed clear across the Eurasian continent, and has also been introduced into North America. Most ornithologists, however, now classify them as an independent endemic Japanese species (P. versicolor), called either the green pheasant or Japanese pheasant. Researchers divide the Japanese birds into four different races based on geographical distribution.”

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pheasant
Japan's national bird “Pheasants are members of the avian Order Galliformes (kiji-moku in Japanese), which also includes grouses, ptarmigans, rails, partridges, quails, turkeys and chickens. Most of the 250 species found worldwide are heavyset birds with plump bodies, short rounded wings and powerful legs. They spend most of their time on the ground, and are strong runners but mediocre fliers. Many forms are capable of only short bursts of flight, which they employ as a last-ditch method to escape predation.”

“The males of many galliform species are extremely colorful, with ruffs, wattles, combs and other fleshy attachments adorning their head. They engage in elaborate mating displays, and in many species also in violent fights over territorial and mating rights. Sharp horny spurs (kedzume) sticking out from the back of their legs are used as lethal weapons in these fights, and can result in severe injury or even death to the loser.”

“Japanese kiji begin their mating season toward the end of winter, conveniently right after the hunting season is over. Males can be seen strutting their stuff in open hatake fields, usually within a quick glide of the nearest woods. In addition to their loud calls, the males proclaim their territory by drumming, a deep vibrating sound produced by beating their wings against their bodies. A violent confrontation often occurs when two equally matched males meet along the borders of their respective territories. Some of these fights, which involve fierce body-slamming and kung-fu style kicks with the sharp spurs, have been recorded to last up to several hours.”

“Female kiji, considerably smaller and colored a drab brown, move around freely, passing through the territories of several males. Each male puts on an ostentatious display of his finery, but it is the female who decides which suitor she likes best. After mating the female builds a simple nest, usually well-hidden on the ground in dense brush. She relies on her drab brown color to blend in with the background. The male has nothing further to do with protecting the eggs or raising the chicks, but the female will remain on the nest even as danger approaches.”

“Pheasant eggs are incubated for a period of three weeks to a month, and the entire clutch hatches out all at once. The chicks are able to walk almost as soon as they hatch, and begin flying in a few days. The mother leads her brood, which may start off with as many a dozen chicks, on forages for food. Pheasants are ground feeders, concentrating on seeds and other vegetative material but also taking insects and other small invertebrates as well.”

“Although pheasants are shot in large numbers each year, there is no danger of them becoming extinct. To the contrary, more birds are released each year than are harvested, and local populations are on the increase. Farmers frequently report seeing male pheasants feeding on young snakes, and increases in pheasant populations may be having a detrimental effect on the ecological balance.”

Japan is home to four other native galliforms; the copper pheasant (yamadori), rock ptarmigan (raicho), hazel grouse (ezoraicho) and Japanese quail (uzura). The other popular hunting gamebird, the Chinese bamboo partridge (kojukei) is not a Japanese native at all, but was introduced here from China in the early 20th century. As the early spring mating season approaches, their cries are as loud as the pheasant, but the birds themselves rarely come out of the dense brush they prefer to live in. To Japanese ears the kojukei's call sounds like "Chotto-koi Chottokoi" (lioterally "Come here for a minute").

Bull-Headed Shrike, the Thorn Impaler

The bull-headed shrike is a medium-size but heavy-set bird, with a thick neck and broad head that is brownish-gray in color and a thick black or very dark brown eye stripe — is commonly seen in Japan. Males show a distinctive white spot on their wings, which can be seen in flight and also when the bird is perched. Females lack this patch.[Source: Kevin Short, Yomiuri Shimbun. September 15, 2011]

Kevin Short wrote in the Yomiuri Shimbun, “Shrikes are also famous for engaging in the curious practice of impaling their prey on sharp thorns. This behavior, called hayanie in Japanese, suggests several interpretations. The simplest of these is that lacking the impressive talons of true raptors, the shrikes use impaling as a method of stabilizing their prey while they tear it apart. This explanation may work well for larger prey, such as fish, frogs, lizards and small mammals such as mice or moles, but I have also seen fairly small insects, that could easily be swallowed in one or two gulps, impaled on thorns.

Another commonly cited interpretation is that the hayanie behavior is just a method of storing away some food for the upcoming winter. Others, however, have suggested that the impalements might serve as a means of marking individual territory. In many areas, folk wisdom holds that the position of the local shrikes' hayanie can be used to predict the severity of the coming winter. The higher the impaled victims are placed, the deeper the snows will be.

Shrikes impale their victims on naturally occurring thorns, as well as on short, sharp winter buds. They also take advantage of human-made opportunities, such as stems and branches that have been neatly pruned with sharp scissors. Barbed-wire, of course, must seem to a shrike to have been specifically invented for this very purpose.

Image Sources: 1) Monte Taylor 2) 4) 5) Japan-Animals blog 3), 7), 8), 9) Wolfgang Kaeler, International Wildlife Adventures 10) Hector Garcia, Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, Daily Yomiuri, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025