Japan: Winter Wildlife Safari 2013: Day 7

The final morning of the safari had a very nice surprise in store for us. We woke to an awesome snowfall, which added drastically to the atmosphere of the photos! To make the morning a little more special, a japanese serow made an appearance midway through the snowfall. This awkward looking antelope foraged on the cliffs above us for a solid hour before heading back into the hills. The snow monkeys were as obliging as ever, and had all concentrated in the hot spring because of the cold weather. All in all, it was the perfect way to end an amazing safari!

Major sightings of the day:

Snow monkeys
Japanese Serow

Japan: Winter Wildlife Safari 2013: Day 6

A full day with the snow monkeys is never a bad day! The busy little monkeys kept the cameras clicking all day, which produced some lovely images and memories.

Major sightings of the day:

Snow monkeys

Japan: Winter Wildlife Safari 2013: Day 5

After a (very) quick trip on the famous bullet train, we made our way to photograph some of the smartest monkeys cold weather has seen. This famous troop of monkeys have worked out the easy way to see out the cold of winter – by taking a hot bath! There is a natural hot spring that runs through the reserve, and every morning, these monkeys make their way up to the spring, and climb in for a bit of rest and relaxation. The spin of of this behaviour, is some very cool photographic opportunities!

Major sightings of the day:

Snow monkeys

Japan: Winter Wildlife Safari 2013: Day 4

The day kicked off with us boarding an ice-breaker boat en route to see some very cool eagles. We had an incredible two and a half hours with the magnificent stellar sea eagles, white-tailed eagles and hundreds of gulls that had pretty much surrounded the boat. It was an amazing photographic experience having so much choice, with so much action happening almost constantly. Disembarking, we had a relaxed day, and caught up on some rest and quick image processing, before heading out for a real treat. We tried our luck attempting to photograph a very rare bird, the Blackiston’s fish owl. We were rewarded for our (rather chilly) efforts with two visits by the magnificent bird, and even better, we managed to get some images!

Major sightings of the day:

Stellar sea eagles
White-tailed eagles
Various kinds of sea gulls
Baird’s beaked whale
Blackiston’s fish owl

Japan: Winter Wildlife Safari 2013: Day 3

Before travelling up to our next stop, we spent the morning back at the river where the red crowned cranes sleep and, with the conditions being even better than before, made for a brilliant morning of photography! Things got even better when a pair of red foxes ran out right in front of the birds, and started mating, much to the amusement of one of the cranes which came up to the bank to have a look at all the commotion. After the action from the river came to an end, we spent a very productive hour back at the crane sanctuary, where some smaller birds found their way into the cameras viewfinders, adding to our species list, as well as the prized cranes.

Major sightings of the day: