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 1

A truly amazing start to an amazing safari! Starting early with the rare and endangered Japanese red crowned cranes in the river, we moved timeously to catch their arrival at a nearby crane sanctuary, before the real highlight of the day, the interaction between several white-tailed eagles and the cranes. We finished up with a sunset shoot, watching and photographing the cranes as they flew over the sunset.

Major sightings of the day: