Teuri island information

Just wanted to provide some information about Teuri island off of NW Hokkaido for those who are interested in visiting. First of all a few useful websites to visit to get some information.
The first website has some useful bird information in English and a some check lists of migratory birds that have been recorded there. The list does not seem very exhaustive as I have already seen a species or two not on the list, but it does give an idea of what has been seen when. The second website is in Japanese and is the Haboro home page. Haboro is the town that the ferry service runs out of. There is some good information about the ferry schedules and price and accommodations on the island.

http://www.teuri.jp/E_index.html

http://www.haboro.tv/top.html

One note on the accomidations, if you are interested in camping, there is a free nondescript camp site about 5 min walk from the ferry port. It is technicaly open from May until September, but I used it off season in October and everyone I talked to (including the resident police officer) was ok with me being there. There is a biff, a small prefab shelter and water available. Of which the shelter and the water are not available off season. There is water available at the ferry terminal though. There is a place to build a fire and plenty of trash heaps to glean wood from. To get to the camp site (Ronbaba is the name of the camp and "beach" area) walk through the port to the SW and along a road that climbs a hill out of the port area. Half way up the hill turn left on a gravel track. Pass some abandon houses and you will see the biff. One word of caution, there is nothing romantic about the camping, but it is quite private as very few people pass along the gravel track. Bird wise it is a good area to use as a base as I have seen quite a few interesting birds just around there and the NE end of the island tends to be more easily accessed for birding for the migrants.
If you are not interested in camping here are a number of minshuku and ryokan around the island and the Haboro web site has information about them.

The ferry service tends to cancel service if the swells are over 3m. Be warned that if you make a fall trip in particular, the weather determines if you are able to get to the island...or get off of the island for that matter. My first visit in mid October last year was four full days longer than expected. It does make for a great extended vacation though.... The island does have birders visiting it, but seemingly quite few outside of Golden Week and early summer sea bird watchers. I was probably the only tourist of any type in the fall, and one of about 10 other birders on my trip this May.

During the 6 day visit last fall 10/18-24 some of the more interesting species I saw were:
Pallas's willow Warbler
Lapland Longspur
Palla's Rosy Finch
Yellow-throated Bunting
Gray Bunting
Pine Bunting (saw a small group of them almost every day I was there)
Bullfinch (many of the bright pink breasted subspecies
Siberian Accentor
Eye-browed Thrush
Daurian Jackdaw
Mugimaki Flycatcher

Some of the more common birds around were Common Redpolls, Siskins, Dusky Thrushes, and Red-flanked Bluetail. To see a list of the birds I saw this may just look down a few posts.

Hope the information is useful to those of you interested. Just jot me a comment if you want more information.

Nishioka suigenchi koen

Went to Nishioka koen on the 23rd and saw mostly the usual residents with a few new arrivals for the year. At least new for me as I have not been doing as much birding lately as I would like.
Some of the highlights were:
Narcissus Flycatchers (many)
Blue-and-white Flycatchers (many)
Brown Flycatchers
Asian Stubtail
Common Kingfisher
Gray Thrush (few calling...probably being mid day?)
Japanese Grosbeak (many)
Red-flanked Bluetail
Japanese Green Pigeon (new for the year)
Oriental Cuckoo
Siberian Blue Robin (new for the year, calling male located about 3km walk past the lake)
Honey Buzzard (flying over)
Common Sandpipers

Other birds of interest lately were: I heard my first Common Cuckoo of the year behind my house on the 22nd, and I saw a flock of about 10 Needle-tailed Swifts near a small park in S. Sapporo, also my first for the year. In the same area I heard about 5-6 Sakhalin leaf Warblers while walking between two small waterfalls near Fureai no mori.