After a day of snow it was bright and sunny on Tuesday 17th February as we headed to Sapporo Airport on a ridiculously jam-packed train. The journey wasn't very pleasant but the snowy landscapes looked stunning as we passed by.
The flight back to Tokyo went smoothly and we had another distant view of a snow capped Mount Fuji poking out through the clouds as we came in to land. We caught the monorail from Tokyo Airport to Tokyo station and I saw Pochard, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Wigeon and Pintail along the way plus the usual Feral Pigeons and Large-billed Crows and after a bit of a chaotic experience at Tokyo Station we were finally ensconced on the first Bullet Train journey of our trip to Nagano and then onwards to Yudanaka.
It was cold and snowy in Yudanaka with some stunning mountain scenery and a ski resort vibe. The purpose of our visit here was to see the Japanese Macaques (or Snow Monkeys) at the Jigokudani Monkey Park in the Joshin'etsu-kogen National Park and made famous by David Attenborough in his TV wildlife programmes. Needless to say it was very busy with visitors and the Monkeys are now fed daily to encourage their continuing prescence at the hot spring bathing pool but it was great fun to see them if not a little contrived.
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It was quiet birdwise though with a Jay and a Black Kite seen and a Woodpecker heard drumming away, there was also a dead Hawfinch in the garden of the hotel which was a sad sight but it was interesting to see one so close up as they are a surprisingly large and chunky finch.
We caught the train back to Nagano on Thursday 19th February and spent the day there visiting the Zenkoji Temple complex where I saw a Great White Egret, 2 Eastern Spot-billed Ducks, a Brown-eared Bulbul, a White Wagtail, Tree Sparrows, Feral Pigeons and a very confiding Dusky Thrush.
As dusk fell I watched the sun setting over the distant snow capped mountains from our hotel bedroom window while large numbers of White Wagtails came into roost on the roof of the railway station next door with even larger numbers of Carrion Crows flying into roost on the nearby buildings.
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