Kurokawa onsen region and a few birds

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When: October 2024 Weather: Cool 13 to 208

Nikon P900

After a few days in Yufuin, we drove on to the Kurokawa onsen area where we stayed at the Sanga Ryokan at the end of a narrow winding road after the town centre of Kurokawa….it’s about 1.5 hours from Yufuin. Unfortunately the weather was wet and cold the couple of days we were there.

some interesting plants on the way…

The onsen in Sanga is nicer than at Tamanoyu with more variety and larger outdoor baths……but I much preferred the brighter , more westernised rooms at Tamanoyu….the next day we took the shuttle bus down to the tourist information centre in Kurokawa and set off on one of the trail walks…Trail no. 1

This is the start of trail no. 1 and its just opposite the tourist information centre….it was wet and horeible but we persevered and walked up the trail and down to join trail 3 which led us back to the town centre a couple of hours later….not a tough trail.
beginnings of the autumn foliage
streams and waterfalls
beautiful buildings on the approach into the town centre with its narrowed sloping alleyways and restaurants where we had a good lunch…whilst we could have phoned for the shuttle to go back we decided to walk back the 1km to sanga ryokan to see if we could see any birds!
A group of Japanese white eyes entertained us
Japanese white eye
turtle dove in the rain
lovely male daurian redstart posing
male daurian redstart
female daurian redstart
female daurian redstart
fall foliage

The birding was scanty in kurokawa but that was more due to the weather than anything else…… If you are ever in the area in November, it’s worth planning a trip to the Arasaki crane sanctuary which is but 3.5 hours away from Kurokawa…we didn’t have time to fit in in but there’s always next year….

Birding Yufuin, Kyushu, Japan

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When: October 2024 Weather: Cool 20C

NikonP900, Leica M11 35mm summilux

We finally got to go for a holiday not related to a meeting or conference this October. We had been hoping to catch the autumn colours but alas with changing weather patterns, it’s been a late summer in Japan and the real autumnal colours will only appear in full force in November….

Yufuin and Beppu are two well know onsen towns with Ryokans where you can stay and enjoy the mineral hot spring baths so renowned in Japan. We flew into Fukuoka where we picked up a hire car from the airport and set off for the 2 hour drive to Tamanoyu Ryokan in the heart of the tourist town of Yufuin….fortunately there’s lots of greenery around and Mount Yufu itself is just 15min away…..

the main street of Yufuin is packed with tourists….not really conducive to birding….we stayed at the centrally located Tamanoyu Ryokan..you can see the surrounding hills easily
right outside our ryokan is a canal which leads into the Oita River and also extends to a small lake called Kinrin Lake
there were loads of fish in the canal..here a carp…
Lake Kinrin, just a 15 minute walk from Tamanoyu
the autumnal colours were just beginning
A black kite posed majestically over the lake
and in the water, were little egrets, internediate egrets…
lovely red hues in the late afternoon light
and if you get the chance, try the freshly roasted chestnuts on the main Yufuin street
an early morning walk the next morning on the canal
grey wagtails were about
the brown eared bulbul was the most common bird around
persimmons were in season
As it was a fine day, we decided to take a drive to Beppu and Oita across the national park mountain road..this is the Asokuju National Park where Mount Yufu is
view of Mt Yufu from the walk across the road…it was a pretty quiet walk until we got near the top…
a very shy and skittish flash of colour in the thicket….terrible photo of a varied tit..lifer no. 1
then another flash of colour…this time a brambling….another lifer! apologies for the poor photos
and in the same area…this pretty woodpecker appeared
Japanese pygmy woodpecker
final morning on the canal in Yufuin…a bull headed shrike and brown eared bulbul
bull headed shrike
grey heron on Lake Kinrin
spot billed ducks on the canal
daurian redstart
green backed tit
female blue rock thrush
final bird of the morning…the white wagtail…

Although most tourists come to Yufuin in Kyushu for the onsen hot spring experience, there is enough greenery around to entertain birders! Recommended