KARUIZAWA
Travel Guide to
Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan and bird watching there.
Japan is not the first
place you would think of going for bird watching, but I was surprised
to find there is a specialist tour company who takes tours there for just
that. You can find out more at their web site www.birdingworldwide.com.au
Karuizawa is a well
known mountain resort town located in the prefecture of Nagano-ken in
the foothills of the Japanese Alps. Anyone who has ever contemplated birding
in Japan will undoubtedly be aware that the area is renowned for its excellent
bird watching. It certainly is a beautiful area with some gorgeous temperate
evergreen forest. Rumour has it that in recent years there has been a
decrease in bird numbers and we did find it slow going at times - this
may have had more to do with timing on our part though. A lot of birds
were obviously sitting tight on their nests in late June!
Getting there: this
is easy, of course (it is Japan, after all!). Just get the
Nagano-bound
Shinkansen from
Tokyo Station and get off at Karuizawa, from there you
can catch the local train to Naka-Karuizawa or take a more expensive taxi.
Where to stay: there
are lots of places. We stayed at Cocotte Pension but if you don't speak
Japanese this may be problematic. Try the Naka-Karuizawa
Onsen, which
is rather more expensive, however.
Birding: The best
birding was in the Yacho-no-mori (Wild Bird Forest). The slopes of the
nearby Asama-yama volcano are also very worthwhile. (Copper Pheasant is
apparently easy to see at times but not when we were there!) Some of the
best birds we saw at Yacho-no-mori were Ural Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker,
Japanese Grosbeak (fabulous song), Yellow Bunting, Brown Dipper, lots
of Narcissus and Blue-and-white Flycatchers and Siberian Blue Robin. The
birding on Asama-yama was quiet due to poor weather but the walk is worth
it for the forest and scenery and the chance of Copper Pheasant, of course.
We also had super looks at Winter Wren - a real troglodyte!
Birding WorldWide
can be contacted for information on their tours on Phone 61 3 9899 9303
Level 3, 818 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill, 3128, Australia or at their web
site www.birdingworldwide.com.au
Article reprinted
with permission from Susan Myers.
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