Migratory and Sub Regional Endemic Red-Crowned Cranes Hokkaido Birding Tour Photography Workshop

I count myself as fortunate that I can enjoy photographing Red-Crowned Cranes during my annual Hokkaido photo tour Wildlife Bird-spotting Expedition. Birding in Japan is becoming increasingly popular with international photographers. To date, Japan has documented over 600 bird species, which over 60% of which are migratory. The remaining 40% are either sub-regional or endemic. Japan is latitudinally long at over 3,000 kilometers, located in the Northwest Pacific Ocean; climates range from sub-arctic conditions in the north to subtropical in the south. There are two distinct ecological lines dividing Japan’s natural indigenous plant and animal life, “The Blakiston’s Line” and the “Watase’s Line.” Due to this uniquely rare ecological condition, Japan is abundantly rich in avifauna, making it the perfect location for wildlife and wildlife photographers. Species that are either endemic or sub-regional endemic include Blakiston’s Fish-owl, Pyer’s Woodpecker, Japanese White-eye, Black Kite, and the Shima Enaga; there are over 60 species in this category. However, the Red-crowned Cranes were also thought to be exclusively in this category, but because of extensive tagging, we now know that there are dozens that migrate from Russia and China to Hokkaido, Japan.