I am not a bird photographer but I felt I need to go to Hokkaido, Japan with a couple of other Finnish & Swedish nature photographers to photograph several birds which we don’t see here in northern Europe. The island is a wild place and this winter had brought lots of snow on the area.
It was unbelievable to see several hundreds of Sea Eagles and Steller’s Sea Eagles over the ice outside the Rausu harbour next to the Shiretoko National Park in the same named Peninsula. In Akan in Kushiro area we saw hundreds of Red-crowned cranes both in sunshine and snowfall. The birds are so beautiful. On a caldera lake Kussharo in Akan National Park we took photos of lots of Whooper swans which had come together for the open water. A rare Blakiston’s Fish Owl was able to be seen in Rausu during the three evenings we spent in a hide.