Category Archives: Japan

Our Official 2023 FSB Recap: Bird Names, Bird Clubs, and Lifers

2023 proved to be another wildly surprising year for the FatherSonBirding team. Not only did Braden and I see birds we never dreamed we’d see, but birding opportunities and the enthusiasm of our loyal FSB followers exceeded every expectation. But first, some 2023 stats:

Blogs Posted: 32

FSB Views: 9,361 (easily eclipsing last year’s record of 7,185)

Most Viewed Post: Avian Reveal: Our Five Picks for New Bird Names (598 views)

In addition to the above stats, we surpassed 30,000 lifetime blog views and have now published 174 posts since we began FSB in 2018. Even though this is far short of what is required to annoy you with paid advertisements, it’s still remarkable to us. When we began FSB, Braden and I thought we might keep at it for a year or two at most. Now, almost six years later, FSB has actually generated a body of work that we are immensely proud of. It’s been a way for us to share our adventures, promote birding, and connect with other birders. It’s also been a fun vehicle for educating others about birds and bird conservation. So let’s get to 2023’s highlights for each of us.

Sneed’s 2023 Birding Highlights

Japan: Without a doubt, my biggest highlight of the year was taking my daughter, Tessa, to Japan for three weeks. Together, we created a lifetime of memories in a country we loved even more than we thought we would. As you all discovered with my posts about Tokyo, Kyoto, Kanazawa, and other places, I got in plenty of birding, adding 28 species to my Life List and getting to know more than fifty species of common Japanese birds. (Note that Kanazawa is near the epicenter of this morning’s 7.5 earthquake. We are thinking of all of you over there, and hope everyone is safe!)

**One of my favorite Japanese birds, a male Daurian Redstart.**

Birding Eastern Montana: Thanks to assignments from Montana Outdoors magazine, I had the opportunity to drive out to Westby with my childhood buddy, Scott Callow. We not only hit hotspots such as Bowdoin NWR, Plentywood, Makoshika SP, and Bear Canyon, we had a wonderful visit with FWP biologist Heather Harris who took us on an up-close-and-personal visit to some of Montana’s healthiest short-grass prairie. There, we got my best looks ever at Sprague’s Pipits, Chestnut-collared Longspurs, and other prairie residents.

**Heading to Westby with my friend Scott was not only a great way to see great Montana birds, but a rare chance to catch up with a lifelong friendship!**

Adding Montana Lifers: While in Westby, Scott and I saw my first Piping Plover in Montana, but during the rest of the year—and with the help of other Montana birders—I also added three species to my all-time worldwide Life List: Sagebrush Sparrow (Bear Canyon), American Golden-plover (Mission Valley), and Spruce Grouse (Mission Mountains).

**This Sagebrush Sparrow was probably my favorite new ABA Lifer of 2023–and proves that great things can come in small packages!**

In addition to the above highlights, Braden and I got to bird together several times, including a breakneck trip to Glacier NP with our buddy, Nick Ramsey. I also had the pleasure of meeting a lot of other Montana birders at Wings Across the Big Sky and the meeting of Flathead Audubon. At the beginning of 2023, I had entertained visions of breaking my Montana Big Year record with my work trips to eastern Montana—but didn’t. I came close, however, racking up 253 species, including my last two: Short-eared Owl and Northern Shrike on Braden’s and my last big Montana outing. And now . . .

**Despite Braden and Nick’s busy lives getting educated and building their birder resumés, we all managed to squeeze in a quick 3-day trip to Freezeout Lake and Glacier National Park last summer.**

Braden’s 2023 Birding Highlights

Eastern Songbirds: A long-time goal of mine has been to learn the eastern songbirds, specifically the eastern wood-warblers, by ear. This summer, thanks to my job doing point counts in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania, I succeeded at that goal, solidifying nearly two dozen warbler songs in my mental repertoire, including those of Magnolia, Canada, Mourning and Golden-winged Warblers. Beyond that, I got to spend all of May and June, and some of July, romping around the forests of the Appalachians, learning about the ecology of all of these species. I fell in love with Golden-winged Warblers, with their specialized habitat needs and endearing personalities, and came to know not only the species of birds in these forests, but also the trees the birds were using. Highlighted by a trip to Cape May and a trip to the Adirondacks, my summer in Pennsylvania may have taught me more about the natural world than any summer I’ve lived through yet!

**Getting to know Eastern warblers—including Golden-winged Warblers—fulfilled a long-held ambition of mine.**

Western Field Ornithologists Conference: In July, I said goodbye to my co-workers and the woods of Pennsylvania and flew across the country to Denver, Colorado, where I was picked up by one of the members of the board of Western Field Ornithologists (WFO). There started my week-long, high-energy stay in the alpine zone of Colorado, where I proceeded to not only see hordes of birds (including two lifers, Virginia’s Warbler and Brown-capped Rosy-finch) as well as meet a variety of people of all ages, who had converged at the WFO annual conference thanks to their passion for birds. During this conference, I got to hang out with a squadron of young birders from California and meet people like David Tonnessen, a native Coloradan guide, Nathan Pieplow, one of North America’s leading experts on bird sound, Ted Floyd, the editor of Birding magazine, Chris Wood, one of the founders of eBird, and Jesse Barry, one of the lead developers for the Merlin app. It was a whirlwind week, during which I bushwhacked through alpine tundra in search of White-tailed Ptarmigan and Dusky Grouse (only the latter of which we saw), scoped distant prairie potholes for shorebirds, and trekked through spruce-fir forest in the dark of night in an attempt for Boreal Owl. I’ll be sure to attend more of these conferences, whenever I am able to!

The field trips before the WFO conference gave me my first crack at Colorado birding!

Starting the UMaine Birding Club: Last semester, several people told me that if the University of Maine had a Birding Club, they would join. This year, after a few MORE people told me that, I just decided to buckle down and start one. Our first meeting, which took place on September 14th, was a raging success, with more than thirty people filling the classroom I’d reserved to hear me give my elevator pitch for the club. After a ten-minute talk, we headed out across campus in search of fall migrants, which we found in the form of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and several Cape May Warblers. The rest is history. I put on twelve meetings this year, and led twelve outings as well. I made sure that our meetings were diverse, with some days featuring guest lectures about bird jobs or indoor bird scavenger hunts and others pitting club members against each other in Bird Jeopardy. My personal favorite was a thirty-minute talk I gave on everything wrong with the state birds, and we finished out the year last Thursday with a movie night featuring The Big Year. Our outings, highlighted by one trip to Sebasticook Lake and another to the coast, tallied ninety total species, including Sandhill Cranes and an American Goshawk, which both became “Bird of the Day” on their respective trips. Overall, starting a Birding Club was one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done and I can’t wait to jump back into it next fall—after I’ve returned from studying abroad in Costa Rica!

**Quizzing the UMaine Birding Club on bird vocalizations!**

So that’s a wrap, people. Braden and I want to thank you for tuning in and sharing your enthusiasm with us, and we hope that 2024 brings you a rewarding year of seeing, learning about, and protecting the animals we all love.

Birding Japan? A Book, Blogs—and Extra Tips—to Help You Prepare!

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Since they were published last spring, our Japan birding posts have consistently received the most views on our “blogging backlist”—and by a wide margin. This is surprising given that Japan is not known as one of the world’s top birding hotspots. We suspect that our blogs’ popularity reflects the surging popularity of Japan as a travel destination—and that those travelers happen to include a lot of birders!

That said, many people find the idea of traveling to Japan intimidating. The language barrier, the complex public transportation system—even Japanese toilets—have led to what I call Fear of Japan among many prospective travelers. However, it was this very intimidation factor that compelled me (Sneed) to write my newest book, First-Time Japan: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Independent Traveler. For birders and non-birders alike, this entertaining volume tells you all you need to know to plan and negotiate your first trip to one of the world’s great travel destinations. Best of all, you can buy it NOW. In fact, why not grab a dozen copies and give them to all of your friends for the holidays? (“Gee, Sneed, that’s an AWESOME idea!”)

As proud as we are of the book, I confess that it is not aimed specifically at birders, so for today’s blog I decided to provide additional advice specifically for you. So without further ado, here are some bonus birding tips for your upcoming Japan adventure.

**First-Time Japan is not a birding guide, but tells you what you need to know to plan a successful trip. Click to order!**

Tip 1: Take Full Advantage of eBird.

eBird is an incredibly valuable tool for any trip, including Japan. If you do not have an account, sign up now at eBird.org. eBird will help you in at least three dramatic ways:

Trip Planning: If you want to time your trip to coincide with the greatest possible number of bird species, simply look up a location in Japan, and study the bar charts for that place. This will tell you when migratory birds arrive and depart. In general, April and May are great birding months for the Tokyo and Kyoto areas— but you have to balance whether you want to hit sakura, or flowering cherry, trees, too. Our three-week trip lasted from the end of March into early April and we managed to time the sakura perfectly while seeing a good number of birds.

Finding Birding Locations: eBird will also identify birding hotspots wherever you are traveling in Japan. In Tokyo, for instance, eBird alerted me to Hamarikyu Gardens, Kasai Rinkai Park, and Shinkjuku Gyoen National Garden—three of my favorite Japan birding experiences.

Learning Japan’s Birds: I credit eBird quizzes with almost single-handedly preparing me to ID birds on my Japan trip. If you haven’t taken an eBird quiz, simply hit the Explore button and scroll down to the “Photo + Sound Quiz” button. These quizzes not only allow you to specify a location, but the time of year, too, so once you have your itinerary laid out you can just keep drilling yourself until you feel confident. In fact, I took so many quizzes that I was able to ID 95% of the birds I saw almost immediately!

**eBird offers a wealth of tools to prepare you for your Japan adventure—including bird quizzes that you customize to where you want to go, and when.** **(Image copyright Cornell Lab.)**

Tip 2: Jump on Your Jet Lag.

When you arrive in Japan, chances are you’re going to wake up crazy early (as in the middle of the night)—so whenever possible, put that time to good use. On at least half of my days in Japan, I was out the door at the crack of dawn birding whatever location I happened to be in. Sure, you’ll be tired—but no more tired than if you lay in your bed for six hours hoping to fall back to sleep! Getting out early will also help your internal clock adjust to Japan time.

**Taking advantage of my jet lag early wake-ups helped me discover a treasure trove of Japan birds—including my Lifer Dusky Thrushes near Tokyo’s Imperial Palace!**

Tip 3: Don’t Confine Yourself to Birding Hotspots.

Although eBird does show a fair number of birding hotspots, it misses a lot of great locations—probably because there aren’t yet enough birders in Japan to cover them all. The solution? Study a map of where you are and look for any river or other green space and check it out. This paid off for me big time, especially during our quick stop in Nagano, where I nabbed my Lifer Bull-headed Shrike and many other cool birds along the Susobana River.

**Exploring beyond established eBird hotspots can unearth awesome birding locations—including the Susobana River in Nagano.**

Tip 4: Make Sure You Have the Best Walking Shoes for Your Feet.

Okay, this sounds obvious, but you will be walking a LOT in Japan. My daughter and I covered six to ten miles a day, every day. Before the trip I bought three different pairs of new shoes/boots and field tested them. The ones that worked best? The cheapest pair of Skechers! You won’t be sorry you put in the extra effort to make sure your shoes are comfortable and sturdy.

**Solid walking shoes let you take advantage of most birding opportunities, including Kanazawa’s Kenmin Seaside Park.**

Tip 5: Get a Handle on Japan Transportation.

Using public transportation is one of the real joys of visiting Japan—but fills first-timers with trepidation. My book First-Time Japan can help you feel a lot more comfortable with this. Unfortunately, the Japan Rail Pass has gotten a lot more expensive lately, but moving around cities is both convenient and inexpensive. I especially recommend buying the 24-, 48-, or 72-hour “Welcome! Tokyo!” subway pass when in Tokyo and using IC cards (rechargeable credit cards) for almost all other local transportation. Taxis are also very reasonable in Japan, so if a subway or other train won’t get you there, a taxi probably can.

**Not all of Japan’s public transportation is as cute as the Enoshima Electric Railway, but once you get the hang of it, trains are a great way to reach most urban birding destinations.**

Tip 6: Reread our Previous Japan Birding Blogs.

Kyoto, for instance. Need we say more?

The bottom line: Japan is not Colombia or Australia, but you will still see great birds there. While doing so, you will enjoy one of the most pleasant, fascinating countries imaginable. Just be sure to share your experiences with us when you get back!

Birding Japan: Return to Tokyo and Trip Wrap

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Since we published them, our birding posts about Japan have been read in more than a dozen countries. If you are planning your own trip to Japan, you’re in luck! Sneed’s new book, FIRST-TIME JAPAN: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR THE INDEPENDENT TRAVELER, tells you everything you need to know about how to plan your trip to this remarkable, yet sometimes intimidating, country. Order now by clicking here.

This wraps up Sneed’s birding adventures in Japan. We hope you’ve enjoyed these posts, especially if you might be contemplating a birding or, more likely, semi-birding trip to this remarkable country. If this is your first time seeing these posts, please do start at the beginning so you can enjoy them all the way through. Thanks for tuning in!

After our tour around the southern part of Honshu, returning to Tokyo felt like coming home for Tessa and me, but our excitement for the world’s largest megalopolis remained undimmed. While we’d spent our first stint near Tokyo Station, I chose Shibuya for our second Tokyo visit of four nights. As expected, this part of town immediately seemed a lot more “swinging” than Tokyo Station, with gazillions of young people streaming between trains, malls, restaurants, and, well, you name it. Even better, Shibuya Station is home to the famous statue of Hachiko—the subject of a wonderful picture book by Pamela S. Turner and a pretty awful movie with Richard Gere. Having written my own heart-rending dog book, Shep—Our Most Loyal Dog, I naturally felt great affection for Hachiko.

Well, I tried birding Shibuya at night, but you can see there were a lot of distractions!

I felt less sure of my birding strategy from Shibuya, but several large parks beckoned. I also had left my beloved headlamp at the hotel near Tokyo Station, giving me an excuse to drag Tessa across town to what turned out to be one of our favorite Tokyo places, Ueno Park. The southern part of the park in particular has a large area of reed beds conducive to watching waterfowl, gulls, cormorants, and other birds.

I honestly hadn’t expected much from Ueno Park, but Tessa and I truly enjoyed it. Hint: as you’re traversing it, walk up (or down) the EAST side of the park to avoid getting lost in a neighborhood.

Rather than give a blow-by-blow of Tokyo, though, I’d like to use this last post to briefly reflect on my overall impressions of birding in Japan—keeping in mind that my experiences were somewhat limited by our decision to travel almost exclusively by public transport and that we didn’t go to any great lengths to reach any truly wild regions of the country. Then again, that is how most people visit Japan (unless they are shackled to tour buses), so my reflections may have some resonance for you.

A not-so-well kept secret is the observation deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. From here we got a great view of Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Jingu Shrine area.

First, I didn’t find what I consider a great diversity of birds in Japan. The country has an impressive overall total, but my guess is that many of these require travel to the extreme northern and southern points of the country. Then again, as only a modestly skilled birder, I often find that less is more. Before our trip, I learned probably 70 or 80 birds—which, to be honest, was about my capacity. Also, while I thought we might hit migration season, that did not seem to be the case. Most of the birds I saw at the end of March and beginning of April appeared to be year-round residents. A month later . . . who knows?

My last birding excursion of the trip was to Gyoen National Garden, perhaps the loveliest Tokyo park I visited on the trip–and the site of my last Japan life bird, a Pale Thrush.

Second, Japan does have very cool birds. I loved getting to know the common birds such as Black Kite, Brown-eared Bulbul, White-cheeked Starling, Japanese Tit, Dusky Thrush, and Eastern Spot-billed Duck. Added to these were some truly adrenaline-producing species such as Japanese Wagtail, Daurian Redstart, Little Ringed Plover, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, and Bull-headed Shrike. Bottom line: even in tourist areas, birders can reap big rewards by birding Japan.

One of the real surprises of birding Japan was seeing a Northern Goshawk—a bird I’ve seen only three or four times in Montana. This is a sensitive species in Japan, so I can’t share where I saw it, but it was a trip highlight for sure.

Third, if I am fortunate enough to return to Japan, I definitely want to explore some of the more way-out places. Tessa and I invariably loved the places we visited that were more off the beaten path such as Sendai and Kanazawa, and I can only imagine what it might be like to visit tropical southern Japan and the oft-frozen isle of Hokkaido.

Even the airports in Japan are way cool. Once we got our bags checked at Haneda, we found this delightful little restaurant for one last good Japanese meal.

Fourth . . . well there is no fourth. It was an amazing trip, and birding played a significant role in my enjoyment of this unique, friendly, accessible country. With that, here are some stats for the curious . . .

Number of eBird Checklists: 27

Number of Species Observed: 56

Number of New Life Birds: 37

Species I’ve also seen in the US: 13

Most Common Bird by Number of Individuals: Brown Eared Bulbul (194 birds, just beating out Large-billed Crow with 193)

Most Surprising Bird: Northern Goshawk!!!

Favorite Bird: (tie) Japanese Wagtail & Bull-headed Shrike

Major Lesson: Keep Birding!

Favorite Trip Bird honors are split between the Bull-headed Shrike and . . .

Birding Japan: Quick Stop in Nagano

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Welcome to Sneed’s fifth—and penultimate—post on his and Tessa’s recent trip to Japan. Once again, some of the least expected places lead to some marvelous birding surprises—this time in the site of the 1998 Olympics, Nagano. Please feel free to share this post and catch up on the other Japan installments.

After a wonderful two-night visit to Kanazawa, Tessa and I definitely felt like we’d passed the halfway mark of our trip as we boarded the shinkansen back toward Tokyo. First, however, I’d scheduled a brief stop in the home of the 1998 Winter Olympics—Nagano. To be honest, I didn’t know if we’d have much to do there. Japan’s famous “hot springs monkeys” lived outside of town, but a little research had shown it probably wouldn’t be worth the hassle to try to find them. Nagano also was home to the very famous Zenko-ji Temple, but it turns out that the train ride alone was worth making the entire loop back to Tokyo. Leaving Kanazawa, the bullet train quickly began hugging a section of the wildest ocean I’d yet seen in Japan. Meanwhile, on the other side of the train, enormous snow-covered peaks rose suddenly and majestically. Passing through the town of Itoigawa, population 40,000, I even imagined living there—that is, until I learned it receives more than 100 inches of rain per year!

Itoiogawa—the perfect place to retire? Well, except for the 100+ inches of rain per year. Glad we caught it on a nice day.

We arrived in Nagano about 11:00 and left our bags at our economy hotel, a perfectly clean, comfortable place that cost less than $90 a night. Then we took a leisurely stroll about a mile up to Zenko-ji Temple, which truly was impressive and a bit mysterious. The map showed the temple surrounded by parks and I thought I might find some cool birds there, but I didn’t espy anything particularly interesting. I soothed my disappointment by trying this kind of apple custard tart thing just outside of the temple and thought, “Ah, well, can’t find birds everwhere.”

Zenko-ji Temple—or at least a small part of it. Impressive? Heck ya!

The next morning, however, I woke at 6:00 a.m. wide awake. Tessa was still snoozing so I’m sure you can guess what I did. On a map, I had noticed a small tributary of the Sai River about half a mile from the hotel. Plenty of time to sneak in a bit ‘o birding before breakfast. Nagano was so built up I had few expectations—and actually wasn’t even sure I could access the river itself. Even before I neared it, though, I was surprised by a large flock of Asian House-Martins flying over a large street. It didn’t take long to discover they were nesting under a pedestrian bridge and I paused for ten minutes to study and enjoy them.

**Though I had glimpsed Asian House-Martins in Kanazawa, it was a real pleasure to visit them up-close and personal!**

Several blocks later, I was delighted to reach the river and discover that nice footpaths ran along both sides of it. I saw only the usual suspects until I crossed a bridge to the other side. Suddenly, I glimpsed an unusual brown shape taking flight and landing on another nearby branch. “Oh my god!” I muttered out loud, rapidly quickening my pace while simultaneously turning on my camera. I took a quick photo and then confirmed it through my binoculars. It was a species I had badly wanted to see—but figured I’d exhausted my last opportunity: Bull-headed Shrike!

I was SO HAPPY to finally see a Bull-headed Shrike that I was grinning and talking to myself. I’m surprised the citizens of Nagano didn’t call the police with reports of a crazy foreigner wandering around.

The shrike behaved like our shrikes back home, but with even less fear. I followed it as it worked its way upstream and am glad I did. I immediately spotted another Meadow Bunting in a bush up ahead, and several Eurasian Greenfinches feeding in someone’s front yard. Then, as the shrike approached one riverside clump of bushes, two Daurian Redstarts popped up to challenge it!

**And I present . . . yet another lousy photo of a Eurasian Greenfinch!**

I was grinning broadly by this time, not believing my luck, but the session was far from over. As I made my way back downstream and across the river, I also saw White-cheeked Starlings, a Great Cormorant, Oriental Turtle-dove, a Dusky Thrush, and more.

**Despite seeing them almost everywhere, I never tired of seeing White-cheeked Starlings. If only I could say the same for our European Starlings back home!**

As I approached my exit point, I noticed movement in a thick patch of bushes. I quickly identified several Masked Buntings, but that wasn’t all. I’m pretty sure I saw a Japanese Bush Warbler. Then, to cap it off, a female Daurian Redstart gave me a terrific photo session (even if I didn’t have a terrific photo device), posing for many moments on various branches as the morning sun beautifully illuminated it. The whole experience once again proved that when in doubt, you should always take a look and that, really, you just never know.

I just loved this female Daurian Redstart. Definitely one of the most cooperative birds of the trip.

Sneed’s eBird checklist of Nagano.

Birding Japan: Kanazawa

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Welcome to our Japan birding posts. In this edition, Sneed explores the “less visited” city of Kanazawa, a place that would turn out to be perhaps one of their favorite stops on trip—and with some surprising birds. If you are just tuning in to Japan, be sure to check in on our last post from Kyoto!

Leaving Kyoto, our (non-bullet) train took us through my favorite scenery yet in Japan. Just north of Kyoto, the train hugged the shoreline of Lake Biwa for more than half an hour. Seeing the lake on a map, I envisioned a forested wilderness, marked perhaps by some resorts or getaways, but the entire lakeshore was surprisingly built up with cities, towns, and farmland. Alas, the train was too far away from the lake to identify any birds except Black Kites and crows, though I did see an enticing shorebird flying across a field. Passing through a tunnel, we then entered picturesque mountain areas where I looked in vain for a Brown Dipper in the roaring streams we crossed. No luck. Emerging back onto a large plain, we more or less re-entered civilization until we arrived at our next destination, Kanazawa.

**Both Tessa and I were taken with Kanazawa Castle and its grounds from the moment we approached the main entry gate.**

I had booked us a hotel right next to Kanazawa’s major tourist feature, a large castle set in a park-like setting, and as soon as we dropped our bags at the hotel, we grabbed a “set lunch” at a local café and headed straight to the castle. Tessa hadn’t seemed too impressed with other castles on the trip, but this one wowed us both—perhaps because of its dramatic approach and the glorious sakura flowers blooming at the gates. After going inside the castle, we took a wonderful walk on paths above it, where Tessa declared this was her favorite place so far on the trip. The birds also liked it well enough, with the omnipresent bulbuls, crows, and kites surrounding us. Descending back toward the castle, though, I spotted a trio of Oriental Greenfinches, and then a bird that stopped me in my tracks. “Oh my god,” I said out loud, and hurried forward hoping the bird wouldn’t move. It didn’t, and I got my first look at another bird at the top of my “To See” list: Daurian Redstart!

**This male Daurian Redstart just made my day—and, of course, my life list. I love the blooming sakura flowers behind it.**

As delighted as I was with the redstart, I saved my real birding enthusiasm for the next morning when I left Tessa to hang out and grabbed a cab out to Kenmin Seaside Park, perhaps the only place left on the trip where I might see shorebirds or pelagic species. As soon as I arrived I glimpsed a departing tit of some kind and saw multiple Dusky Thrushes and White-eared Starlings feeding in a field. I hurried past them until I reached my primary destination, the beach. Alas, this was no natural beach. Giant cement breakwaters were piled up offshore and it was clear the area had been heavily worked over by dredging and industry. I saw a few flying birds too distant to identify and a flock of cormorants that took off long before I got close enough to attempt an ID, but that was it. No shorebirds. No waders. Just trash littering an evidently sterile expanse of sand.

**Trash has become a scourge on beaches throughout the planet. I was hoping Japan’s dedication to cleanliness might make this Kanazawa beach an exception, but no dice.**

I nonetheless started trudging my way north, planning to round the tip of the small peninsula and make my way back to the park to try some forest birding. Suddenly, my eyes caught movement. There among the trash, I saw one tiny shorebird, then another. I guessed right away they might be plovers and as I moved closer, the yellow rings around their eyes cinched it: Little Ringed Plovers—another life bird and perhaps my most rewarding Japanese species yet. I wish I could tell you that this find unleashed a flood of shorebird sightings, but no. They were it—two hardy survivors on a desolate beach.

**Definitely some of my favorite birds of the entire trip, this pair of Little Ringed Plovers were the sole shorebirds on the vast desert of beach next to Kenmin Seaside Park.**

Fortunately, the birding got significantly better as I made my way back toward the main park. I picked up two more lifers in quick succession: Meadow Bunting and Asian House-Martin. Back in the forest, I encountered my best mixed flock of the trip, containing Japanese and Varied Tits, two Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, a Warbling White-eye, and a Japanese Bush Warbler.

I had to text Braden a photo of this one to know what it was. I had studied Meadow Buntings a number of times, but for some reason the real thing didn’t register.

My time to meet my cab was, unfortunately, running out quickly, but as I hurried along a trail, I noticed three birds foraging under some trees. The first was a Dusky Thrush and I automatically assumed that the others were, too. I was wrong. They were Hawfinches! Braden and I had really hoped to see these odd chubby birds in Amsterdam or Israel in 2019, but to no avail. Now, on the other end of the Asian continent, I was staring at two of them cocking their heads at me in between going about their business. It was a great way to end the morning, and fixed Kanazawa as one of my favorite birding spots in Japan.

Sneed’s Kenmin Seaside Park eBird checklist.