Part of what appeals to participants when they join a private Niigata Photo Workshop is the unexplored and untouched wilderness spread out all over the prefecture. North of Niigata city is the village of Tainai, which is home to some of the most spectacular birding photography and nature photo locations in all of Niigata prefecture and Japan. Tainai is a city that has two distinct faces, the pleasant, pastoral town nestled away among the mountains and countryside and the more off the beaten path areas referred to as ‘Okutainai.’
Okutainai is where my years of experience in the backcountry as your Niigata Tour Photography workshop leader will be most helpful. There are several routes traversing several kilometers through the thick underbrush in the sweeping grassland that makes up the Okutainai. Photographers spend hours in the forest, and on their return, they are refreshed from the hiking expedition while taking photos and forest bathing. Birding photographers who have experience in the deep bush know low lighting is part of the experience, and sometimes we have to crank the ISO up, and some days taking the perfect photo takes patience. Yet, all the time we birders spend in the field searching for our subject and the perfect lighting is time well spent releasing stress, especially when we get that once-in-a-lifetime shot. Birding photography enthusiasts and anyone who takes a private Japan tour with me will not only be taken once-in-lifetime photos. But will also enjoy a stress-free environment where your mind, body, and soul can relax, and tension leaves your body, enjoying 森林浴 (Shinrin-yoku) or, as it is referred to in English, Forest Therapy. While exploring the natural landscapes of Okutainai, you’ll also be rejuvenating your body and spirit while spotting rare birds and taking images of the beautiful landscape. Let's not forget Japan is 70% unpopulated wilderness, and I know first hand there are Japanese macaques, better known as snow monkeys, in the region.
Interestingly throughout Japan, there are over one hundred thousand wild Japanese macaques. Still, over 99% of tourists and Japanese photograph the wild snow monkeys at Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano. In all honesty, I go to Nagano when I am leading participants on my annual Hokkaido wildlife tour expedition as well as other Japan tours; the reason I lead my participants there is that we are on a fixed itinerary, and out of the 300 monkeys in the region, I know there are going to be around 50 town monkeys who will be at the hot springs who are not spooked of people and do not mind their pictures being taken up close and personal, and I guarantee if you spend a few hours at the park, a monkey will run by you and rub up against your leg, the wild monkeys in this region have gotten used to people. Game wardens in the park present the monkey's grain seed twice a day, it's like candy for them which they pick from the ground, but it is not enough to sustain them, and during the winter, I am sure it tastes better than tree bark or pine needles and pine cones. In the backcountry, the Japanese macaques' behavior is "night and day" when compared to the town monkeys in Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano. When camping in the backcountry with my family or with clients on my Japan private photo tours, we often encounter troops of wild Japanese macaques, and these monkeys meet us with curiosity, never staying long, usually just long enough for us to capture enough pics. And if they leave in a hurry, we can always track them in the forest, but this type of photography takes time and patience, similar to bird spotting.
In Niigata, we have hundreds of bird species that are either endemic or sub-regional endemic, and about 60% are migratory. And on a photography birding adventure with me, you will be able to take photos of birds such as the Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Nuthatch, the Blue & White Flycatcher, and the Narcissus Flycatcher, and possibly the oriental stork, among dozens of others. These birds, among others, spend the summer inhabiting the area. With carefully planned expeditions and a proper birding leader at your side, you can spot and photograph the fantastic birds of Niigata, Japan.
Hodgson’s Hawk-Eagles are an impressive specimen among the menagerie of avian life that inhabit the green canopy of Okutainai. Their bodies can reach a total length of nearly 90 cm (35 inches) with a wingspan of 175 cm, nearly 6 feet in length! As with the Steller’s Sea Eagles from my Hokkaido Winter Photo Workshops, and with most eagles overall, the females are larger than the males, with a difference spanning 3 - 20%. And though its wings may appear short compared to open country eagles, Hodgson’s Hawk-Eagles have the longest wings of any hawk-eagles, and they are truly remarkable to behold, and you will probably have your image of them as we are forest bathing by a clearing or pond and await their arrival to feed which is usually the same time every day, with timing so regular you could set your watch to it.
There is one more remarkable and almost magical bird that the local residents call ‘The Phantom.’ Although not an aggressive raptor, the Ruddy Kingfisher’s bright plumage set it apart from the rest of its winged brethren. It is called the phantom for its overall rarity, but I have photographed several while leading Niigata tours with camera in hand. The body reaches about 25 cm in length, so it can be challenging to find amid the brush and deep forests of Okutainai, difficult but not impossible. The ‘ruddy’ part of the kingfisher refers to its rust-colored body, which extends all the way to its legs. One element of the kingfisher that makes it particularly tantalizing is how the color of each bird’s tail varies, some drifting toward purple while others keeping with the ‘ruddy’ as part of its namesake. I cannot promise that you will see this bird due to its rarity, but if anyone can help capture this phantom bird on film, it will be a Niigata resident with more than two decades of experience in the Japanese backcountry.