Summer grasses, All that remains, Of warriors' dreams: Birdwatching in Enoshima Island

 

Beaches of Kanagawa Prefecture often immediately follow hills or mountains. Many of them are not wide sandy beach as in Waikiki … Sealines in our prefecture often have cliffs and the like that are covered by greens and forests. Such places are loved by wild birds. They hunt fishes et al and create their breeding nests in a cliff below a forest, or in a forest above the cliff. Actually, Enoshima Island (; my post on June 30, 2017) is such a place. Early March, I joined a bird watching session there. The island has Enoshima Yacht Harbor where the sailing competition for TOKYO 2020 was held. During that summer, I spent almost a month in the Yacht Harbor (; my post on July 30, 2021)… I was nostalgic and curious what’s going on now from birds’ point of view.

The sea where the competition held in 2021

The way to visit Enoshima is easy. Get off Katase-Enoshima Station of Odakyu, and from the station gate, you’ll see the Island beyond Bentenbashi Bridge. You can take taxi or use commuter bus services to the island. But, if you plan to do birdwatching, please cross the bridge on foot. The fun with birds starts immediately after you leave the station. The area is famous for Black Kites that are circling above our head and waiting for a chance if lunch or snack of a tourist can be snatched. The birds are so clever and do not hesitate seizing the moment! Crossing the Bridge can be a thrilling game with the birds, especially when you have a savory snack in your hand. Oh, if you’re with kids, please be careful. Black Kites are astute enough to identify an easy target, like kids with a burger. Not many episodes are known for injury by the birds, but the incident can be traumatic.

A black kite on the top of a streetlight in Enoshima

According to Mr. Kazuya Takahashi of Fujisawa Sanctuary, our leader for the Enoshima Birdwatching, the population of Black Kites around Enoshima now completely holds air supremacy. 20-30 years ago, the place was also for Common Gull. He said “It was so ordinary to meet lines of Gulls on breakwaters of the Yacht Harbor. Now, no. It is lucky if we can meet one or two Common Gulls during a day here. It might be a case black kites won the territorial war with the Common Gulls. Slightly larger European Herring Gull is surviving the competition, it seems to us. In any case, catches at Katase Fishermen’s Wharf is decreasing these days. That would be the main reason why non-thieves like gulls are disappearing these days.” Oh dear … That’s said, the other birds that have different lifestyle from black kites are having a happy life in and around the island.

A European herring gull perching on a streetlight.

Black kites are relaxing near their nest in a forest of Enoshima.

Migratory birds visiting Japan during winter also have their vacation time on beach. People say these days Eurasian Coots are increasingly flocking in Kanagawa Prefecture, and beaches of Enoshima are not an exception. On that day, we’ve met lots of them in Katase Fishermen’s Wharf and along Bentenbashi Bridge. I’ve heard Eurasian Coots prefer vegetarian meals like aquatic plants, but they would eat fishes rather than concentrating on seaweeds, I guess. The birds often did deep dive below the bridge. I once swam from Enoshima to Katase-higashi-hama Beach for some 800m. At the time of high tide the sea below the bridge has 3m or so depth, and the bottom is not so much covered by seaweeds. It was certainly not so difficult to identify the shadow of fishes during my swim … Interestingly, some widgeons which normally spend their winter in freshwater places in Japan also relax on beach in Enoshima. We met European Widgeons pecking seaweeds pasted on rocky shore of the island.

Eurasian Coot in Enoshima’s sea

Breakfast at Enoshima for Eurasian Widgeons.
Could you see they are in eclipse plumage?

A couple of Red-breasted Merganser,
another winter migratory birds from Siberia,
also had their beach vacation.

We also met lots of relatives of Pelican family on that day in Enoshima. An Eastern Reef Heron was busy hunting in a rocky beach. Great Cormorants were making large colony on a rock reef near the area for the 2020 Olympics competition. Loner Grey Herons were mixing with the other birds and did familiar meditation on a sea rock or in a forest. Those large birds engage in very concentrated hunting on the shore and around sunset return to their nest on a human-inaccessible rock or in the forest above the cliff. Enoshima is very busy tourists’ destination, but it has forbidden natural spots where we can only identify the place with binoculars. It would be a nice housing area for these birds, I guess.

A concentrated hunt of Eastern Reef Heron

A house for Grey Heron in a forest

With some reason, a Grey Heron quietly stood
in a middle of a flock of Great Cormorants.

In terms of large birds, Enoshima is secretly famous as one of few nesting grounds for Peregrine Falcon in Megalopolis Tokyo area. On that day, we were lucky to spot one on the south cliff. The falcons prefer such almost vertical place for their chicks, like in skyscrapers of NY. As Enoshima Island has a stable population of Peregrine Falcon, the place should have lots of meals for them, i.e. smaller birds, and undisturbed vertical wall … By the way, the space in front of Il Chianti Café, at the entrance for Samuel Cocking Garden, often becomes a place for a flock of photographers with large lenses. They use their bazooka sized lenses to take a picture of the “definite Peregrine Falcon.” Please be careful not to disturb this particular herd. They can be more ferocious than falcon especially when their perfect moment is distracted by your casual demeanor …

I didn’t use bazooka for this.

The place when the enclosed Olympians cheered their fellow athletes during the game is now quiet, relaxed promenade-cum-breakwater. When we stood there quietly, several pretty birds came into our sight. They all looked very content under the spring sun. Clear blue body of Blue Rock Thrush hopped on tetrapods around which those Olympians easily maneuvered their liners after the trial … It was a warm, peaceful Yacht Harbor. The hub-bub during the competition was gone completely, like a dream. Maybe, that’s why we are fascinated by the Olympics Games.

Eurasian Oystercatcher just outside the Yacht Harbor

Blue Rock Thrush

I think it’s a Sooty Storm-petrel.
For Japanese Red Data Book,
they are categorized as Near Threatened.

Great Crested Grebe spending their winter near the beach

A Black-headed Gull was floating in the sea …
Oh, they are the “Prefectural Bird of Kanagawa.”

European Herring Gull with Black-backed Wagtail

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/