Eagles Spotted in Kamikochi

A hearty hello to all of our loyal readers, near and far!

As I write, there is a chill in the air marking a sudden shift from what has been a long hot summer to something unmistakably autumnal.

We’ll be sharing some info about the coming autumn foliage season later in this piece, but first we’d like to share some recent images from the Five Sense Kamikochi blog.

As Five Sense blogger, Ma- reports, there have recently been numerous sightings of a large predatory bird which is called Kumataka (or “bear hawk”) in Japanese. In English, it bears the more prosaic soubriquet of mountain hawk-eagle.

For the unfamiliar, the mountain eagle-hawk is a species of eagle native to Asia, which spends the entire year in alpine regions. Males range from 72 to 75 cm in while the larger females can grow to 80cm. For comparison, that’s about the size of a full-grown macaque (a much more commonly encountered denizen of Kamikochi). As carnivorous birds of prey, they are probably scoping out ducklings, small birds, and even baby monkeys as possible quarry. All thing under heaven obey their own nature, I suppose.

Like other species of bird, the mountain eagle-hawk stores recently consumed food in an anatomical structure called a crop, prior to digestion. That’s why the picture above shows what appears to be a bulging chest.

As, blogger Ma- explains, the mountain hawk-eagle is very rarely seen in these parts and currently listed as an endangered species. The recent spate of sighting can possibly be attributed to the fact that younger eagles may lack the sense of caution common to adults, and their curiosity causes them stray into unfamiliar areas.

According to Ma-, you can tell mountain hawk-eagles from adults by observing a number of differences, including eye color. Newly born specimens have ice blue eyes, which turn to pale yellow as they mature into their early years, and ultimately become a deep yellow or orange in adulthood. Additionally, the flight feathers on younger birds are primarily white, but this feature disappears over time dure to exposure to UV rays.

Thanks as always to the folks at Five Sense for providing the images and info that served as the basis for this blog. You guys are absolute stars!

Autumn Leaves Update

To conclude this week’s blog, we offer a very brief forecast of this year’s highly anticipated autumn leave’s period. Kamikochi is currently on schedule to start showing autumn colors in mid-October (just a week away!)

As usual, we can expect maple leaves to peak around October 20th, with the yellow larches to follow about a week later.

We’ll be back with more news next week. Till then, be well and have a great week!

Sources of Information:

Nature Guide Five Sense, Kamikochi blog: https://fivesense.guide/blog/autumnleaves/137153/