Japan Ramsar wetland
Lake Shinji
56 bird species recorded; the most in April.
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0
This month here
26 species in January.17 species in February.28 species in March.31 species in April.0 species in May.11 species in June.8 species in July.15 species in August.7 species in September.4 species in October.5 species in November.15 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.
VU
VU
VU
No records for this month.
VU- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
56 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 56Speciesrecorded more than once
- 26Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 3ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 726Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 2Raptors
- 26Ducks & geese
- 8Herons, ibises & grebes
- 16Songbirds
- 4Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 56 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
Ducks & geese26 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Anas poecilorhynchaAnas poecilorhyncha
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Common PochardAythya ferinaVU
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Bewick's SwanCygnus columbianus
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Northern ShovelerSpatula clypeata
- Greater White-fronted GooseAnser albifrons
- GadwallMareca strepera
- Taiga Bean GooseAnser fabalis
- Chinese Spot-billed DuckAnas zonorhyncha
- Falcated DuckMareca falcata
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- GoosanderMergus merganser
- Lesser white-fronted gooseAnser erythropusVU
- SmewMergellus albellus
- Baikal TealSibirionetta formosa
- Mute SwanCygnus olor
- Whooper SwanCygnus cygnus
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Mandarin DuckAix galericulata
- Common ShelduckTadorna tadorna
- Ruddy ShelduckTadorna ferruginea
Herons, ibises & grebes8 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Little GrebeTachybaptus ruficollis
- Little EgretEgretta garzetta
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritusVU
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
Songbirds16 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Japanese WagtailMotacilla grandis
- Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
- Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
- Carrion CrowCorvus corone
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
- Grey-capped GreenfinchChloris sinica
- Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicus
- Eastern Red-rumped SwallowCecropis daurica
- Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
- Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
- SkylarkAlauda arvensis
- Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
- Asian House MartinDelichon dasypus
- Poecile variusPoecile varius
Other birds4 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- CootFulica atra
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
- Japanese Pygmy WoodpeckerYungipicus kizuki
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in April.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan7°/4°132 mm
- Feb8°/4°108 mm
- Mar11°/6°124 mm
- Apr16°/10°116 mm
- May20°/14°124 mm
- Jun24°/19°182 mm
- Jul27°/23°221 mm
- Aug29°/24°125 mm
- Sep25°/21°204 mm
- Oct20°/16°138 mm
- Nov15°/11°111 mm
- Dec10°/6°154 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Lake Shinji.
Lake in Shimane Prefecture, Chūgoku region, Japan
Lake Shinji is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan.
56 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 726 open records.
The most recorded are the Tufted Duck, the Mallard and the Anas poecilorhyncha.
10 species come for the summer, 15 for the winter and 1 only pass through.
3 are threatened worldwide, including Common Pochard, Lesser white-fronted goose and Horned Grebe.
The most species are recorded in April.
Get there and watch
- 秋鹿なぎさ公園campsite · 3.0 km · 2 within 10 km
- 松江シティホテル本館place to stay · 8.3 km · 67 within 10 km
- Matsuenearest town · 8.4 km in a straight line
- Izumo Enmusubi Airport (IZO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 8 km in a straight lineCar hire in HiroshimaDiscover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 2visitor centres within 6 kmたまなびや, おすそわけ茶屋
- 1viewpoints within 5 km
- 5car parks within 3 km
- 8restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 2campsites within 10 km秋鹿なぎさ公園, 一畑山コテージ
- 67places to stay within 10 km松江シティホテル本館, FUMAI sauna &INN-遠赤外線サウナ-松江の歴史と文化と共に過ごすsmart hotel, 縁の宿 北堀 and 64 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Lake Shinji.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas19 mountains within 25 kmKyōzuka Yama · 6.8 kmŌhira Yama · 8.8 kmŌfuna Yama · 11 kmSeikyū-yama · 19 kmŌbukuro Yama · 23 kmIwafuse Yama · 24 kmMi Sen · 24 kmTakase-yama · 25 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyHii River153 km
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Other places nearby.
Lake Shinji
Japan
- 47Birdyas Score
- 56Species
- 26Migrants
- 3Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1151248) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 726 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.You are here
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit