Japan Ramsar wetland
Lake Yunoko
132 bird species recorded; the most in May and in October.
663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
This month here
64 species in January.49 species in February.40 species in March.84 species in April.92 species in May.82 species in June.68 species in July.65 species in August.64 species in September.86 species in October.81 species in November.58 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
VU
VU
- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
132 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).
- 132Speciesrecorded more than once
- 81Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 2ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 11,268Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 1,480 mAltitudeabove the sea
- 8Raptors
- 2Waders
- 18Ducks & geese
- 7Herons, ibises & grebes
- 79Songbirds
- 18Other 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 132 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors8 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- Japanese BuzzardButeo japonicus
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Eurasian SparrowhawkAccipiter nisus
- Steller's Sea-eagleHaliaeetus pelagicusVU
- Common KestrelFalco tinnunculus
- Hen HarrierCircus cyaneus
- Grey-faced BuzzardButastur indicus
Waders2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Japanese SnipeGallinago hardwickiiNT
- Solitary SnipeGallinago solitaria
Ducks & geese18 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Mandarin DuckAix galericulata
- Chinese Spot-billed DuckAnas zonorhyncha
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- Common PochardAythya ferinaVU
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- GoosanderMergus merganser
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- GadwallMareca strepera
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- SmewMergellus albellus
- Northern ShovelerSpatula clypeata
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Bewick's SwanCygnus columbianus
- Mute SwanCygnus olor
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Falcated DuckMareca falcata
Herons, ibises & grebes7 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
- Little GrebeTachybaptus ruficollis
- Black-crowned Night-HeronNycticorax nycticorax
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
Songbirds79 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Cinereous TitParus cinereus
- Coal TitPeriparus ater
- Willow TitPoecile montanus
- Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
- Eurasian NuthatchSitta europaea
- Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
- Masked buntingEmberiza personata
- Eurasian JayGarrulus glandarius
- Narcissus FlycatcherFicedula narcissina
- Stejneger's StonechatSaxicola stejnegeri
- Eurasian WrenTroglodytes troglodytes
- Passer cinnamomeusPasser cinnamomeus
- Bull-headed ShrikeLanius bucephalus
- Brown DipperCinclus pallasii
- Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
- Muscicapa latirostrisMuscicapa latirostris
- Brown-headed ThrushTurdus chrysolaus
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
- Eurasian TreecreeperCerthia familiaris
- Olive-backed PipitAnthus hodgsoni
- Chestnut-eared BuntingEmberiza fucata
- Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
- Eastern Crowned Leaf WarblerPhylloscopus coronatus
- Asian House MartinDelichon dasypus
- Poecile variusPoecile varius
- Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
- Carrion CrowCorvus corone
- BramblingFringilla montifringilla
- Sakhalin Leaf-warblerPhylloscopus borealoides
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
- Meadow BuntingEmberiza cioides
- Japanese WagtailMotacilla grandis
- BullfinchPyrrhula pyrrhula
- Blue-and-white FlycatcherCyanoptila cyanomelana
- Japanese GrosbeakEophona personata
- White-cheeked StarlingSpodiopsar cineraceus
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Eurasian SiskinSpinus spinus
- Red-flanked BluetailTarsiger cyanurus
- Grey-capped GreenfinchChloris sinica
- GoldcrestRegulus regulus
- Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicus
- Japanese Leaf WarblerPhylloscopus xanthodryas
- Japanese RobinErithacus akahige
- Rustic BuntingEmberiza rusticaNT
- Janpanese ThrushTurdus cardis
- Dark-sided FlycatcherMuscicapa sibirica
- HawfinchCoccothraustes coccothraustes
- Long-tailed RosefinchCarpodacus sibiricus
- Eyebrowed thrushTurdus obscurus
- HwameiGarrulax canorus
- Bohemian WaxwingBombycilla garrulus
- Daurian RedstartPhoenicurus auroreus
- Siberian Blue RobinLuscinia cyane
- Siberian RubythroatLuscinia calliope
- Japanese WaxwingBombycilla japonicaNT
- Asian StubtailUrosphena squameiceps
- Ashy MinivetPericrocotus divaricatus
- Grey-streaked FlycatcherMuscicapa griseisticta
- Northern NutcrackerNucifraga caryocatactes
- Pale ThrushTurdus pallidus
- Grey BuntingEmberiza variabilis
- Alpine AccentorPrunella collaris
- Turdus naumanniTurdus naumanni
- Common RedpollAcanthis flammea
- Pallas's RosefinchCarpodacus roseus
- Azure-winged MagpieCyanopica cyanus
- Japanese AccentorPrunella rubida
- Oriental Reed WarblerAcrocephalus orientalis
- Chestnut-cheeked StarlingAgropsar philippensis
- White's ThrushZoothera aurea
- Mugimaki FlycatcherFicedula mugimaki
- Red-billed LeiothrixLeiothrix lutea
- Siberian ThrushGeokichla sibirica
- SkylarkAlauda arvensis
- Yellow-throated BuntingEmberiza elegans
- Black-faced buntingEmberiza spodocephala
- Yellow BuntingEmberiza sulphurata
- Common crossbillLoxia curvirostra
Other birds18 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Great Spotted WoodpeckerDendrocopos major
- Japanese Pygmy WoodpeckerYungipicus kizuki
- Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
- Common CuckooCuculus canorus
- Japanese Green WoodpeckerPicus awokera
- Lesser CuckooCuculus poliocephalus
- CootFulica atra
- White-backed WoodpeckerDendrocopos leucotos
- Oriental CuckooCuculus optatus
- Pacific SwiftApus pacificus
- Cuculus hyperythrusCuculus hyperythrus
- Common KingfisherAlcedo atthis
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- White-bellied Green-PigeonTreron sieboldii
- Grey NightjarCaprimulgus jotaka
- Green PheasantPhasianus versicolor
- Copper PheasantSyrmaticus soemmerringii
- Common MoorhenGallinula chloropus
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 May and in October.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan-2°/-8°93 mm
- Feb-1°/-8°61 mm
- Mar4°/-5°88 mm
- Apr11°/0°103 mm
- May17°/6°111 mm
- Jun21°/12°147 mm
- Jul25°/16°220 mm
- Aug26°/17°179 mm
- Sep21°/13°187 mm
- Oct15°/6°170 mm
- Nov8°/1°100 mm
- Dec2°/-4°105 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Lake Yunoko.
Lake in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Lake Yunoko is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan, 1,480 m above the sea.
132 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 11,268 open records.
The most recorded are the Cinereous Tit, the Coal Tit and the Mallard.
42 species come for the summer, 36 for the winter and 3 only pass through.
2 are threatened worldwide, including Common Pochard and Steller's Sea-eagle.
The most species are recorded in May and in October.
Get there and watch
- 湯元キャンプ場campsite · 0.7 km · 5 within 10 km
- 奥日光高原ホテルplace to stay · 0.7 km · 56 within 10 km
- Katashinanearest town · 15 km in a straight line
- Fukushima Airport (FKS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 101 km in a straight lineCar hire at KIJ airport (Niigata)Discover 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
- 1marked trails within 4 kmMt. Shirane - Sugamuna Campground Trail
- 2visitor centres within 6 km日光湯元ビジターセンター, 奥日光湯元温泉旅館協同組合旅館案内所
- 18viewpoints within 5 km竜頭ノ滝, 湯滝, 湯ノ湖・湯滝展望台 and 15 more
- 25car parks within 3 km
- 6restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 5campsites within 10 km湯元キャンプ場, 菅沼キャンプ村, 菖蒲ヶ浜キャンプ場 and 2 more
- 56places to stay within 10 km奥日光高原ホテル, 樹林, 奥日光森のホテル and 53 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 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 Yunoko.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas38 mountains within 25 kmMitsudake · 1.9 kmMount Nikkō-Shirane2,578 m · volcano · 4.3 kmMount Tarō2,368 m · volcano · 5.6 kmMount Nantai2,484 m · volcano · 7.1 kmMount Nyohō2,483 m · volcano · 10 kmMount Sukai2,144 m · volcano · 14 kmMount Kōshin1,892 m · volcano · 15 kmMount Hiuchigatake2,356 m · volcano · 21 km
Darkskyas3 dark-sky places within 30 kmMount Nikkō-ShiraneBortle 3 · 4.5 kmLake ChūzenjiBortle 3 · 7.4 kmMount NantaiBortle 3 · 7.5 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 Yunoko
Japan
- 62Birdyas Score
- 132Species
- 81Migrants
- 2Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q11563442) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 11,268 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, Darkskyas, Cascadyas |
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.
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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
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