Japan Ramsar wetland
Shizugawa Bay
85 bird species recorded; the most from January to February and in November.
KUNIO MIURA · CC BY 3.0
This month here
60 species in January.60 species in February.2 species in March.0 species in April.34 species in May.31 species in June.2 species in July.27 species in August.1 species in September.3 species in October.56 species in November.50 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.
NT
NT
NT
No records for this month.
NT- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
85 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).
- 85Speciesrecorded more than once
- 41Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 3ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 2,581Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 4Raptors
- 4Waders
- 7Gulls & seabirds
- 17Ducks & geese
- 12Herons, ibises & grebes
- 35Songbirds
- 6Other 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 85 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors4 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Japanese BuzzardButeo japonicus
- Common BuzzardButeo buteo
Waders4 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
- Gray-tailed TattlerTringa brevipes
- Little ringed ploverCharadrius dubius
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
Gulls & seabirds7 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black-tailed GullLarus crassirostris
- Slaty-backed GullLarus schistisagus
- Vega GullLarus vegae
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
- Glaucous-winged GullLarus glaucescens
- Black-legged kittiwakeRissa tridactylaVU
- Common GullLarus canus
Ducks & geese17 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Brent GooseBranta bernicla
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Anas poecilorhynchaAnas poecilorhyncha
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- American ScoterMelanitta americanaNT
- Chinese Spot-billed DuckAnas zonorhyncha
- Common PochardAythya ferinaVU
- GadwallMareca strepera
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- Northern ShovelerSpatula clypeata
- American WigeonMareca americana
- GoosanderMergus merganser
Herons, ibises & grebes12 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Japanese CormorantPhalacrocorax capillatus
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
- Black-crowned Night-HeronNycticorax nycticorax
- Little EgretEgretta garzetta
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Pelagic CormorantPhalacrocorax pelagicus
- Red-necked GrebePodiceps grisegena
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritusVU
- Little GrebeTachybaptus ruficollis
Songbirds35 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
- Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
- Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
- Grey-capped GreenfinchChloris sinica
- Japanese TitParus minor
- Meadow BuntingEmberiza cioides
- Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
- Rustic BuntingEmberiza rusticaNT
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
- Black-faced buntingEmberiza spodocephala
- Carrion CrowCorvus corone
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicus
- White-cheeked StarlingSpodiopsar cineraceus
- Turdus naumanniTurdus naumanni
- Pale ThrushTurdus pallidus
- Long-tailed RosefinchCarpodacus sibiricus
- Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
- Bull-headed ShrikeLanius bucephalus
- Japanese WagtailMotacilla grandis
- Daurian RedstartPhoenicurus auroreus
- Eurasian WrenTroglodytes troglodytes
- Brown-headed ThrushTurdus chrysolaus
- Eurasian SiskinSpinus spinus
- HawfinchCoccothraustes coccothraustes
- Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
- Cinereous TitParus cinereus
- Masked buntingEmberiza personata
- Poecile variusPoecile varius
- SkylarkAlauda arvensis
- BramblingFringilla montifringilla
- Grey BuntingEmberiza variabilis
- Asian StubtailUrosphena squameiceps
- BullfinchPyrrhula pyrrhula
- Muscicapa latirostrisMuscicapa latirostris
Other birds6 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
- CootFulica atra
- Japanese Pygmy WoodpeckerYungipicus kizuki
- Common PheasantPhasianus colchicus
- Great Spotted WoodpeckerDendrocopos major
- Lesser CuckooCuculus poliocephalus
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species from January to February and in November.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan4°/-2°78 mm
- Feb4°/-2°52 mm
- Mar8°/0°83 mm
- Apr14°/5°100 mm
- May19°/10°101 mm
- Jun23°/15°116 mm
- Jul26°/19°176 mm
- Aug27°/21°139 mm
- Sep24°/18°140 mm
- Oct19°/12°151 mm
- Nov13°/5°86 mm
- Dec7°/0°93 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Shizugawa Bay.
Shizugawa Bay is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan.
85 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 2,581 open records.
The most recorded are the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, the Brown-eared Bulbul and the Large-billed Crow.
10 species come for the summer, 30 for the winter and 1 only pass through.
3 are threatened worldwide, including Common Pochard, Horned Grebe and Black-legged kittiwake.
The most species are recorded from January to February and in November.
Get there and watch
- 神割崎キャンプ場campsite · 4.8 km · 2 within 10 km
- ペンション オーイングplace to stay · 1.9 km · 17 within 10 km
- Minamisanrikunearest town · 4.0 km in a straight line
- Sendai Airport (SDJ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 76 km in a straight lineCar hire in SendaiDiscover 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
- 1visitor centres within 6 km南三陸ポータルセンター
- 11viewpoints within 5 km見晴し台, 志津川湾, モアイ岩 and 8 more
- 13car parks within 3 km
- 10restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 2campsites within 10 km神割崎キャンプ場, 平成の森
- 17places to stay within 10 kmペンション オーイング, 明神崎荘, 津の宮荘 and 14 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 Shizugawa Bay.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas30 mountains within 25 kmMount Tatsugane512 m · 10 kmTatsugane San · 10 kmKitsunega Mori · 14 kmChōnomori Yama486 m · 19 kmMount Tokusenjō711 m · 21 kmTokusenjō San · 21 kmŌgon Zan · 24 kmNaka Yama · 24 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.
Shizugawa Bay
Japan
- 53Birdyas Score
- 85Species
- 41Migrants
- 3Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q11491090) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 2,581 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 |
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
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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
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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
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