Whooper Swan	White-tailed Sea-Eagle	Stellar's Sea-Eagle	Hazel Grouse
Japanese Crane	Far Eastern Curlew	Latham's Snipe	Ross's Gull
Blakiston's Fish-Owl	Ural Owl	Black Woodpecker	Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Eurasian Skylark	Long-tailed Tit	Snow Bunting	Common Redpoll
Tree Sparrow	Eurasian Jay	Northern Raven	Buller's Shearwater*
Swan Goose*	Ashy Minivet*	To Checklist	To Bird Guide Top

Hazel Grouse   Tetrastes bonasia   Ezo-raichou

In Japan, the Hazel Grouse lives only in Hokkaido and birders in other parts of the country yearn to see one. This bird is indeed a grouse, but this particular species also lives in lowlands as well as the mountains. Though its distribution extends throughout Hokkaido, there are few in the Nemuro and Soya areas, and their dwindling numbers everywhere in recent years is causing concern. Their high-pitched "peee, peeppeeppee" is often heard in mixed deciduous and pine forests, but they basically do not live in the larch (karamatsu) forests that have been artificially planted on a wide scale. The Hazel Grouse is relatively common in the Okhotsk region, and in summer they can sometimes be seen walking with their chicks on forest roads. Be sure to drive slowly on forest roads.

Abashiri, 18 February 2004 (Photo: Tarobé-san)