Martin Ellis
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Wed 14 Oct 2026 · 13 photos

Birds of Japan

Birds I’ve photographed on trips to Japan between 2023 and 2026: herons in Kyoto and Fukuoka, a bluetail on a mossy path in Hakone, and a dove, crows and a reef heron in Okinawa and on Ishigaki in the far south.

Sorry for the variable quality, relying on my phone when out wondering and when I do have my nice camera out I don’t usually have my long lens with me for space reasons.1.

  1. and when I do I am too lazy to swap it for one photo. ↩︎

A white gull with grey wings, black wingtips and a dark smudge behind its eye, swimming on calm water with sunlight glinting around it.
Winter Gull
A black coot with a white shield on its forehead and a pale pink bill, swimming on murky green water.
Coot
A grey heron hunched on a thick branch of a camphor tree, framed by leaves, with a lake and a playground behind.
Heron in the Tree
A brown speckled cormorant with a yellow patch at the base of its bill, half-spreading its wings on the stone edge of a lake among pine needles and pine cones.
Drying Off
A small blue bird with orange flanks perched on a mossy rock beside a path, in front of a moss-covered tree trunk.
Bluetail
A speckled grey-brown bird with a long tail flying up out of the top of a leafy cherry tree, silhouetted against a white sky.
Take Off
A grey heron leaning out from a stepping stone over a green-tinted pond, beak open, with orange azalea flowers in the foreground.
Catch of the Day
A grey heron standing on stepping stones at the edge of a pond, with a red koi swirling just below the surface and orange azaleas in front.
Heron and Koi
A pale grey bird with a dark stripe down its back, roosting at night among thick glossy leaves, lit by a torch.
Asleep in the Leaves
A big black crow with a heavy curved beak perched on a concrete wall, in front of red-tiled roofs, bougainvillea and a blue sky.
Crow on the Wall
A black crow perched among the dry brown fibres at the base of a traveller's palm, surrounded by its fanned-out green stems.
Crow in the Palm
A dark slate-grey heron standing on a weedy coral reef exposed at low tide, between shallow pools.
Reef Heron
A dove with scalloped brown and grey wings and black and white stripes on its neck, walking through clover and fallen leaves.
Turtle Dove
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