Places I'm visiting: Japan September 2025 – Life birds

Back in Tokyo now, and heading home tomorrow. On the way to the airport for my flight from Matsuyama to Tokyo on September 30,  I made a brief stop along the Tateiwa River in the town of Hojo (now absorbed into Matsuyama but I still think of it as a separate town). I lived in Hojo for a year as a teenager. Along the river I spotted an unfamiliar sandpiper. Thanks to adjustments to my camera settings recommended by my new birding acquaintance from Oshima, I was able to get a nice shot of one of the birds in flight. This is a Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus). It's fairly common throughout Asia, but a very rare accidental visitor in California. Another "lifer" for me.

In total, at the end of my trip to Japan this time (which was not a birdwatching trip) I managed to get a total of eight life birds:

*Asian Brown Flycatcher (Kosamebitaki)

*Grey-streaked Flycatcher (Ezobitaki)

*Dark-sided Flycatcher (Samebitaki)

*Red-rumped Swallow (Koshiaka tsubame)

*Japanese Kingfisher (Kawasemi)

*Black-tailed Gull (Umineko)

*Kamchatka Leaf Warbler (Ōmushikui)

*Terek Sandpiper (Sorihashi-shigi)