Welcoming the Night

We were staring at the each other for a long time.

It has been a whilte that I have been wanting to see a Hokkaido owl since I moved to Trurui village.

And finally today I got to spend the quality time with a beautiful Owl in the forest.

After 10 minutes of walk in the forest from our house, there lies the tree with a big hollow with an owl perching on it.

Owls are nocturnal birds, so as soon as the first star appeared in the sky, it took off into the darkness.



"Ezo Owl at the Evening"

The North

I have a Japanese friend in the village who guides in Alaska.

Considering the size of the population (2500), it is lucky to have a friend who can share the same passion for the North in North America.

After one year in Hokkaido, I still often think about the Yukon Territory of Canada and Alaska where I travelled in the backcoutry. Harsh but beautiful, it is certainly one of the best place to visit on the earth.

A shot of the Dall Sheep in Alaska taken this September.

I would love to go back there next year as well.



"Dall Sheep Falling Asleep..."

The Fisrt Snow

Finally, it has snowed all day today here in Tsurui village.

Snow has power to turn ordinary landscape into magical one.

Here is a shot from today.



"A Japanese Crane in Snow"

A Crane Couple

It was a clear morning in Tsurui village this morning.

I got up 5:30 am as usual to go take photos of Japanese cranes.

At this time of the year, the sun rises behind where cranes hang out in the early morning.

So here is a photo from this morning.


"Cranes Couple Facing"

Cranes usually mate for life as a pair unless one dies and another gets "married" again.

I wrote "usually" because the crane expert recently told me that cranes sometimes have affairs as well. Young ones especially try our some relationships before settling into solid partnership.

This is one of the reasons why many people are fascinated with this bird because they are just like human beings in many ways...

Cranes in the Fog

The place I live called Tsurui village is famous for the fog during the summer and it rarely gets fogged up at this time of the year.

But a few days ago, the fog covered the entire village in the early morning.



Here are the shots of Japanese cranes takne on that day.