Japan Ramsar wetland
Arao Higata
78 bird species recorded; the most from February to April.
Yuji Sakamoto · CC BY-SA 3.0
This month here
46 species in January.50 species in February.49 species in March.53 species in April.44 species in May.21 species in June.11 species in July.13 species in August.28 species in September.33 species in October.41 species in November.45 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.
VU
VU
NTVU
NT
VU
NTNTNTVU
NT
VU
VUNTVU- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
78 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).
- 78Speciesrecorded more than once
- 42Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 3ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 1,547Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 3Raptors
- 14Waders
- 5Gulls & seabirds
- 13Ducks & geese
- 9Herons, ibises & grebes
- 28Songbirds
- 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 78 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors3 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- Common KestrelFalco tinnunculus
Waders14 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinus
- DunlinCalidris alpinaNT
- Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
- Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaVU
- Gray-tailed TattlerTringa brevipes
- Eurasian WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus
- Bar-tailed godwitLimosa lapponicaNT
- Red-necked StintCalidris ruficollisNT
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Terek SandpiperXenus cinereus
- Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulva
- Common GreenshankTringa nebularia
- Great KnotCalidris tenuirostris
Gulls & seabirds5 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Little TernSternula albifrons
- Black-tailed GullLarus crassirostris
- Vega GullLarus vegae
- Saunders's GullChroicocephalus saundersi
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
Ducks & geese13 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Chinese Spot-billed DuckAnas zonorhyncha
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Common PochardAythya ferinaVU
- GadwallMareca strepera
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Mandarin DuckAix galericulata
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Baikal TealSibirionetta formosa
Herons, ibises & grebes9 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Great White EgretArdea alba
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Little EgretEgretta garzetta
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
- Black-faced SpoonbillPlatalea minorVU
- Little GrebeTachybaptus ruficollis
- Eurasian SpoonbillPlatalea leucorodia
- Egretta intermediaEgretta intermedia
Songbirds28 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
- Meadow BuntingEmberiza cioides
- Grey-capped GreenfinchChloris sinica
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
- Daurian RedstartPhoenicurus auroreus
- Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
- Carrion CrowCorvus corone
- Pale ThrushTurdus pallidus
- Cinereous TitParus cinereus
- Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
- White-cheeked StarlingSpodiopsar cineraceus
- Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicus
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Olive-backed PipitAnthus hodgsoni
- Oriental MagpiePica serica
- Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
- Zitting CisticolaCisticola juncidis
- SkylarkAlauda arvensis
- Poecile variusPoecile varius
- Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
- Masked buntingEmberiza personata
- Bull-headed ShrikeLanius bucephalus
- Oriental Reed WarblerAcrocephalus orientalis
- Ryukyu MinivetPericrocotus tegimae
- Japanese WagtailMotacilla grandis
- Yellow-throated BuntingEmberiza elegans
- Rustic BuntingEmberiza rusticaNT
Other birds6 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- Japanese Pygmy WoodpeckerYungipicus kizuki
- White-bellied Green-PigeonTreron sieboldii
- Common KingfisherAlcedo atthis
- CootFulica atra
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 February to April.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan8°/0°68 mm
- Feb10°/1°101 mm
- Mar14°/4°130 mm
- Apr19°/8°157 mm
- May23°/13°182 mm
- Jun26°/18°383 mm
- Jul29°/22°394 mm
- Aug30°/23°213 mm
- Sep27°/19°207 mm
- Oct22°/13°118 mm
- Nov16°/8°96 mm
- Dec10°/2°82 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Arao Higata.
Tidal flat in Arao, Kumamoto, Japan
Arao Higata is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan.
78 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 1,547 open records.
The most recorded are the Large-billed Crow, the Meadow Bunting and the Chinese Spot-billed Duck.
14 species come for the summer, 28 for the winter and 0 only pass through.
3 are threatened worldwide, including Common Pochard, Grey Plover and Black-faced Spoonbill.
The most species are recorded from February to April.
Get there and watch
- 丸山キャンプ場campsite · 9.5 km · 1 within 10 km
- ホテル ヴェルデplace to stay · 3.7 km · 4 within 10 km
- Araonearest town · 1.4 km in a straight line
- Kyushu Saga International Airport (HSG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 22 km in a straight lineCar hire at FUK airport (Fukuoka)Discover 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
- 2viewpoints within 5 km三池港展望所
- 35car parks within 3 km
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 1campsites within 10 km丸山キャンプ場
- 4places to stay within 10 kmホテル ヴェルデ, ビジネスホテルわらじ家別館, ニューガイア オオムタガーデン and 1 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 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 Arao Higata.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas13 mountains within 25 kmHonzenbō · 9.0 kmTsutsuga Take · 9.0 kmKonoha Yama · 19 kmGen Yama · 21 kmMeno San · 22 kmHankō Yama · 23 kmKumano-dake · 24 kmKawachi 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.
Arao Higata
Japan
- 52Birdyas Score
- 78Species
- 42Migrants
- 3Threatened
Izumi crane migration grounds
Japan · 99 km
- 88Birdyas Score
- 204Species
- 139Migrants
- 10Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q20043007) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 1,547 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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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
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
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
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