Japan 663highland · CC BY 2.5
This month here
27 species in January.33 species in February.21 species in March.29 species in April.67 species in May.53 species in June.54 species in July.36 species in August.42 species in September.39 species in October.18 species in November.34 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
VUVU
- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
90 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).
- 90Speciesrecorded more than once
- 50Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 2ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 1,312Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 419 mAltitudeabove the sea
- 5Raptors
- 2Waders
- 11Ducks & geese
- 2Herons, ibises & grebes
- 1Storks & cranes
- 52Songbirds
- 17Other 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 90 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors5 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Black KiteMilvus migrans
- White-tailed EagleHaliaeetus albicilla
- Steller's Sea-eagleHaliaeetus pelagicusVU
- Eurasian SparrowhawkAccipiter nisus
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
Waders2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Japanese SnipeGallinago hardwickiiNT
- Eurasian WoodcockScolopax rusticola
Ducks & geese11 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- GoosanderMergus merganser
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Whooper SwanCygnus cygnus
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Mandarin DuckAix galericulata
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- Falcated DuckMareca falcata
- Bewick's SwanCygnus columbianus
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
Herons, ibises & grebes2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
Storks & cranes1 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Red-crowned CraneGrus japonensisVU
Songbirds52 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
- Eurasian NuthatchSitta europaea
- Coal TitPeriparus ater
- Cinereous TitParus cinereus
- Carrion CrowCorvus corone
- Marsh TitPoecile palustris
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
- Eastern Crowned Leaf WarblerPhylloscopus coronatus
- Eurasian JayGarrulus glandarius
- Eurasian TreecreeperCerthia familiaris
- Willow TitPoecile montanus
- Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
- Asian House MartinDelichon dasypus
- Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
- Grey-capped GreenfinchChloris sinica
- Masked buntingEmberiza personata
- Eurasian WrenTroglodytes troglodytes
- Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
- GoldcrestRegulus regulus
- Eurasian SiskinSpinus spinus
- Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
- Olive-backed PipitAnthus hodgsoni
- Muscicapa latirostrisMuscicapa latirostris
- HawfinchCoccothraustes coccothraustes
- Narcissus FlycatcherFicedula narcissina
- Brown-headed ThrushTurdus chrysolaus
- Japanese WagtailMotacilla grandis
- BullfinchPyrrhula pyrrhula
- Poecile variusPoecile varius
- Red-flanked BluetailTarsiger cyanurus
- Northern NutcrackerNucifraga caryocatactes
- Blue-and-white FlycatcherCyanoptila cyanomelana
- Dark-sided FlycatcherMuscicapa sibirica
- Sakhalin Leaf-warblerPhylloscopus borealoides
- Brown DipperCinclus pallasii
- Long-tailed RosefinchCarpodacus sibiricus
- Janpanese ThrushTurdus cardis
- Siberian Blue RobinLuscinia cyane
- White's ThrushZoothera aurea
- Stejneger's StonechatSaxicola stejnegeri
- Sand MartinRiparia riparia
- Japanese RobinErithacus akahige
- BramblingFringilla montifringilla
- White-cheeked StarlingSpodiopsar cineraceus
- Eyebrowed thrushTurdus obscurus
- Chestnut-eared BuntingEmberiza fucata
- Common Reed BuntingEmberiza schoeniclus
- Siberian RubythroatLuscinia calliope
- Asian StubtailUrosphena squameiceps
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Passer cinnamomeusPasser cinnamomeus
Other birds17 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Great Spotted WoodpeckerDendrocopos major
- White-backed WoodpeckerDendrocopos leucotos
- Japanese Pygmy WoodpeckerYungipicus kizuki
- Oriental CuckooCuculus optatus
- Grey-headed WoodpeckerPicus canus
- Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
- Hazel GrouseTetrastes bonasia
- White-bellied Green-PigeonTreron sieboldii
- Crested KingfisherMegaceryle lugubris
- Pacific SwiftApus pacificus
- Black WoodpeckerDryocopus martius
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- CootFulica atra
- Common CuckooCuculus canorus
- Needle-tailed SwiftHirundapus caudacutus
- WryneckJynx torquilla
- Lesser Spotted WoodpeckerDryobates minor
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in May.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan-5°/-14°45 mm
- Feb-4°/-14°35 mm
- Mar0°/-7°52 mm
- Apr7°/-1°63 mm
- May13°/5°89 mm
- Jun18°/10°101 mm
- Jul22°/14°114 mm
- Aug23°/16°138 mm
- Sep19°/12°121 mm
- Oct12°/5°106 mm
- Nov5°/-2°68 mm
- Dec-2°/-11°64 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Lake Akan.
Lake in Kushiro, Hokkaidō, Japan
Lake Akan is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan, 419 m above the sea.
90 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 1,312 open records.
The most recorded are the Large-billed Crow, the Eurasian Nuthatch and the Goosander.
34 species come for the summer, 16 for the winter and 0 only pass through.
2 are threatened worldwide, including Steller's Sea-eagle and Red-crowned Crane.
The most species are recorded in May.
Get there and watch
- 阿寒湖畔キャンプ場campsite · 2.2 km · 2 within 10 km
- ホテル阿寒湖荘place to stay · 1.9 km · 16 within 10 km
- Kushiro Airport (KUH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 46 km in a straight lineCar hire at KUH airport (Kushiro)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
- 1visitor centres within 6 km阿寒湖まりむ館観光インフォメーションセンター
- 3viewpoints within 5 km白湯山展望台
- 13car parks within 3 km
- 4restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 2campsites within 10 km阿寒湖畔キャンプ場, オンネトー国設野営場
- 16places to stay within 10 kmホテル阿寒湖荘, 山水荘ホテル, ホテル御前水 and 13 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 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 Lake Akan.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Peakyas33 mountains within 25 kmMount Oakan1,370 m · volcano · 5.0 kmMount Fuppushi1,225 m · 6.6 kmMount Furebetsu1,097 m · 6.9 kmMount Ahoro977 m · 7.6 kmKikin-dake994 m · 8.9 kmMount Meakan1,499 m · volcano · 10 kmAkan Volcanic Complex1,499 m · 10 kmAkan Fuji1,476 m · volcano · 11 km
Darkskyas3 dark-sky places within 30 kmLake AkanBortle 2 · this placeAkan Volcanic ComplexBortle 2 · 10 kmLake KussharoBortle 2 · 26 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 kmOnnetō Hot Falls · 13 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyAkan River98 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.
Lake Akan
Japan
- 53Birdyas Score
- 90Species
- 50Migrants
- 2Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q429402) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 1,312 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, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas |
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
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
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