During the winter season, the woodland along Teshio River in the Northern Hokkaido region frequently experiences severe weather, such as raging blizzards. Even in this environment, wild birds like the Japanese pygmy woodpecker and the wood nuthatch manage to survive, searching desperately for nourishment. If you clear your mind and listen and watch quietly, you can glimpse these wild birds.

If you delve into the snow-covered riverside forest area and listen carefully, a rapping sound can be heard clicking at regular intervals. The origins of this sound is a striped back Japanese pygmy woodpecker of the Picidae family. It is scattering tree bark in an attempt to find food.

The wood nuthatch flies busily from tree to tree. The Willow tit pecks at winter tree buds. If you listen quietly, you can even hear chirping. And though it is a rare sight, sometimes the national treasure Steller’s sea eagle can be seen soaring liesurely across the sky.

Animal photographer Fujimoto Toshihiko specializes in the Sarobetsu-Genya, which stretches out through the Northern Hokkaido region. He explains, “Birds that live on Sakhalin Island sometimes come south to live in Hokkaido during the winter months. You can find many of these birds in nearby woodlands.” He also states that because there are no leaves on tree branches in the winter, that also provides the opportunity to see a great deal of wild birds.