I've seen much more wildlife in Japan than I ever did in New Zealand. Probably that's because I usually traveled by car in NZ. So I saw a lot of farm animals, but rabbits and possums (both pests) were the only wild animals I saw. There are lots of interesting birds in New Zealand, but they're hard to observe from a car. Apparently we have herons and white egrets, but I never saw one.
So I was happy to find how abundant they are in Japan. You can see big water birds everywhere, probably because growing rice provides them with lots of feeding grounds. White egrets in the emerald green rice fields of summer is one of my favorite images of Japan. On my ride around Lake Biwa I saw many white egrets on the lake shore. I hope you enjoy these photos!
