Live camera
Whooper swans, Lake Kuccharo live camera
A brackish lake near the Sea of Okhotsk. During spring and autumn migration the flocks cover the surface.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
Brackish water, close in behind the Sea of Okhotsk. The frame holds the water and the low grass of the shore; in season that water fills with white specks.
This lake is a place to rest the wings mid-journey. It lies at the northern edge of Hokkaido, so for birds moving between Siberia and Honshu it is the last water they come down on, or the first. It is a shallow lake where sea and river water mix, and the ease of reaching the water plants they feed on is part of the reason. It was designated a Ramsar site in 1989.
This is a lagoon — a sea inlet closed off by a sandbar. It is shaped as two basins, Onuma and Konuma, linked by a narrow channel, and the Sea of Okhotsk lies immediately beyond the bar, only a few hundred metres from the lake. The shore runs about twenty-seven kilometres, and even the deepest part is under three metres.
November to February is the main season, but this lake also fills in spring. Flocks stop here on the way north from March into April, so it crowds again after the other wintering grounds have emptied.
Morning and evening. In the middle of the day the birds are out feeding nearby. Updates come once an hour, so assume you will not catch the moment of take-off.
About this camera
| Place | Hamatonbetsu, Hokkaido |
| Format | Still, hourly |
| Time zone | Asia/Tokyo (UTC+9) |
| Category | Nature · Wildlife |
| Operator | Ministry of the Environment — Internet Nature Institute |
| Terms of use | PDL 1.0 |
The operator's own page
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.
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