Live camera
Geese and ducks at Izunuma live camera — Kurihara, Miyagi
A shallow Ramsar-listed marsh. Greater white-fronted geese and ducks gather in winter, and it is known for the mass dawn departure.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
The surface of a shallow marsh. In winter flocks of geese and ducks cover it, and at first light they take off all at once.
Being shallow is precisely what makes this marsh valuable. The average depth is under a metre, so water plants grow all the way down and feed the large flocks. It was designated a Ramsar site in 1985 — the second such site in Japan, after Kushiro Marsh.
With neighbouring Uchinuma it is called Izunuma-Uchinuma, and the two together make up a listed area of over five hundred hectares. More greater white-fronted geese arrive here than anywhere else in Japan. The winter birds are what it is known for, but from late July into August lotus covers the water and the frame fills with green and pink.
The greater white-fronted goose has not been numerous here for long. It was made a national natural monument in 1971 and so taken off the quarry list; until then the number wintering in Japan was only a few thousand. Now flocks of over a hundred thousand come across, and a great many of them settle on this marsh. The lotus, meanwhile, grew too well. It closes over the water, costing the birds their landing room and spoiling the water quality, so it is cut back year on year to hold it in check.
November to February is the main season. Numbers start rising in late October, and by March they have gone north.
At first light the flock lifts off all at once for the surrounding paddies, and returns in the evening. So the water is fullest early and late, and if you open it at midday and think nothing is there, it does not necessarily mean you have the season wrong. Updates come once an hour, though, so catching the take-off itself is unlikely.
About this camera
| Place | Kurihara, Miyagi |
| Format | Still, hourly |
| Time zone | Asia/Tokyo (UTC+9) |
| Category | Wildlife · Nature |
| 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.