The Paradise of Seabirds – Teuri Island
HIH Princess Takamado shares photos from a visit to Japan's Teuri Island and its extraordinary seabird colonies.
“Through the Lens” Fujingahou Magazine, June 2025
Photos and text by HIH Princess Takamado
Photo edited by Koichi Fujiwara (NATURE’S PLANET)
Edited by Yuki Masuda (Fujingahou)
English version prepared by BirdLife International
(This English translation is provided for reference only and does not constitute an official version)
Last June, I visited Teuri Island, an island in the Sea of Japan, 30 kilometres offshore from Haboro-cho, Hokkaido. This was a visit I had awaited for years. Filled with excitement, I found myself capturing countless moments through my lens. I would like to share some of those photos and introduce you to three seabirds and Teuri Island – often called ‘The Paradise of Seabirds’.
Teuri Island has 12 kilometres of coastline and a population of about 250 people. It takes about one and a half hours by ferry from the port of Haboro. Watching and photographing sea birds flying, diving, and catching fish was so exciting that the voyage passed by really quickly.
The island is a world-famous seabird breeding ground. Approximately one million seabirds of eight species are said to breed. It is worth noting – as local researchers emphasise – that the island is home to Japan’s and the world’s largest breeding ground for Spectacled Guillemot, a species found only around the Sea of Okhotsk. It also hosts the world’s largest breeding colony of Rhinoceros Auklet, with approximately 400,000 breeding pairs. In addition, approximately 5,000 Black-tailed Gulls, a common species that only inhabits the seas around Japan, breed on Teuri Island. The cliff on the west side of the island is the only place in Japan where Common Murre breed, as well as the southernmost breeding ground for this species in the world.
39 cm, Alcidae family
The Japanese name for Spectacled Guillemot — Keimafuri — has its origin in Ainu words, ’Kema’ (legs) and ‘Fure’ (red). The red legs stand out not only when they stand but also when they fly. They fly straight near the water surface.
Their distribution is narrow, inhabiting mainly the east coast of Kamchatka Peninsula to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. They dive and catch small fish. The cliff in the foreground is the nesting site.
The first two pictures (above) show Spectacled Guillemot. These seabirds have their nests between the cracks of rocks on sharp cliffs. While there, I observed many pairs raising their young. It seemed they didn’t often have easy spots to land near their nests, and I noticed they therefore occasionally walked across bumpy rocks from where they had landed.
45.6 cm, Laridae family
The main gull species in Japan. With limited distribution worldwide, they inhabit the western Pacific area close to the country. It is small with yellow feet, characterized by its thick black tail feathers. It sings “meow-meow”.
I chose the next photo (above) because I wanted to show the number of Black-tailed Gulls, which nest on grasslands or rocky places. The photo captures a moment when they all scattered after a Japanese Buzzard, a fierce bird slightly smaller than a Black Kite, flew above them. The number of Black-tailed Gulls was once concerning, but I hear the population is gradually recovering in recent years.
37.5 cm, Alcidae family
Widely distributed along the coast of North Pacific from the coast of Northern Japan to the Kuril Islands (the Chishima Islands), the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. White ornamental feathers grow on its face, and a white protrusion appears at the root of its beak during the breeding season. The Japanese name for Rhinoceros Auklet — Utou — means ’protrusion’ in the Ainu language. Ainu is the language of the original inhabitants of Hokkaido, Japan.
The last bird is the Rhinoceros Auklet. It has a symbolic protrusion which begins to appear on its upper beak during the breeding period in summer, making its name seem quite appropriate. The bird generally returns to its nest after sunset. Seeking to observe the bird by oneself alone in the dark can unnecessarily and riskily disturb the species, so I joined a local night group tour. Many Rhinoceros Auklets carry fish in their beaks to feed their chicks, and they fly straight into their nests at speeds over 80 kilometres per hour to prevent gulls from stealing the fish. It was amazing to see hundreds of thousands of these birds returning to their nests one after another in the dim light.
While I was impressed by their agile and rapid descent, I noticed that some of them crashed into road signs and guardrails at these extreme speeds, and I was surprised and moved by the loudness of the crashes resonating in the dark. Furthermore, a large number of the birds walk after landing around the nesting sites and crowd onto the roads, and are hit by cars. I felt saddened to find several dead aucklets on the road the next morning.
Although many seabird breeding sites are on deserted islands located far offshore, Teuri Island is rare in that humans and seabirds share the island. Locals have long worked for the protection of seabirds in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and other specialists. It is reassuring that many residents, including visiting researchers and local fishermen, collaboratively work to protect ’The Paradise of Seabirds.’ I hope they will explore conservation solutions including the removal of manmade objects that Rhinoceros Auklets collide with. Other avenues to investigate could include potential restrictions on cars near the nesting sites, as well as efforts to designate the area as a National Park or a World Heritage Site.
I had to cut short my time observing Common Murres this time due to bad weather, but I hope to watch them on my next visit. I would encourage readers to consider visiting Teuri Island. I really hope that the heartwarming people on Teuri and the seabirds will share their home harmoniously forever on this island, a treasure of Japan.
