Most viewed - Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork 兵庫県立コウノトリの郷公園 |
When you arrive JR Toyooka Station, you will soon notice that the Oriental white stork ("kounotori" in Japanese) is the symbol of the city. Even the roof looks like a soaring bird. 139 views
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Oriental White Stork manhole in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture.123 views
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Directional sign at JR Toyooka Station.117 views
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Oriental White Stork manhole in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture.112 views
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Oriental white stork eating a fish.111 views
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White stork landing in the paddy during feeding time.110 views
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I didn't expect to see the storks flying around, so I was thrilled when a few of them flew overhead while I was in the park. They flew in during feeding time.109 views
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Two Oriental white storks on a nesting platform. Each nesting platform has a video camera monitoring it 24/7 especially during the egg-laying and hatching season in spring.109 viewsThe park is likely crowded during this time until the babies leave the nest in June/July.
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White stork mail box at Oriental White Stork Park in Toyooka, Hyogo.106 views
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Toyooka was where the last living Oriental white stork in Japan died in 1986. Pesticides in rice paddies (where they feed) and other environmental problems caused their demise.103 views
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The Oriental white stork is a big, beautiful bird often mistaken as the Japanese crane. Wingspan is 2 meters.102 views
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Grey herons also drop by, but they are always fighting each other.102 views
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Feeding time for the storks also attracts unwanted birds like black kites. They swoop in and steal a fish, then don't come back.100 views
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Vending machine with Oriental white stork design motif at JR Toyooka Station.87 views
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Love Toyooka's bag bus.78 views
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Airline with a plane donning an Oriental White Stork motif.67 views
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Spider web.62 views
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As of Oct. 2018, Japan has over 140 Oriental white storks in the wild. They are also successfully breeding in Tokushima, Shimane, and Kyoto Prefectures. 62 viewsIt's still an endangered species, with only slightly over 2,000 of them in the Far East.
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The bus going to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park is designed like a bag to promote Toyooka as a bag-producing city.61 views
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Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork has a few buildings amid large rice paddies and mountains.60 views
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The Oriental white stork has black and white wings and a black bill.60 views
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Confection shaped like stork eggs.60 views
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The building in the middle is the University of Hyogo Graduate School of Regional Resource Management.59 views
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Toyooka Oriental White Stork Culture Center's open cage for Oriental white storks. There are about nine storks in the open cage. Their wings have been clipped to they cannot fly. 59 views
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About the Oriental white stork open cage.59 views
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Around 9:30 am to 10 am, they feed the storks. This is the best time to visit the park. And the best chances of seeing storks flying around.59 views
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59 views
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Storks swallow the fish whole.59 views
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Exhibits.59 views
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Gift shops in this building next to the parking lot.59 views
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Huge rice paddy within Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork.58 views
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The storks are carnivores, feeding on fish, frogs, snakes, rabbits, mice, etc. 58 views
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Crows also drop by.58 views
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Landing on a nesting platform.58 views
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The hanafuda card with the "crane" is actually an Oriental white stork. It actually looks like a cross between the two birds...58 views
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Screening room.58 views
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Nesting platform.58 views
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Park's website: http://www.stork.u-hyogo.ac.jp/en/58 views
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Rice paddy has a high nesting platform. The nest still intact.57 views
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On the left is the Toyooka Kounotori Bunkakan or Oriental White Stork Culture Center.57 views
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So if you go to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork, you can see real Oriental white storks.57 views
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They are throwing small dead fish into the paddies. 57 views
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Once found all over Japan, the Oriental white stork ("kounotori" in Japanese) became extinct in the wild in Japan in 1971 despite preservation efforts since 1955.57 views
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They make a loud clacking noise with their bills.57 views
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57 views
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Part of the park is a large biotope used as a stork sanctuary and research facility. Only part of it is open to the public.57 views
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57 views
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Oriental white stork decoration at JR Toyooka Station. To see real, living Oriental white storks, you have to visit the Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park.56 views
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From JR Toyooka Station, there are buses that go to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork Park. However, they run only once or twice an hour. Bus schedule under the purple column.56 views
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Kounotori can also mean "bird bringing happiness." Sculpture related to the bird of happiness. Makes people happy especially when the stork delivers your baby.56 views
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Toyooka Oriental White Stork Culture Center's open cage for Oriental white storks. It includes paddies used for feeding. The cage is "open" because it only hasa fence and no roof.56 views
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In 1985, six wild Oriental white stork chicks from the USSR (Khabarovsk) were acquired to be raised in Toyooka. From 1989, the birds from Russia started to breed successfully in captivity in Toyooka every year. 56 views
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Back inside the Oriental White Stork Culture Center. On the left is the European white stork with a red bill, on the right is the Oriental white stork with a black bill. Very similar.56 views
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About the biotope.56 views
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Large biotope used as a stork sanctuary and research facility.56 views
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Gate to Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork. Open: 9:00 am–5:00 pm, closed Mondays (open if a national holiday and closed the next day instead), December 28th–January 4th.55 views
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Basic map of Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork. Only one building on the left is open to the public.55 views
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Inside the Oriental White Stork Culture Center. Walk through this building to the other side of the building to see the open cage.55 views
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From 2005, the park started releasing Oriental white storks into the wild in Toyooka, which was a great celebration. The birds then started to breed and reproduce in the wild.55 viewsThey've been releasing only a few birds (fewer than 5) almost every year.
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Even insects.55 views
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On the right is the park's administrative building.54 views
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Oriental white stork nests are large, about 2 meters diameter, made of tree branches and straw.54 views
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Aquariums with fish.52 views
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