On the tidal flats of the Atsumi Peninsula sedentary birds thrive alongside migratory birds, such as wild ducks coming from the far reaches of Siberia. Throngs of birds can be seen all year round, reaching a peak in the winter, when they number in the tens of thousands. In autumn, migratory birds that spend their summers and breed in the mountain forests of Japan, like the gray-faced buzzard eagle, use the Atsumi Peninsula as a stopover point en route to Southeast Asia. Photographers from all over Japan gather with their super-telephoto lenses at Cape Irago, on the tip of the peninsula, hoping to get a shot of the buzzard eagle dancing on the air currents high above. Atsumi truly is a crossroads for migrating birds.
Snipes step through the shallow waters pecking at the shellfish and worms of the flats.
Gulls pluck fish swimming between the waves or that spill over from fishing boats.