The Tsurui-Ito and Akan crane centres are the daytime feeding sites, where hundreds of red-crowned cranes gather from December to March. This is where the courtship dancing happens — pairs bowing, leaping and calling in unison against snow — and where almost every famous photograph of the species is taken.

The Otowa bridge over the Setsuri river is the dawn site. Cranes roost standing in the unfrozen river overnight, and on cold mornings mist rises off the water around them as the light comes up. Photographers arrive well before sunrise for space on the bridge in winter.

The marsh itself, best seen from the Hosooka or Kottaro viewpoints, is a different park in summer: a huge sedge and reed wetland with cranes nesting out of sight, plus white-tailed eagles, Ezo red foxes and sika deer.

The Kushiro river, canoed in the warmer months, gives the ground-level view of the marsh and its birdlife.

Winter, from December to early March, is the season for the classic experience. Deep cold — regularly well below freezing — is what produces the mist and the dancing.

Practicalities

Kushiro has flights from Tokyo and Sapporo, and the crane sites are 30 to 60 minutes away by road. A hire car is the practical way to move between the dawn roost and the daytime centres.

Winter driving in Hokkaido is serious; take a proper vehicle. At the roost sites, keep to the designated viewing areas — disturbance at dawn pushes birds off the roost, and the local community's tolerance of photographers depends on people behaving.