Birding around Onuma Quasi-National Park

After two nights in Hakodate we drove about an hour north towards Lake Onuma. It's in Onuma Quasi-National Park - kind of a funny name, but I suppose it's not quite a "real" national park, whatever that means. One of Onuma's claims to fame is that it is one of the New Three Views of Japan. Basically there was the original set of three, decided in 1643, and then the "new" three was decided via national election in 1915. Considering that Mt Hakodate is considered one of the top three night views, this area of Hokkaido is doing rather well for itself. So the famous view of Onuma is with Mt Hokkaio-Komagatake in the background. It has a rather pointy peak, although unfortunately the clouds wouldn't quite budge to let us get that shot. There are a couple of walking paths you can take around the lake where we spotted some birds - a grey heron, great crested grebes and a great egret. And my favourite was this Eurasian coot. Look at those feet!! There were also water lilies on the lake, very…