エゾユキウサギが冬毛になりました。
探し方を過去のブログでも書いたのですが、雪が降って足跡が付き始めたのでエゾユキウサギのリサーチを再開しています。まだまだ雪は少なく、足跡も途切れがち・・・ですが換毛期の11月は意外と探し易いことに気がつきました。
早朝に降雪があるとウサギは灌木の茂みではなく、平地の草原などで眠っていることがあるようで、日がのぼり雪が溶け始めると、若干ですがウサギの体色が雪の白に馴染まなくなってきます。この微妙な違和感が探す時のヒントです。
600mmの望遠で撮影してみました。
このユキウサギは最初、こちらに気が付かず目を閉じて耳を畳み眠っていたのですが、カメラを準備している時に気がついたようで目を開けました。肉眼では本当にわずかなヒントです。一度目を離すと消えてしまいます。それでも真冬よりは簡単です。
The Hokkaido snowshoe hares have changed into their winter coats.
I wrote about how to find them in an older blog post, but now that we finally have a bit of snow and fresh tracks on the ground, I’ve started researching them again.
There’s still not much snow, so the tracks disappear quickly…
but I’ve realized that November—the molting season—is actually one of the easiest times to look for them.
When there is fresh snowfall early in the morning, snowshoe hares sometimes sleep not in thick brush, but out in the open fields or grassland.
As the sun rises and the snow begins to melt, their body color no longer blends perfectly into the snow.
It’s a very subtle difference, but this “tiny sense of something odd” becomes the key hint when searching.
I photographed this hare with a 600mm lens.
At first, it didn’t notice me at all.
It was sleeping with its eyes closed and ears folded down, but when I was setting up my camera, it seemed to wake up and opened its eyes.
With the naked eye, the hint is extremely small—if you look away for even a moment, the hare seems to disappear.
Still, compared to mid-winter, it’s much easier to find them now.
しばらくこの距離で双眼鏡で観察していると、また目を閉じたので少しずつ近づきます。
20mまで近づくと耳が動き、15mで目が完全に開き、10mで耳が立ち、顔を上げました。伏せの姿勢から低いお座りになっていつでもスタートダッシュが出来るように警戒モードです。
早朝の柔らかい日差しが薄れ、日差しが強くなってきました。強いコントラストでどう撮影するか、考えながら観察を続けます。
野生動物に近づくときは、ジグザグに歩き相手に視線や体の正面を見せないようにします。斜めに動いていると近づいていることに気がつきずらく、接近のインパクトが和らぐようです。
After watching it with binoculars from a safe distance for a while, the hare closed its eyes again, so I slowly moved closer.
At about 20 meters, its ears twitched.
At 15 meters, its eyes opened fully.
And at 10 meters, the ears stood straight and the head lifted.
From a low, crouched posture it shifted into a light sitting position — ready to sprint at any moment. This was clearly its alert mode.
The soft morning light was fading, and the sunlight was becoming stronger.
I kept observing while thinking about how to photograph the hare in this high-contrast light.
When approaching wildlife, I always walk in a zig-zag pattern and avoid showing my full front or staring directly at the animal.
Moving diagonally makes it harder for the animal to notice that I’m getting closer, and it reduces the “impact” of my approach.
ここからはコチラも姿勢を低くして、距離を詰めます。どこまで寄れるかは個体次第ですが、安全圏でならある程度コチラが動いても逃げないというのは共通している気がします。走って逃げるか、身動きせずバレないように身を隠すかを常に天秤に掛けているようです。
最後は這って近づき、5mまでは許してくれました。
From this point, I also lowered my body and tried to close the distance even more.
How close you can approach really depends on each individual hare, but there seems to be one common rule — as long as you stay inside its “safe zone,” the hare won’t run even if you move a little.
It feels like they are always weighing two choices:
run away or stay perfectly still and hope not to be noticed.
In the end, I crawled slowly across the snow, and the hare allowed me to come as close as five meters.
エゾユキウサギの撮影は見つけるまでの狩猟的な面白さと、真っ白な姿をどう映すか。天候や光の具合、雪があるのか、紅葉なのか、冬毛か換毛期のマーブル模様か。刺激しなければ動かないので時間を掛けて撮影に集中できて、長く観察するほど可愛い仕草を捉えることができます。
雪原で見つけることができれば、雪に溶け込む真っ白なエゾユキウサギを撮影できるでしょう。
Photographing the Hokkaido snowshoe hare has two kinds of fun —
the “hunting” excitement of finding one, and the challenge of how to capture its pure white body.
Weather, light, snow conditions, autumn colors, or the marble pattern during the molting season…
everything changes the mood of the photo.
If you don’t push the hare too much, it usually stays still, so you can take your time and focus on shooting.
And the longer you observe, the more small, cute behaviors you can see.
If you manage to find one out on the open snowfield,
you can photograph the beautiful white hare blending perfectly into the winter snow.
雪が溶けたら移動するのか知りたかったので、ずっと側で見ていたかったのですが、次のガイドためのモモンガのチェックなどもあり静かに撤退しました。次はモモンガを一度パスして夕暮れの光で撮影してみようと思います。
今回はラッキーで草原で見つけましたが、良く見るのはこういった低い木の根本や窪みなどでジッとしている姿です。こういう場合は全体を観察するのも難しく、背景も複雑になりがちです。どこが抜けているのか、探すのも一苦労。
I wanted to stay longer to see whether the hare would move once the snow started melting, but I also had to check the flying squirrel nests for the next guiding day, so I quietly backed away and left the area.
Next time, I may skip the squirrels once and try shooting the hare in the warm evening light.
This time I was lucky to find one out in the grassland, but usually I see them sitting completely still at the base of low trees or inside small hollows.
In those cases, it’s hard to see the whole body, and the background becomes very complicated.
Finding the right “opening” to shoot through can be quite a challenge.
ウサギは瞳が大きくて、虹彩が目立つので光が入るとちょっと怒っているようにも見えます。こういう表情も嫌いでは無いのですが、もう少し違った表情にならないか、考えるのも面白いです。11月は茶色い毛並みが混じるので、個体の識別もできるのも楽しいですね。
The hare has very large eyes, and the iris stands out clearly, so when the light hits its face, it can look a little bit angry.
I don’t dislike this kind of expression, but it’s also fun to think about how to capture a different mood.
In November, the mix of brown and white fur makes it easier to identify each individual,
and that part is also enjoyable for me.
エゾユキウサギをガイドするようになってまだ2年目ですが、少しずつ精度が上がり観察機会が増えました。今シーズンも何件か問い合わせや相談をいただいています。
何月が良いかという相談を受けますが・・・寒すぎず、歩き易い11月は初心者におすすめです。紅葉が終わり葉っぱが落ちて、エゾモモンガも快適に撮影が出来ます。
もちろん、これからさらに雪が降り厳しい冬が来ると、素晴らしいユキウサギに出会えると確信しています。厳冬期もぜひお待ちしています。
This is only my second year guiding for the Hokkaido snowshoe hare,
but little by little my accuracy has improved and I’m getting more chances to observe them.
I already received a few inquiries and questions for this season as well.
People often ask me, “Which month is the best?”
For beginners, I usually recommend November — it’s not too cold, the walking is easy,
and after the autumn leaves fall, it also becomes a very good month for photographing flying squirrels.
Of course, once the real winter arrives and the snow gets deeper,
I’m sure we will meet even more beautiful snowshoe hares.
I’m looking forward to guiding guests during the mid-winter season too.
2025-2026の冬は12月にまだ空きがあります。
1月、3月もまだ少し。2月はまもなく完売です。
For the 2025–2026 winter season, I still have openings in December.
There are also a few spots left in January and March.
February is almost fully booked.