Site Report: Kyoto - Mount Inari Shopping Mall Temple

Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)

An old temple complex that has been converted into a tourist shopping mall.

2024-03-01: More ultra-touristy sites in Kyoto, we woke up before dawn to walk around in a bunch of orange gates and temples. The gates and temples used to be a religious place, but now it is overrun with tourists, even at 6:30 in the morning and cold and rainy. There are a bunch of knick-knack shopping, beer vending machines, and restaurants on the trail and next to the shrines. There is even a bamboo forest there, but none of the tourists seem to know about that one. For some unknown reason, a local man drove up to us on the street next to the shrine to gift us two plastic bags full of origami balls, not sure what that was about.

Kingdom: Animals (12 records)

Phylum: Chordates (12 records)

Class: Birds (12 records)

Order: Doves and Pigeons (2 records)
- Family: Pigeons and Doves
- Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
- Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)

Order: Hawks, Eagles, Kites, and Allies (1 record)
- Family: Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
- Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

Order: Perching Birds (8 records)
- Family: Bulbuls
- Brown-eared Bulbul (Hypsipetes amaurotis)
- Family: Bush Warblers and Allies
- Japanese Bush-Warbler (Horornis diphone)
- Family: Chickadees and Titmice
- Varied Tit (Sittiparus varius)
- Asian Tit (Parus cinereus)
- Family: Jays and Crows
- Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
- Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
- Family: Old World Warblers and Gnatcatchers
- Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)
- Family: White-eyes
- Warbling White-eye (Zosterops japonicus)

Order: Woodpeckers, Barbets, Toucans, and Honeyguides (1 record)
- Family: Piculets and Woodpeckers
- Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki)