Rare Birds in Japan 
seen during FONT Birding Tours




Flying Japanese Crane, or "Tancho",
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour) 

Codes:

(JPe):   endemic to Japan 
(JPeb): endemic Japanese breeder


Links: 

Upcoming FONT Japan Birding & Nature Tours

FONT Japan Photo Gallery I (shearwaters thru shorebirds)

FONT Japan Photo Gallery II (gulls thru buntings & other nature)

List of Birds during FONT Japan Tours

List of Japanese Mammals



THERE HAVE BEEN 30 FONT BIRDING & NATURE TOURS IN JAPAN.

The following list & notes compiled & written by Armas Hill, who has led FONT tour in Japan for about 18 years, and has birded in Japan for over 2 decades. Classifications are those designated by Birdlife International. The criteria for classifications follows the listing.

Japanese islands where the birds have been seen during FONT tours are noted in the listing below.


Species classified as:

Category #1: CRITICALLY THREATENED:

Siberian Crane ______ Kyushu (during winter tours in 1997, 2000, 2001,& 2004)
This species is a rarity in Japan. On occasion (as during the 4 years noted above), a single individual winters at Arasaki, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, with the combined approximately 10,000 Hooded & White-naped Cranes.
The Siberian Crane is now classified as "critical" because it is expected to undergo an extremely rapid decline in the near future, primarily as a result of the destruction and degradation of wetlands in the areas of its migration and wintering grounds. The wintering site, holding 95% of the population, in China, is threatened by changes that will come about with the Three Gorges Dam project. 
The total population of the species is between 2,500 & 3,000, making it, at this time, the 3rd rarest crane in the world.
(More information in FURTHER NOTES following this list.)  


A Siberian Crane with White-naped Cranes in Kyushu,  Japan
(photograph  by Trevor Ford, of Australia,
 during FONT tour in January 2000)

Okinawa (or Pryer's) Woodpecker ______ Okinawa (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Sapheopipo noguchii
Considered close to extinction in the 1930's. Population estimates since 1950 have ranged from 40 to 200 birds, with the most recent estimate being of 90 birds. This species has been found during all FONT tours in Okinawa.  

Amami Thrush ______ Amami (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Zoothera major 
In the mid-1990's, the breeding population was estimated as being about 60 birds. The similar White's Thrush is smaller. The Amami Thrush has a cheerful song, delivered mostly in the morning, and similar to that of the Siberian Thrush, another Zoothera species. The White's Thrush has a more mournful song delivered mostly at night. The Amami Thrush, found only on that island, is confined to mature (over 60 years old), subtropical, evergreen forest, at an altitude of 100 to 400 meters. It is a shy bird. 

Category #2: ENDANGERED:

Oriental Stork ______ Kyushu (during 2 winter tours, very rare in Japan)
Ciconia boyciana 
With a total population of about 2,500 birds, this species breeds only in the Amur and Ussuri basins (along the border of Siberia and China), and winters, mainly, in eastern & southern China.   

Black-faced Spoonbill ______ Honshu, Kyushu, Amami, Okinawa (winter tours) 
Platalea minor 
The population of this species is estimated as being about only 700 birds. It breeds on small islands off the west coast of Korea, and in one province of eastern China. It winters from southern Japan south to Taiwan, Hong Kong (China), and Vietnam.

 
3 rare Black-faced Spoonbills in Kyushu, Japan, February 2005.
This species was also seen later during the same tour in Okinawa.
During the previous FONT Japanese birding tour, in December 2004, 
one was seen on the island of Amami
During the FONT tour in January 2007, a single bird was seen
along a river in Honshu, north of Narita. It was the first for FONT on Hinshu. 
 
 

Red-crowned (or the "Japanese", or "Manchurian") Crane ______ Hokkaido ("Japanese Crane") (spring & winter tours), Kyushu ("Manchurian Crane") (during 1 winter tour)
Grus japonensis 
This is the 2nd rarest crane in the world (after the Whooping Crane of North America). The total population in the wild has been recently estimated as between 1,700 & 2,000 birds.
There is a resident population on Japan's northern island, Hokkaido (in the southeast portion of that island). That is the only place in Japan where the species normally occurs. At one time, it bred on all 4 of the main Japanese islands, but it declined dramatically in Japan in the 19th Century. By 1890, it remained in Japan only in Hokkaido. 
In the 1920's, the total Japanese population was only about 20 individuals. Since then, the number in Hokkaido, due to protection and artificial feeding (in the winter), has increased to over 1,000 birds.

At the time of the first FONT tour in Japan, in 1993, there were 569 resident Red-crowned Cranes in Japan on Hokkaido. Just over a decade earlier (when Armas Hill made his first visit to Hokkaido to see the Japanese, or Red-crowned, Cranes), there were 281. The following list shows how the population has changed (grown) in Japan since then.

THE POPULATION OF RED-CROWNED CRANES IN HOKKAIDO DURING THE LAST 3 DECADES:
   
1980 - 251
1981 - 277
1982 - 309
1983 - 333
1984 - 339
1985 - 383
1986 - 421
1987 - 390
1988 - 416
1989 - 463
1990 - 453
1991 - 505
1992 - 522
1993 - 569
1994 - number not available
1995 - 600
1996 - 619
1997 - 615
1998 - 706
1999 - 740
2000 - 771
2001 - 887
2002 - 898
2003 - 948
2004 - 1,003
2005 - 1,081
2006 - 1,013

There's a migratory population of this species on continental Asia in northeast China, eastern Siberia, and Mongolia. It winters in eastern China and Korea. In 2004, that population was determined to be between 1400 and 1600 birds.
One of these Red-crowned Cranes (a "Manchurian Crane", rather than a "Japanese Crane"), an immature bird, was seen on Kyushu (with White-naped Cranes & Hooded Cranes) during the FONT February '05 tour. It was the first such occurrence of a Red-crowned Crane there in 37 years!              


Red-crowned, or "Japanese", Cranes in Hokkaido,
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour

 

Okinawa Rail ______ Okinawa (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Gallirallus okinawae 
This species, found only in a portion of northern Okinawa, became known to science only as recently as 1981. Its discovery that year was a great surprise to ornithologists. No new bird had been discovered in Japan since 1922 (and that was a nocturnal storm-petrel). Local people, however, in the forested Yambaru region of Okinawa had in fact known of the bird, calling it "Agachi" or "Yamdoi".
The Okinawa Rail has commonly been believed to be flightless, but that may not be entirely so. Some birds sleep at night in trees, as high as 11 meters above the ground. Others (some adults and all chicks) have been found to sleep on the ground. While it's normally very difficult to see this usually shy bird in the forest, it can be easy to hear one. The call carries far. Peak singing is around sunset and sunrise. Pairs duet. 
The population of the Okinawa Rail is estimated at about 1800 birds, or 900 pairs.
 


An Okinawa Rail 
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour

 
 

Blakiston's Fish Owl ______ Hokkaido (where it has been seen during all FONT late-fall & winter tours; there have been 19 such tours)
Bubo
(formerly Ketupa) b. blakistoni 
This large and very rare owl occurs in southeastern Siberia (where there may be a few hundred birds), China (where there may be up to a hundred birds), and in central & eastern Hokkaido in Japan (where there's an estimated 120 birds). Its total population may thus be only in the hundreds, less than a thousand birds. (More information in FURTHER NOTES following this list.) 


Blakiston's Fish-Owl, Hokkaido, Japan  


"Owston's
(or Amami) Woodpecker" ______ Amami (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Dendrocopos
(formerly Picoides) (leucotos) owstoni
(formerly Picoides) (leucotos) owstoni
Endemic to Amami Island, this bird has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the White-backed Woodpecker, as the largest and darkest race of that wide-ranging species that occurs across the Palearctic. So distinctive is this Amami resident, however, it may well be determined to be a full species.
   

Category #3: VULNERABLE:

Short-tailed (or Steller's) Albatross ______ pelagically, off Honshu (during spring & winter tours seen twice, both times in 2000 - early January & early June ) (JPeb)
Phoebastria albatrus
This albatross has a very small population, and a breeding range limited to 2 Japanese islands. Recent conservation efforts have resulted in a gradual population increase. (More information in FURTHER NOTES following this list.) 

Black-footed Albatross ______ pelagically, off Honshu (spring & winter tours) 
Phoebastria nigripes 
Breeds on the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (USA) and 3 outlying islands of Japan. Colonies have disappeared on other Pacific islands. There was a near 20% decline between 1995 & 2000.   

Baikal Teal ______ Honshu, Kyushu (winter tours)
Anas formosa
This duck has had, in recent years, a rapidly declining population. In the early 20th Century, it was one of the most numerous ducks in eastern Asia, and flocks of several thousand were regularly reported. Since the 1970's, there has been a significant decline.
At least in part, this decline is thought to be due to excessive shooting or netting in the bird's wintering range and along its migration routes. The bird has had a habit of gathering in large dense flocks, and making predictable daily movements. There's an account of about 50,000 birds being netted during 20 days by 3 hunters in Japan in 1947.
In South Korea, in the early 1990's, there were, at 2 locations, about 20,000 and 30,000 birds. 
In Japan, during the last 50 years, the Baikal Teal has decreased from a status of abundant in the winter to that of being uncommon.     
The species breeds in river basins in northern & northeastern Siberia. The male is an exquisitely-patterned bird. 


A drake Baikal Teal
(photograph by Koji Tagi)

Baer's Pochard ______ Honshu (during 1 winter tour, in 1998)
Aythya baeri

This poorly known species has a small, declining population. Estimates are about 10,000 individuals. Most occur on mainland eastern Asia, breeding in southeastern Siberia and northeastern China, and wintering in China, Korea, Myanmar (has been known as Burma), and eastern India. 

Scaly-sided (or Chinese) Merganser ______ Honshu (during 2 winter tours) 
Mergus squamatus
This species has a small and declining population. Its total population is estimated as between 3,500 and 4,500 individuals. Most breed in southeastern Siberia, in Khabarovsk and Primorye. The breeding population in China (in the northeastern Manchurian region of Heilungkiang) is estimated as 200 to 250 pairs, and it is declining.
So, the Scaly-sided Merganser is a rare bird. And, overall, little is known about it. The species is closely related to both the Common Merganser (or Goosander) and the Red-breasted Merganser, with Its range overlapping with both even during the breeding season.
The distribution within the nesting range is sparse, along fast-flowing rivers. Territorial pairs occupy at least 4-kilometer stretches of rivers. Birds are normally found in pairs, or in small family parties. If in groups, outside the breeding season, the groups are small. The birds are shy and wary. Their flight is fast and low.
Nests are in holes of old riverside trees. After nesting, the extent of migration is uncertain. Some birds seem to go only to the lower reaches of the rivers along which they bred (particularly those that flow from the eastern side of the Sikote range in Siberia). Others have been recorded considerably further away. There are old records of wintering birds in southwestern China. Also, the bird has been recorded elsewhere in China (particularly in the valley of the Yangtze), and in Korea, and more rarely in Japan, northern Vietnam, and northern Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Outside the breeding season, the Scaly-sided Merganser can be encountered on open lakes, but generally its preference is to be along rivers.
During the winter, the species is apparently rare, but regular, in Japan. It was first discovered there in the mid-1980's. Also during that decade, the species was found for the first time in Taiwan in winter.
Determining the population of this species has been difficult due to the remoteness of the breeding range and the secretiveness of the bird. Surveys conducted in Siberia, however, seem to have shown a considerable decrease since the 1960's. 

Steller's Sea-Eagle ______ Hokkaido, Honshu (seen on Honshu twice, a rarity there; apparently one bird two consecutive years) (winter tours) 
Haliacetus pelagicus 
The total population is estimated at about 5,000 birds and declining. Most (more than half) of those birds winter in Hokkaido, Japan, and on the nearby Kuril Islands.
Some birds, normally in the hundreds, winter further north on the Kamchatka Peninsula and by the Sea of Okhotsk. Breeding is exclusively in southeastern Siberia.


An adult Steller's Sea-Eagle in Hokkaido, 
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour

 


Greater Spotted Eagle ______
Kyushu (seen during 3 winter tours, at the same location; most recently in January 2008)
Aquila clanga
This species has a large, but highly fragmented, breeding range, from Poland and Finland east to Mongolia and China. It winters in over 30 countries (although in some of them in tiny numbers). It occurs as a vagrant in another 20 countries (including Japan). The Greater Spotted Eagle was first recorded in Japan in 1952. Since then, it has been on Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and the Nansei Shoto islands. All Japanese occurrences have been in the winter. Recent occurrences in Kyushu, during consecutive winters, have been in the same area - with either one or more birds repeatedly.          

White-naped Crane ______ Kyushu (winter tours) 
Grus vipio
This elegant species breeds, for the most part, in wetlands in northeastern China, at about 6 localities. Also, some breed in adjacent Mongolia, and a few do so in Siberia. The total population of the species is estimated at about 5,000 individuals.
Arasaki, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, is a very important wintering site for the species. It is the only Japanese site for the bird. 
In 1987, the count of White-naped Cranes at Arasaki was 1,225.
In 1992, just over 2,000 White-naped Cranes wintered there. 
In 2000, there were about 2,500. 
We learned during our December 2007 tour that on November 24 that year, the count of White-naped Cranes at Arasaki was 1,059.
   


White-naped Cranes in Kyushu,
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour

 

Hooded Crane ______ Kyushu (winter tours) 
Grus monarcha 
This species breeds in wetlands in 2 areas of central Siberia. A very few have been known, since 1991, to breed in China. 
The Hooded Crane winters at a few localities in Japan, Korea, and eastern China. The total population has been estimated, during recent years, from about 10,000 to 11,800 birds, having increased due to artificial feeding in the winter (particularly at a prime wintering site, Arasaki, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu). More than 80% of the world's Hooded Cranes spend the winter at Arasaki. 
In 1987, the count of Hooded Cranes at Arasaki was 6,848.
In 1992, nearly 9,000 birds were there. 
On November 24, 2007, the count of Hooded Cranes at Arasaki was 10,973.  
There is only 1 other wintering locality in Japan: on the main island of Honshu, at Yashiro, with about 100 birds there.
In Japan (& Korea), the species winters almost exclusively at feeding stations and nearby agricultural fields. 
The population of Hooded Cranes has fluctuated considerably since the 1920's. At present, the number is probably as large as at any time since then.   

 
Hooded Crane in Kyushu,
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour

 
   

Swinhoe's (or Asian Yellow) Rail ______ Amami (during 1 winter tour)
Coturnicops exquisitus
Known only to breed at a few sites in southern Siberia and southeast China, and winters in China, Korea, and Japan (including the Nansei Shoto Islands, which includes Amami.)  

Amami Woodcock ______ Amami, Okinawa (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Scolopax mira
On Amami, this bird was reported to be common in the mid-1980's, mostly on the western half of the island. Numbers near Naze City (Amami) have, during recent years, declined markedly.
This species is not restricted to Amami, but is now known to also occur on the islands of Tokunoshima, Okinawa, and Tokashiki, all in the Nansei Shoto of southern Japan.
The Amami Woodcock is said to lack a roding display (as had by the Eurasian  Woodcock). Instead, it is said to display on the ground. The bird is generally in the forest.  


The Amami Woodcock

Saunder's Gull ______ Kyushu, Amami, Okinawa (winter tours) 
Larus saundersi 
The population of this gull, restricted to eastern Asia, has been estimated at about 7,000 birds, and appears to be declining. The rate of decline has probably increased due to land reclamation on tidal flats and disturbance of colonies (both of these factors in the breeding areas). The bird has a specialized habitat for breeding: tidal mudflats built up by silt deposits of large rivers. So, land reclamation, especially, and oil exploration have reduced suitable habitat, and unless breeding locations are protected, extinction is a possibility. 
Breeding is mostly in eastern China and sporadically along the west coast of South Korea. In China, breeding is only at just a few sites (7 colonies in 4 provinces). A breeding colony was only found for the first time in 1984.  
Wintering is in China (including Hong Kong),  Taiwan, South Korea, and southwestern Japan).     

Japanese Murrelet ______ Honshu (offshore) (spring & late-fall tours), Kyushu (winter tours)
Synthliboramphus wumizusume 
This species has a small, rapidly declining population. It is endemic to the warm current regions near central & southern Japan, where it breeds on uninhabited islands. Notable breeding sites in Kyushu are the islands of Biro-jima, Koya-jima, and Eboshi-jima. Breeding also occurs in the Izu Islands of the Pacific, and on small islets off Honshu in the Sea of Japan. After breeding, some birds move northward. They also winter along the coasts of Honshu and Kyushu. In the Japanese name, "umisuzume" translates in English to "sea sparrow". A Tree Sparrow is 14 centimeters long; a Japanese Murrelet is 24 centimeters in length.


A Japanese Murrelet seen along the coast of Kyushu 
during a FONT Japan Winter Birding Tour, in February 2001.
(photograph by Koji Tagi)

Fairy Pitta ______ Kyushu (spring tours) 
Pitta nympha 
This beautiful bird breeds in southern Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. It winters mainly on the island of Borneo, Brunei, and Kalimantan (in Indonesia). In its breeding range, it is localized. The bird's population is unlikely to be more than a few thousand individuals, and is apparently declining. 

Ijima's (Leaf-) Warbler ______ Amami (winter tours) (JPe)
Phylioscopus ijimae 
This bird breeds on the Izu Islands, southeast of mainland Japan, between Oshima and Aogashima, and winters, apparently, on the Nansei Shoto islands. It has a small and fragmented population, and is declining.

Marsh Grassbird (or "Japanese Marsh Warbler") ______ Honshu (spring tours) 
Megalurus p. pryeri 
(This species is known to breed at 6 locations on the main Japanese island of Honshu. It probably also breeds in Heilongjiang and Liaoning in China and at Lake Khanka in Siberia. It is said to winter in southern Japan, and in the Yangtze basin in China. The population in Japan is estimated to be about 1,000 birds.)

(Japanese) Yellow (or "Siebold's") Bunting ______ Honshu, including Hegura Island (spring tours), Okinawa (during 1 winter tour)
Emberiza sulphurata 

This species breeds only in Japan. It is thought to winter mainly in the Philippines, although may winter in far-southern Japan (Nansei Shoto) and in Taiwan. It is generally uncommon in its restricted breeding range in Japan, and it believed to have declined significantly in the 20th Century.

Lidth's Jay ______ Amami (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Garrulus lidthi 
This beautiful, colorful bird is not only endemic to Japan, but to the island of Amami and the adjacent small island of Kakeroma-jima, in the Nansei Shoto islands. Its population was estimated to be about 5,800 birds in the 1970's.
Some aspects of this bird's behavior are unusual for a jay. It is a habitual cavity-nester, laying plain-colored eggs. And it has been observed using its stout bill as a climbing aid in the manner of a parrot.   


A Lidth's Jay on the island of Amami
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour) 

Category #4: NEAR-THREATENED:

White-tailed Eagle ______ Hokkaido (spring & winter tours) , Honshu (winter tours) 
Haliaetus albicilla 

This species occurs from Greenland & Iceland east across Eurasia to eastern Siberia and Japan. The population has been estimated as between 5,000 and 7,000 pairs, but the size of the Russian population is poorly known. In the western portion of the range, in Europe, during the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century, numbers declined dramatically. 

 
An adult White-tailed Eagle in Hokkaido
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour) 

Copper Pheasant ______ Honshu (spring & winter tours), Kyushu (spring & winter tours) (JPe)
Syrmaticus soemmerringi 
This bird is found on the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, in coniferous, broadleaved, and mixed forests. There are 6 subspecies. It was once quite common, but has declined substantially (due to, among other things, hunting), and is now considered uncommon and difficult to find.   


Copper Pheasant,
as found during FONT
Japanese Birding Tours, 
thus far, in the spring on Honshu, and in the winter in Kyushu.

(Photo courtesy of the Hoshino Resort, Karuizawa, Japan)

Eastern Curlew ______ Honshu (spring tours), Okinawa (winter tours) 
Numenius madagascariensis 
This species breeds in eastern Siberia in bogs and wet meadows. The total population has recently been estimated at just over 20,000, with about 19,000 wintering in Australia, with smaller numbers doing so in the Philippines, and north to the Nansei Shoto islands of Japan. The species occurs as a migrant in Japan in the spring and fall.

Japanese
(or Black) Wood-Pigeon ______ Honshu (Hegura Island) (during a spring tour), Amami (spring & winter tours), Okinawa (spring & winter tours)
Columba j. janthina 
This bird is an uncommon, local, and declining resident in Japan, occurring on small islands off southern Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and south through the Nansei Shoto islands to the Yaeyama islands. Also in Japan, it occurs south through the Izu Islands to the Ogasawara and Iwo Islands. Outside Japan, it occurs locally on small islands off the south coast of South Korea (a bird seen on Hegura Island in the Sea of Japan, in the spring, was probably of that population.  This species inhabits dense subtropical forest and warm temperate evergreen broadleaf forest, with a strong dependency on mature forest. It has declined in Okinawa during and since the 1980's due to forestry activities. The subspecies C. j. nitens (which formerly occurred on the Ogasawara and Iwo Islands) is now thought to be extinct. 

Whistling (or Formosa) Green-Pigeon (has also rather inappropriately been called Red-capped Green-Pigeon) ______ Amami, Okinawa (spring & winter tours) 
Treron (formerly Sphenurus) formosae permagus 
This bird is considered a small-island specialist. It nests on the Nansei Shoto islands of Japan, Taiwan, and the Batanes Islands, north of Luzon in the Philippines. It is uncommon & local in the Batanes, rare in Taiwan, and common only in the Japanese Nansei Shoto islands.      


A Whistling Green-Pigeon on the island of Amami
(photographed during FONT Feb '05 Japan Tour) 

Elegant (or Ryukyu) Scops-Owl (has previously been considered as part of the Celebes (or Sulawesi) Scops Owl; prior to that as part of Oriental Scops-Owl ______ Amami, Okinawa (spring & winter tours) 
Otus e. elegans
(other subspecies are on islands off Taiwan and the Philippines) 
This bird occurs, as a resident, on the Nansei Shoto islands of southern Japan, on Lanyu Island off the southeast Taiwan, and on the Batanes and Babuyan islands off northern Luzon, in the Philippines. It inhabits subtropical evergreen forest, and locally in and near villages. It is common wherever suitable habitat remains in the Nansei Shoto, where there seems to be a good population. 

Japanese Waxwing ______ Hokkaido (spring & winter tours), Honshu (spring tours), Kyushu (winter tours), Amami (during 1 winter tour) 
Bombycilla japonica 
This species breeds only in eastern Siberia, in coniferous forests of eastern Yakutia, Khabarovsk, and Amur. It is a non-breeding visitor in Japan, where it is uncommon and sporadic. It also winters in South Korea, where it is irregular and uncommon, and in mainland China. Given its limited breeding range, the total population must be small.    

Japanese Paradise Flycatcher
(was called Black Paradise Flycatcher) ______ Kyushu, Amami, Okinawa (spring tours) 
In Japan, this striking bird breeds is in humid forests of southern Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and the Nansei Shoto islands. It also nests in South Korea and Taiwan. The bird winters, to the south, in the Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Indonesia, but no where commonly. A recent survey has detected a steep decline in part of the Japanese nesting population, possibly due to forest loss and degradation in the wintering range.    

Japanese Reed Bunting
(or Ochre-rumped Bunting) ______ Honshu (spring tours; once during a winter tour)
Emberiza y. yessoensis 
In Japan, this species breeds in wetlands with tall grass on Honshu and Kyushu. It formerly did so on Hokkaido. Outside Japan, breeding is only in extreme south-east Siberia and north-east China. Wintering is in South Korea and along the coast of eastern China. The bird is considered uncommon or rare in all parts of its range. It is presumably declining due to loss and degradation of wetland habitat in its breeding range.    


A singing Japanese Reed Bunting
(©Photo by Paul West, during FONT Japan Spring Birding Tour, April 2001.)


OTHER SPECIES OCCURRING IN JAPAN THAT HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED NEAR-THREATENED: 

Mandarin Duck ______ Hokkaido (spring tours), Honshu (spring & winter tours), Kyushu (winter tours), Okinawa (during 1 winter tour)
Aix galericulata

Long-billed Plover ______ Honshu (spring & winter tours), Kyushu, Amami (winter tours)
Charadrius placidus

Grey-headed Lapwing ______ Honshu (spring & winter tours), Kyushu, Okinawa (winter tours) 
Vanellus cinereus 

Ryukyu Robin ______ Amami, Okinawa (spring & winter tours)
Erithacus komadori (with different subspecies on Amami & Okinawa) 


The Ryukyu Robin

Red-billed (or Silky) Starling ______ Kyushu, Okinawa (during 2 winter tours, a vagrant in Japan, normally in China) 
Sturnus sericeus  

SOME FURTHER NOTES REGARDING PARTICULAR SPECIES:

SIBERIAN (WHITE) CRANE (Grus leucogeranus)

This large, white bird with black on its wings, is (as noted above), at this time, the third rarest crane in the world (after the Whooping and the Red-crowned Cranes). 
It is probably, at this time, the most threatened of the world's cranes.

Until just over 20 years ago, in 1981, the Siberian Crane was believed to be even more rare, and endangered. It was in that year that about 800 birds were discovered to be wintering at Lake Poyan, China's largest freshwater lake, along the Yangtze River. With that, the known population nearly doubled. Subsequent field surveys showed the total population of the species to be from 2,500 to 3,000 birds.

Still the outlook for the species is precarious. According to the crane specialist, George Archibald, "from the tundra to the subtropics, few endangered species involve so many complex problems in so many countries as does the Siberian Crane".

There are 3 populations of Siberian Cranes. All but a few of the maybe 3,000 birds belong to the eastern population, which breeds in northeastern Siberia, and winters along the Yangtze River in China.

Another very small central population breeds in the lower basin of the Kunovat River in western Siberia, and winters in the Indian state of Rajaasthan (most regularly in the Keoladeo National Park). When this population was observed at its wintering grounds in 1992-93, it included just 5 birds. Only 4 birds were observed at the Kunovat breeding grounds in 1995.

The western population (also very small and threatened), which apparently held at 8 to 14 birds in the late 1980's and early 1990's, has wintered at a single site along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in Iran. The exact location of the breeding grounds of that population is unknown, but it's thought to be in the extreme northern portion of European Russia.

Thus, 2 populations of this species are extremely vulnerable (on the verge of extinction). These populations have continually declined from just over 100 birds in the 1960's (when they were discovered).

The Siberian Cranes that have occurred in Japan as vagrants have been wanderers, on occasion, from the larger eastern population of the species that normally winters in China.

Actually, in the past, the Siberian Crane was a common winter visitor in Japan on Kyushu prior to the Mejii Era. Throughout the 20th Century, it became an accidental, but there were some occurrences from Hokkaido south to Okinawa. Most in Japan, however, continued to be on Kyushu. Interestingly, there were single birds in Hokkaido in Oct-Dec 1977 and May-Sep 1985. The latter was a summering bird in the Kushiro district, where the resident Japanese population of Red-crowned Cranes reside.

Where Siberian Cranes breed, huge distances separate nesting pairs. Within each 1000 square kilometers in the breeding range, there are only 1 or 2 pairs of cranes.

The Siberian is the most aquatic of all cranes, exclusively using wetlands for nesting, feeding, and roosting. The nests are in bogs and marshes. In migration and in wintering areas, the bird prefers to feed and roost in shallow wetlands. Preferred foods are roots, sprouts, and stems of sedges and other aquatic plants. It seldom forages above the water line.  

 

SHORT-TAILED (or STELLER'S) ALBATROSS (Phoebastria (formerly Diomedea) albatrus)

This is one of the rarest of the world's albatrosses, having recently flirted with extinction. It was formerly abundant in the North Pacific. The species bred on at least 11 small Japanese islands (in the Bonin, Izu, and Ryukyu (Nansei Shoto) groups). Away from its breeding sites, the bird has had pelagically a widespread range, from Japan east to the Bering Sea and the west coast of North America. (Most of the records off Alaska, Canada, and the west coast of the mainland US have been during June-November. The species was formerly common along the western North American coast.)

The Short-tailed Albatross was brought to the verge of extinction during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries by plume hunters. The feathers were used for stuffing quilts and pillows. Another factor in the decline was habitat disturbance on islands where the birds bred, particularly on Toroshima (one of the Izu Islands, 580 kilometers south of Tokyo). For years, it was only on the volcanic ash slopes of that island that the species was known to breed.

Toroshima was settled by humans in 1887. Until about 1900, from 10 to 50 people lived there. The tame albatrosses were easily killed, as many as 100 to 200 a day, up to 5 million birds in 12 years. In 1902, a major volcanic eruption on the island killed many of the human inhabitants. The albatross population was severely reduced, primarily by the slaughter of the birds, and secondarily by the volcanic activity. In 1929, only about 2.000 birds remained on Toroshima. People who then recolonized the island conducted what would be the last great massacre of the bird (nearly the entire remaining population of the species). By 1934, the Short-tailed Albatross was presumed to be extinct.

Miraculously, in the early 1950's, 8 to 10 albatrosses appeared on Toroshima. As immature birds, over the years, they had been wandering the seas. During that decade, numbers varied from 20 to 30. In 1958, on Torshima, there were only 14 or 15 adults, 5 to 7 immatures, and 8 chicks. Since then, there's been a slow but steady increase in the population of the bird, with Toroshima, most of the time, the only known breeding location for the species in the world.

In 1960, all of the chicks (6 of them) were found killed. Only 22 adult birds were found. In the 1960's, the population began to rise more substantially to over 50 birds. In the 1970's it was to over 60. By 1979, the count was 95 birds (& 22 chicks). In March 1981, there were about 130 birds (& 34 chicks). In November 1981, 63 eggs were found. In March 1982, there 21 chicks with about 140 adults and subadults. The total population figures following 1979 were based on observations at Toroshima together with estimates of non-breeders away from the colony. Thus, in 1982, the world population of the species was said to be about 250 birds. Since 1979, over 50 eggs have been laid annually.

In 1991, the population had risen to about 500 birds. Since then it has increased further. The rate of increase has been about 7% per year. Thus, the population doubled in 10 years. Breeding success improved with grass transplantation to stabilize nesting areas. Still, however, the population remains rather vulnerable due to the volcanic nature of Torishima.

During recent years, the Short-tailed Albatross has also been at a Japanese island other than Torishima. It's been on the southerly island of Minami-kojima (one of the Senkaku Islands). 12 adult birds were found there in 1971. Breeding was not confirmed there until 1988. A population of 75 birds was estimated there in 1991 (among them 15 breeding pairs). Since then, about 100 birds have been at the island.

In the central Pacific, at Midway Atoll (in Hawaii), 1 or 2 Short-tailed Albatrosses were present during the last 2 decades of the 20th Century. An incubating bird was found there in 1993, but the egg was abandoned.

At the Torishima, Japan, breeding colony, adult birds return in October. Eggs are laid October-November. Young are fledged from May onwards.  

The following text is from "The Birds of Japan: Their Status & Distribution", by Oliver L. Austin Jr. & Nagahisa Kuroda, published in 1953, and written when the Short-tailed (or Steller's) Albatross was thought to be extinct:

Diomedeidae
Diomedea albatrus (Pallas)
Steller's (Short-tailed) Albatross
Japanese name: Ahodori (meaning "fool bird")

This magnificent albatross is probably extinct. Its disappearance was caused partly by the volcanic eruptions which destroyed its former nesting grounds on Torishima, but primarily by the activities of the plume hunters of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The most-recent definite record is the one for the few birds banded on Torishima in 1933 and killed there in 1934 (cf. Austin 1949b: 283-295).

It formerly bred on Torishima in the southern Izu Islands, on the northernmost of the Bonin Islands, and on isolated islets in the southern Ryukyus and the Pescadores. Its nesting season was from November through April. After the young were on the wing, the birds moved northward along the Japanese coast to summer in the Bering Sea, and then down the west coast of North America as far as Baja California, before returning to their breeding grounds in late autumn. The spring flight past Japan was marked by the numbers of dark-colored immature birds it contained, which could be confused with the Black-footed Albatross. The immature Steller's differed from the adult Black-footed only by its larger size and its lighter-colored bill, neither of which could be discerned at a far distance. An adult Steller's could also be difficult, at a distance, to tell in the field from the adult Laysan Albatross.


BLAKISTON'S FISH OWL
(Bubo (formerly Ketupa). b. blakistoni   

This bird is as extraordinary and formidable as any owl in the world. The Blakiston's Fish Owl (as it has traditionally been called) is huge, with a wingspan of about 6 and a half feet. It's larger than the Eagle Owl of Siberia.

Its legs are fully feathered. Its toes are bristly as are those of other fish owls. It's interesting that structurally the Blakiston's Fish Owl has features of both the "fish owls" (genus Ketupa) and the "eagle owls" (genus Bubo).

In addition to Hokkaido, Japan, the species occurs only in far-eastern Siberia (including Sakhalin and the southern Kurile Islands) and adjacent Manchuria, In that area of mainland Asia, with a cold climate and severe winters, there may be a few hundred birds. They inhabit dense, dark, primeval forests, either coniferous, deciduous, or mixed, bordering lakes, rivers, and even the ocean shore. They live in cold and difficult places for birds that eat mostly fish.

On the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido (a place where winters can also be severe), Blakiston's Fish-Owls are seriously endangered, confined to relict areas of undisturbed forest. In 1983, less than 30 birds were recorded. The following year, as survey workers gained more confidence of those guarding secret locations, some 50 birds were located. During that year, 1984, however, only 2 pairs were known to have bred successfully. Since then, in Hokkaido, with successful nest box schemes in the forest, there has been some improvement in nesting productivity. In the wild, nests are usually in large, hollow tress high above the forest floor, but sometimes in decayed fallen trees closer to the ground.    

In the Siberian portion of the bird's range, Blakiston's Fish-Owls have been found at a density of 1 pair to every 7.5 to 9 miles of large river. In Hokkaido, in all of  the river valleys now occupied by owls, that figure is less than 6 miles. Territories are occupied by birds for years. Individual owls are so attached to their territories that a bird which loses its mate will remain alone until another may arrive by chance.

Blakiston's Fish-Owls are active throughout the night, as well as around dusk and dawn. In the summer, they may do some hunting (to feed their young), during lighter hours of the long summer days. In the winter, they're exclusively nocturnal, emerging after sunset.

The territorial song is deep and resonant (although it does not travel as far as that of the Eagle Owl). Males and females call together in duets.

Blakiston's Fish-Owls, aptly, prefer fish as their primary food. In the late summer, they feed on trout. In the autumn, they turn to salmon. Also, at times, they eat: pike, catfish, burbot, and crayfish. In the spring, they live largely on swarms of frogs that spawn in riverside marshes. Small mammals (such as hares and martens) are also eaten, as well as an occasional duck, Hazel Hen, or smaller bird. At some places, the owls feed along rocky seacoasts. Where they exist in sufficient numbers (and that's not many places), they may gather during the winter in small groups by openings in the river ice.

In Hokkaido, Japan, the Balkiston's Fish-Owl, like the Brown Bear, was once held in reverence. The fish-owl was known as "the god who defends the village". Later, it suffered persecution, especially during the winter when it was compelled to live close to openings in the ice, and, therefore, could more easily be killed.

Today, under Japan's conservation laws, the Blakiston's Fish-Owl is fully protected. 

Recently, the fish-owl in Japan is said to have suffered, ironically, from the attention given to it by people who actually favor its protection and well-being. This applies particularly to photographers (and there are many of them in Japan) and other enthusiasts. There are some who don't realize the damage they can cause the bird. Recent efforts to discourage them have included trapping the owls and placing highly-reflective rings on their legs to make them less attractive in flashlit photographs. It's become a matter of concern to ornithologists that such "extreme methods" seem needed in order to protect a bird that's on the verge of extinction in Japan.                      


Criteria for the above Bird Classifications:

CRITICALLY THREATENED: Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. With a rapid decline (80% over 10 years), or a very small population (of under 250 mature birds).

ENDANGERED: Not critical, but still with a very high risk of extinction in the wild. With a rapid decline (50% over 10 years), and a small population (of 2,500 mature birds).

VULNERABLE: Not critical or endangered, but still with a high risk of extinction in the wild. With a decline (50% over 20 years), and a small population (of 10,000 mature birds).

NEAR-THREATENED: Close to qualifying for any of the above threatened categories. 
 

  
Among References:

Threatened Birds of the World (a Birdlife International publication), Lynx Edicions, 2000