2010 Volume 22 Issue 1_2 Pages 8-36
A joint Japan-Russia bird-banding research project was conducted on the Kamchatka Peninsula from 1998 to 2000. A total of 5,278 birds of 46 species were banded and released, and 361 birds of 21 species were recaptured. The banded birds were classified into four types based on time of day when most captures occurred. These were Type I (early morning), type II (early morning and evening), type III (morning) and type IV (all day long). The dominant species banded were Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica, Willow Tit Parus montanus, Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis, Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva, Reed Bunting E. schoeniclus and Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus. Both Red-breasted Flycatcher and Common Rosefinch are very rare in Japan, suggesting that these two species migrate from Kamchatka to the Continent over the Sea of Okhotsk. There were 18 records of banded Reed Bunting moving between Japan and Kamchatka documented in this study. The sites of the recapture and release for this species in Japan range from Miyagi prefecture in the north to Miyazaki prefecture in the south. This data suggests that Kamchatka is an important breeding area for Reed Bunting that winter in Japan. The capture records obtained confirmed that long distance migratory birds, such as Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler Locustella ochotensis, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Common Rosefinch, migrated early; while short distant migrants such as Brambling Fringilla montifringilla, migrated late. The data also showed that juveniles of Red-breasted Flycatcher, Rustic Bunting and Reed Bunting, which don't molt in the breeding area, migrated earlier than the adults, which molt completely in the breeding area. The juveniles of Common Rosefinch and Arctic Warbler, in contrast were found to migrate later than the adults, which molt in their wintering area. The captures and measurements obtained showed that the timing of body fat increase corresponded with the peak of migration in adults, but was about 10 days later in juveniles. This may account probably for juveniles taking a longer time to complete the migration than adults.
