Abstract
Spring bird migration was investigated on Taira-jima Island (29°41′N, 129°32′E), Tokara Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, from 1982 to 1987. Twenty nine families and 122 species were recorded in total and 66 birds with 30 species were ringed and released, including such unusual species as Muscicapa ferruginea, Turdus hortulorum, and Ficedula zanthopygia. Most species seemed to use this island on the way of the northward migration through the Ryukyu and Amami Islands. But several species, such as Erithacus cyane, Phylloscopus occipitalis, Regulus regulus, and Cyanoptilla cyanomelana are rare or unrecorded on the Ryukyus and Taiwan, suggesting a direct migratory course from south-eastern China to Kyushu.
