Currently, the number of confirmed locations for Luscinia cyane during the breeding season is decreasing nationwide, while Emberiza variabilis is increasing. Both species are locally observed during the breeding season in the mountains of Shiga Prefecture, but their distribution is not fully understood. In order to confirm the distribution of these species, we conducted a survey of the number of singing males at 48 survey sites in 7 mountain ranges throughout Shiga Prefecture between May and July from 2020 to 2023. As a result, Luscinia cyane was confirmed in 23 survey sites on 5 mountain ranges, and Emberiza variabilis was confirmed in 8 survey sites on 3 mountain ranges. Regarding Luscinia cyane, there was no change in the distribution of mountain ranges compared to records from the 2000s, but a decrease in habitat was suggested for two mountain ranges. Regarding Emberiza variabilis, there are no records of the breeding season before 1990s, so it is thought that the distribution of the breeding season has expanded in recent years.

I investigated changes in the breeding colonies of Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo in Hokkaido from 2001 to 2022. Through literature research and field surveys，a total of 18 breeding sites were identified, including 12 colonies using natural objects and 6 colonies using man-made structure. In 2022, there were a total of nine breeding colonies, including four natural breeding colonies and five artificial breeding colonies. The number of nests increased from 16 in 2001 to 2,558 in 2022. The number of nests in three breeding colonies located from the Sarobetsu Plain to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, Penke swamp, Yubetsu river, and Abashiri port, accounted for 92.9% of the total number of nests in Hokkaido. These three colonies have many lakes and marshes within 15km from colony. Natural breeding colonies were more likely to be abandoned than artificial colonies. This was thought to be due to the invasion of terrestrial predators and the death of nesting trees. Great Cormorant in Hokkaido are thought to spend the winter mainly in Honshu. Therefore, in order to effectively manage the cormorant population against fishery damage, it is necessary to continuously and accurately grasp the number of nesting birds in Hokkaido.

A Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus was recorded for the first time on Hateruma-jima Island, on August 12, 2023. This individual was identified as a juvenile of subspecies vociferus, mainly based on the characteristics of its plumage. The first record of an individual identified as a Black-winged Kite in Japan dates back to an observation on Ishigaki-jima Island in 1995. Subsequently, the first breeding record in Japan was obtained also on Ishigaki-jima island in 2017. However, until now these records have not been reported in scholarly publications, and there is a need to scientifically describe the kites in Japan with a clear identification basis. This is the first academic report based on detailed morphological characteristics with accompanying photographs that this individual belongs to the E. caeruleus and not to another species of the same genus. Over the preceding half-century, the global distribution of this species has undergone a substantial expansion. The kite serves as valuable research subject for the ecological study of range expansion. We hope that studies on the range expansion of this species will include impacts of that expansion on the ecosystem.

We conducted a survey of wintering Swinhoe's Rails Coturnicops exquisitus at 186 wet-grasslands in the Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu regions of southwestern Japan, during the winters of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. We found 19 individuals at nine sites in Shikoku and Kyushu. Abandoned rice fields were the most important habitats. Almost all rails were found in wet grasslands with common reeds of less than approximately 1 or 2 m in height, and with abundant understory.

Songs of a Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus were recorded during the breeding season at the tree line boundary in Mount Norikura, central Japan. Yellow-browed Warblers have been known as migrants or rare winter residents in Japan, and this is the second record during the breeding season. They breed in habitats dominated by Japanese Larch Lalix leptolepis, birch Betula sp., and Japanese Stone Pine Pinus pumila. The tree line in Japanese mountains is dominated by Erman's Birch B. ermani, with adjacent Japanese Stone Pine scrubs. Thus, the highland areas of the Japanese mountains are assumed to be suitable potential habitat for Yellow-browed Warblers during the breeding season.

Two juvenile Eurasian Bullfinches Pyrrhula pyrrhula were captured on 20 June 2023, during a constant-effort mist-netting survey conducted in the lowland forest (200 m asl) of southeast Sapporo, Hokkaido, during the breeding season. They had juvenile plumages, before molting to the first winter plumage. As these two birds were captured in the same net at the same time, they seem to be a part of a family or juvenile flock. Several studies have reported that the Eurasian Bullfinch bred in low-elevation sites, especially in the north and east of Hokkaido. On the other hand, in southwestern Hokkaido including Sapporo City, there have been no observations or captured data of juvenile birds at lower than 300 m during the breeding season (from June to August), and there are few reliable breeding records of bullfinch in the area. It is more likely that these juvenile birds fledged from the nest of a breeding pair that accidentally bred in the vicinity of the capture site, rather than fledging in the high-elevation area and moving to the lowland. Whether this possible breeding record of bullfinches in the lowland forest of western Hokkaido is a rare event or will continue to occur in the future needs to be carefully monitored.