Research on Japanese Wagtail Motacilla grandis was conducted along riverbanks in the vincinity of Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture (on the northern outskirts of Tokyo). Individuals with aberrant plumage were identified. These individuals fell into two categories; birds which resembled the white Wagtail, and birds with rando white areas. The white Wagtail type, which were more numerous than the random type, showed aberrant white plumage on the face only and nowhere else. All measurements for thee birds, however, were closer to the average for Japanese Wagtail than white Wagtail. The aberrnt forms were distributed evenly throughout the study area, and did not form a single group or cluster. In addition, aberrant plumage birds were observed to the paired with normal plumage birds.

View full abstract

From November 1995 to early April 1996, 376 individuals were banded in an extensive forest and two isolated woodlots in the Sayama Hills, Central Japan. Each captured individual was fitted with a numbered metal ring and celluloid colored ring. A large number of individuals (15 or more) were banded for Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopos kizuki, Brown-eared Bulbul Hypsipetes amaurotis, Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus, Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus, Japanese Bush Warbler Cettia diphone, Varied Tit Parus varius, Great Tit Parus major, Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus and Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala. Pale Thrush, Varied Tit and Japanese White-eye were captured more frequently in the extensive forest than in the isolated woodlots, while Great Tit and Black-faced Bunting were captured more frequently in the woodlots. The number of the captured individuals took the maximum in January, perhaps because fruits of Eurya japonica, a typical shrub species favored by most birds in the study area, were a vailable during this month.
Several movements of Varied Tit and Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus within the study area were observed. A Long-tailed Tit moved from one of the isolated woodlots to the other (a distance of about 100 m).
Sixty of the 376 banded individuals were recaptured at the same banding site. Recapture ratios of Japanese Bush Warbler, Pale Thrush and Red-flanked Bluetail, which frequent the shrub layer, were very high. On the other hand, although a large number of Great Tit and Japanese White-eye were banded, recapture ratios for these two species were lower. These results suggest that during the wintering season, the former three species tend to settle in a restricted area, while the later two species tend to move about over a wide range of forest habitat.

View full abstract

Oystercatcher is a rare spring and autumn migrant or rare winter visitor along the coast of Japan, seen occasionally in small flocks on tidal flats, sandy beaches and rocky shores. The first Oystercatcher record for Ishikawa Prefecture (located on the Japan Sea side of central Honshu) was 12 October 1977, along the beach at Chirihama. The second and third records, both at the Ohama landfill in Kanazawa City, were on 6 October 1979 and November 1981. Since then, scattered observations of migratory Oystercatchers have been reported annually along the coast from Chirihama to Uchinada. On the night of 21 October, an Oystercatcher was caught in a fishing net at the coast of Takamatsu in Kahoku-gun (36°46′N, 136°43′E). The bird was in 1st winter plumage, but with juvenile feathers still remaining on body and upper tail coverts. After banding with a numbered metal ring (Japan Environment Agency, Kankyo-cho Japan 092-13577), the bird was weighed and measured and released in good health on 22 November. Measurements showed in Table 1. The shafts of three outer primaries (P8-P10) of the birds showed black, and this bird also showed no white on the outer webs of P6 through P10. Nasal grooves did not extend more then half-wayalong the bill. These characteristics indicate the subspecies H. o. osculans. This was the first banding record for a juvenile Oystercatcher in 1st winter plumage in Japan.

View full abstract