The author and colleagues are currently studying Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers at the city and mountains of Chichibu, and parks of Tokyo. The main purpose of this study is to compare the woodpecker's life history and population dynamics among various habitats. Methods of capturing and ringing woodpeckers are described. Eight to 16-day-old nestlings are caught at their nest by opening a hole, and adults are caught with mistnets and a live decoy.
Japanese Pygmy woodpeckers inhabit various forest types, such as subtropical, deciduous, and subalpine coniferous forests. The species is distributed not only in hills, but also on some small islands and city parks. Woodpeckers often forage on dead branches and trunks, and they play a role in and depend on the regeneration of forests. Studies on them using color rings will provide some interesting information on their ecology and conservation.

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The Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris is one of the most abundant gulls along the coast of Japan. However, migratory routes are not known well, and there is no information where juveniles overwinter or oversummer along the coast. From 1st October 1990 to 12th September 1992, 78 adults, one second year bird and 8 Juveniles were captured by rocket net at Hamamasu Kaigan (43°12′N, 145°32′E) and Chouboshi Kaigan (43°15′N, 145°34′E), Nemuro city in Eastern Hokkaido. They were fitted with wing tags on both shoulders; red tags were fitted in 1991 and green tags in 1991. To locate wing-tagged birds, 50 surveys between 6th December 1990 and 12th September 1992 were conducted at the mouth of Tone-river, central Honshu (35°44′N, 140°52′E). The first sighting of a red tagged gull was on 17th November 1990 at Katakai port. Kujyukuri machi in Chiba Prefecture (35°33′N, 140°28′E). After this first record, 26 observations were subsequently reported between December 1990 and March 1992 at the study area. At Choshi port, at least two red tagged juveniles were sighted by telescope observation between December 1990 and March 1991. During summer 1991, one or two 1st summer birds were present at the study area, so it seems that juveniles do not return to their breeding sites in their second year. The study site was not only used by adult birds for wintering, but also by 2nd year bird oversummring.

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From October 1978 to October 1988 at Obihiro (42°52′N, 143°11′E), Taiki (42°27′N, 143°23′E), and Shintoku (43°06′N, 142°55′N), eastern Hokkaido, 117 Turdus chrysolaus (TH) and 10 T. cardis (TA) were captured and fitted with numbered metal rings. Of 61 adult TH marked at Obihiro, 7 (11.5%) returned in the following breeding season, and 3 (4.9%) were still alive by the third summer. The longest-lived bird (1.6%) was still alive 4 years after ringing. Return rates were 3.5% and 5.9% for juveniles and nestlings respectively. Outside Hokkaido, one TH was recaptured on Luzon Island. Philippines (16°37′N, 120°52′E). TA were captured at Taiki and Shintoku and, at both sites, the number of birds captured per 10 net days was similar to those for TH. Based on the results obtained, TA was more patchily distributed than TH.

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I observed the feeding, resting and breeding behaviors of the Little Cormorant in northern Bangkok between 15 and 16 January, 1992. The birds were breeding in the Tasa-Det Bird Sanctuary.
In all cases, the Cormorants fed and rested alone in comparatively shallow and still parts of canals and lakes. The colony was nearing the end of the rearing period and I was unable to locate the nests, perhaps because they had fallen apart by that late stage. Two or three hundred chicks perched on branches begging and being fed by their parents. Almost all pairs reared only two chicks.

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