In 2008 and 2009 a total of 29 Crested Ibises Nipponia nippon were introduced to Sado Island. In 2010, six pairs attempted to breed for the first time since their release and built eight nests in total. Five of six pairs laid eggs in six nests, although none of them resulted in successful hatching. We observed by telescope five nests attempted by four pairs between March and May in 2010, and recorded nest-building and attending behaviors to reveal sexual differences in parental roles. The ibises built open nests in trees. During the nest-building stage, males collected most of the nest materials (branches, twigs, and leaves), whereas females engaged principally in arranging the materials brought by males. After egg-laying, both males and females brought leaves to the nest for the inner lining. Males and females took turns incubating eggs, but the relative contribution of males varied among the pairs. Two of the four pairs stopped their breeding attempts by abandoning incubation, and one pair took the eggs out of their nest. The remaining pair abandoned their first clutch for an unknown reason, and their second clutch was preyed upon by a Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos. In the two pairs that abandoned incubation, the males increased nest attendance as the females decreased incubation time, until they finally deserted the nests. Thus, the abandonment of incubation appeared to have been initiated by females, whereas males tended to stay longer at their nests to continue incubation. To ensure the successful reintroduction of the Crested Ibis, the causes of nesting failure need to be clarified.

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Although the original breeding habitat of the Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius is the seacoast, it has started breeding within inland cities of Japan in recent years. We studied its ecology and behavior from 2011 to 2012 in Hyogo Prefecture, in a town situated 20 km from the seacoast that was newly developed 30 years ago. The thrush was present throughout the year round within the town, and its distribution was concentrated in the area of tall buildings where males established breeding territories. Territorial males sang more frequently at higher places than at lower places, and each tried to take a position higher than his neighbors in territorial disputes, which suggests that the thrush defended its territory by singing on tall buildings. In contrast, the thrush foraged among grassland and hunted small animals living on the ground surface. It is suggested that the set of the tall building and the grassland on the ground, which resembles the set of the cliff and the open ground on the seacoast in spatial structure, form a preferable habitat to this species. The Blue Rock Thrush is considered to have invaded into the urban area by adapting themselves to the newly-born environment created by humans.

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Over a 10-year period, 10,015 male Common Pheasants Phasianus colchicus bred for hunting were banded with an individually distinct ID number and released. Of these birds, 775 (7.7%) were hunted, 545 (70%) of them within the first hunting season they experienced. Hunted birds moved an average of 3.7±4.3SD km from their release point. Six hundred and four individuals (78%) were hunted within 5 km from their release point.

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During a 2010–2013 census of the number of seabird nests on Yagisihi Island the number of Japanese Cormorant Phalacrocorax capillatus nests fluctuated, whereas Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus nests continuously increased. In 2013, Black-tailed Gulls L. crassirostris nested in Yagishiri Island for the first time. More than half of Slaty-backed Gull nests were located on artifacts at Yagishiri Port. Fluctuations in the number of Japanese Cormorant nests on Yagishiri Island generally corresponded with those occurring at Teuri Island.

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Carcasses of 22 species of migrant birds were observed at the alpine area of Mt. Norikura in early spring (late April to middle May). These migrants died by snowstorms that they encountered during spring migration when they passed over the alpine area.

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The White-naped Crane Grus vipio is one of the most threatened species within the Family Gruidae. To address the paucity of information on the biology of this species, a study of its breeding ecology was conducted in Muraviovka Park, southeast Russia in 2011–12. It was discovered that the egg-laying period at this site extended over a 25 day period, and that both parents participated in incubation and exchanged incubation duties on average 7.3 times per day. The incubation period lasted 33–35 days and hatching success per nest was at least 56.3%. Only the female brooded the chicks. To assess time budget, recorded behaviors were divided into 11 different categories. Differences were seen in the time allocation of each parent towards different behaviors and these differences sometimes varied in relation to the incubation period versus the chick-care period. The adaptive significance of these behavioral shifts and the differences in the roles of each parent in terms of chick survival are a topic for future investigation.

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