The Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume is a vulnerable seabird species that breeds only along the coastal regions of Japan and South Korea. Some breeding islets have been identified off the coast of northern Kyushu, but many others remain uninvestigated. In this study, we conducted nocturnal spotlight surveys around Kofutagamijima Island in the Ikisuido Strait, Nagasaki, Japan, where a fledgling, eggshells and cranial bones of the Japanese Murrelet had been recently found. We observed 134 individuals and heard 103 calls during the surveys, indicating the likely presence of a breeding colony at Kofutagamijima Island. The colony size was estimated to be greater than any other colonies in northern Kyushu.

I investigated the history of penguin arrivals at Ueno Zoological Gardens before World War II. Between 1915 and 1937, Humboldt Penguins Spheniscus humboldti were donated five times and purchased once. A Magellanic Penguin S. magellanicus was also donated once, for a total of seven arrivals. The former were transported from the west coast of South America by passenger cargo ships (six times) and the later by a cargo ship (once). The majority of penguins were captured (or purchased) in Iquique, Chile. Between 1910s and 1920s, the number of penguins captured increased, while the number of penguins that survived during the long boat trip did not increase. Later, in the 1930s the number of locally tamed penguins in South America increased. The survival of penguins in the zoo depended largely on their health condition at the time of arrival.

Bird populations were investigated in a shrub-grassland of the Yufutsu Plain, south-western Hokkaido from May to July 1986 by the territory-mapping method. Nineteen bird species, including Cuculus canorus, Gallinago hardwickii, Alauda arvensis, Acrocephalus bistrigiceps, Locustella lanceolata, Calliope calliope, Saxicola stejnegeri, Emberiza fucata. E. aureola, E. personata and E. schoeniclus were observed, excluding species that flew in temporarily. Most of the species observed were commonly found in shrub-grasslands and grasslands in other parts of Hokkaido.

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica and Swinhoe's Storm Petrels Hydrobates monorhis are passage migrants around the Nansei Islands, Japan. However, their detailed distribution in relation to breeding sites have not been thoroughly investigated. We summarized their records collected during our surveys conducted from July to September between 2009 and 2024 and the historical records of photograph and specimens. Most of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (97% of 537 individuals at 41 observations) were the dark morph; suggesting that most individuals migrating to the waters around the Nansei Islands likely originate from breeding populations in the regions south of 10°N. A total of 10 observations, including 30 individuals, of Swinhoe's Storm Petrel were recorded mainly during their breeding season and some of them showed molt patterns of breeding adults, suggesting the possibility of breeding in the Nansei Islands.

The Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos is a raptor that inhabits mountainous areas. In Japan, the subspecies A. c. japonica is distributed throughout the country, mainly in Honshu. The population of Golden Eagles has been greatly reduced due to lack of food as well as reduction of hunting grounds. Furthermore, their reproductive rate is low. Most Golden Eagles in Japan lay two eggs per clutch; however, the number of chicks that fledge is almost always only one. Instances of two chicks fledging from the same nest are extremely rare, occurring in only 0.8% of successful breeding attempts. In June 2024, the author observed two chicks in a nest, and later confirmed the moment each chick departed the nest. The first chick left the nest at 16:51 on June 4th, and the second chick at 5:58 on June 8th. In addition, the two juvenile birds were observed flying every day during a juvenile bird field observation conducted from June 11th to June 15th. This is the first documented case in Japan where the moment two chicks fledged from the same nest was visually observed and recorded.

On March 3, 1911, the Commercial School's training ship “Taisei Maru” called at Stanley in the Falkland Islands during a voyage around the world. During their stay, Captain Chuzo Furuya and his crew visited a penguin colony. After returning to Japan, Captain Furuya donated a Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua specimen, which he had brought back from the Falkland Islands, to the Tokyo Imperial Museum.

Japanese names are a useful tool for Japanese speakers to communicate scientifically about birds. However, nearly 40 years have already passed since the most influential book treating Japanese names for all modern birds (Yamashina 1986) was published. During that time, the classification of birds has undergone major changes. Here we provide a revised list of Japanese names for genera and species of Treeswifts, Swifts and Hummingbirds (Apodiformes), which adopts the latest classification system (Gill et al. 2025).