The Japanese Society for Preservation of Birds (JSPB) undertakes conservation of wild birds and other wildlife, as well as working to raise public awareness. In FY2023, the JSPB will carry out conservation activities for the Amami Woodcock and Amami Woodpecker, which are rare bird species found on the island of Amami Oshima, in collaboration with the Amami Ornithologists’ Club. For the Amami Woodcock, a survey will be conducted by attaching GPS trackers to individual birds to study their migration between Amami Islands and Okinawa Island, while for the Amami Woodpecker, a population survey will be conducted, together with a home range survey using GPS, and exploration of the potential for using nest boxes to help the species.

■Activity locations: Amami Oshima and the Main Island of Okinawa Prefecture
■Grant amount: 3,130 thousand yen

The Short-tailed Albatross had suffered such a severe decline in numbers that at one point it was declared extinct. However, thanks to intensive conservation efforts on the island of Torishima in the Izu Islands and the island of Mukojima in the Ogasawara Islands, the population has recovered, and there are now over 7,000 Short-tailed Albatrosses. Furthermore, academic research has made important discoveries, such as that the Short-tailed Albatrosses on Torishima and those in the Senkaku Islands constitute two taxonomically distinct populations. The aim of the present project is to disseminate these research results as widely as possible, and to spread awareness of the need for new albatross conservation strategies and for continued monitoring.

■Activity locations: Tokyo (Mukojima, Torishima)
■Grant amount: 2,300 thousand yen

The Sarobetsu Eco Network aims to ensure that the precious natural environment of the Sarobetsu Wetlands in Hokkaido is preserved for posterity, through nature conservation and environmental education activities conducted in the wetlands. In 2023, by catching and attaching transmitters to three Japanese cranes in the Sarobetsu Wetlands, the Sarobetsu Eco Network is working to clarify the migration routes of the Japanese cranes that migrate from the Sarobetsu Wetlands to Eastern Hokkaido in the winter, and their habitat. In addition, by holding activity presentations, etc., the research results will be publicized, to support awareness-raising.

■Activity locations: Hokkaido Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,291 thousand yen

The Philippine eagle is one of the world’s most endangered raptors. The Municipality of Arakan on the island of Mindanao is an important breeding area for the Philippine eagle, but it is not a nationally-designated conservation area, and fledgling birds have been killed by electrocution and by poaching. In the second year of project implementation, besides undertaking electrocution prevention measures on a 1.5 km stretch of the No. 2 Work Zone, the Philippine Eagle Foundation is also strengthening the forest patrol corps (the members of which are local residents) and proceeding with measures to prevent poaching and illegal logging, with the aim of realizing regeneration of biodiverse forests in the Philippines.

■Activity locations: Mindanao Island, Philippines
■Grant amount: 2,211 thousand yen

Gray parrots are in high demand as pets, and in Africa, their native habitat, they are at risk of extinction due to poaching, etc. Within Japan, zoos have in the past failed to establish the techniques needed for successful breeding in captivity. This project involves improving the breeding environment for five gray parrots that began living together as a group in 2022, and analyzing their behavior. Collaborating with Chubu University and Gifu University on system analysis and hormone analysis, Toyama City Family Park Zoo is working to build the group into a flock, and to develop reproduction techniques that could be used to reintroduce gray parrots into the wild.

■Activity locations: Toyama Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,082 thousand yen

In collaboration with Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE), the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums is striving to develop technology to support the recovery of wild populations of rock ptarmigans. In 2022, a family of rock ptarmigans that had been bred and raised in a zoo were released on Mt. Kisokoma in the Central Alps, in a successful effort to return birds to the wild. In 2023, the aim is to proceed with measures to ensure that the birds have and maintain the gut biota needed to survive in the wild, and to develop techniques for ensuring that female rock ptarmigans are able to raise chicks successfully.

■Activity locations: Kanto and Chubu regions
■Grant amount: 2,076 thousand yen

In 2022, Japanese white storks successfully nested and hatched eggs in Shiroishi, Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, but unfortunately the chicks were taken by predators. To enable the birds to reproduce successfully in 2023, various activities are being implemented, including: (1) installation of nesting towers (to avoid the risk of birds being electrocuted or nests being removed if the birds nest on electricity pylons); (2) monitoring (setting up monitoring huts to observe and monitor the progress made in breeding); and (3) guarding (preventing predation by combining the use of noises to scare away crows and laser pointers for driving predators off.

■Activity locations: Saga Prefecture
■Grant amount: 1,500 thousand yen

More half of the total global population of Japanese murrelets (a small seabird) breed on the island of Birojima in Miyazaki Prefecture. If anything were to happen to the colony on Birojima, the species would be threatened with extinction. The Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, where Natural Resource Damage Assessment of Asia (NRDA) is active, were known to have Japanese murrelet breeding sites and potential breeding sites, but no survey of the islands had been conducted since 1977. During the 2023 breeding season, NRDA will be conducting a survey on the island of Hanaguri-jima (the first such survey to be undertaken there in 45 years), and will also be conducting a marine survey to discover breeding sites off the coast of Nomozaki.

■Activity locations: Nagasaki Prefecture
■Grant amount: 919 thousand yen

The Water Birds Study Group Japan conducts surveys and research aimed at the conservation of water birds throughout Japan, with a particular focus on surveys relating to little terns. In 2023, the group is expanding the supporting facilities for floats installed in 2022 as breeding sites for little terns, with the aim of achieving greater success in encouraging the birds to nest there. They will also be recovering geolocators (small devices for studying birds’ range) that were fitted to little terns in 2022, and striving to determine the location of the birds’ wintering grounds, and their migration routes.

■Activity locations: Tokyo Metropolis, Chiba, Ibaraki, Okinawa prefectures
■Grant amount: 862 thousand yen

The Study of Sandankyo and the Ota River Watershed organization undertakes activities aimed at preserving riverine ecosystems for posterity, with a particular focus on the Sandankyo gorge in the intermontane region of Hiroshima Prefecture. While implementing wild bird observation activities in 2022, the organization became aware that the number of crested kingfishers (which have been designated as a Class 2 endangered species in Hiroshima Prefecture) in the Ota River basin was falling rapidly. The aim of the current project is to undertake breeding-related surveys and research to help protect the crested kingfishers, and to implement conservation activities that are closely integrated with the local community.

■Activity locations: Hiroshima Prefecture
■Grant amount: 830 thousand yen