History of Bird Banding in Japan

The first bird banding survey in Japan was conducted in 1924 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.

Over the following 20 years until 1943 when the survey was discontinued due to WWII, about 317,000 birds had been banded. Of these, about 15,000 were later re-captured. After the war, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry resumed the survey in 1961, contracting it out to the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.

The bird banding project was placed under the leadership of the Environment Agency (presently the Ministry of the Environment) since 1972 but the survey has been continued by the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. About three million birds were banded between 1961 and 2000. Of these, about 18,000 birds were later recovered.

In recent years, about 200,000 birds have been banded every year in Japan, gradually revealing facts concerning the destinations and migration routes of migratory birds observed in Japan that had previously been unknown.

The day when a banded bird (Night Heron) was first released in Japan (the former Haneda-cho)

An excerpt from page 248 of “Tori (Birds)” Vol. 18 issued on June 30, 1924

History of the Bird Banding Survey in Japan