Welcome to the website of "Ehime, Wild Bird Society of Japan". The contents of this website are very simple and brief, however, we would like more people around the world to know about our activities. Your participation or comments will make us fly!
Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) was founded in 1934 in Tokyo by Nakanishi Godo and his colleagues. The organization has now about 50,000 members and 90 related organizations. WBSJ publishes a newsletter called 'Yacho (Wild Bird)' and a journal of field ornithology 'Strix'. The mission of the organisation is: The conservation of birds, educating people about the protection of birds, the promotion of research and conducting surveys on birds. WBSJ is a BirdLife International Partner.
'Ehime, WBSJ' started in 1974 as a related organization of WBSJ and now we have about 350 members. Our aim is to contribute to protecting the biodiversity of Ehime by performing research on wild birds and to conserve their habitat environment. Then, we hope to inform people about these activities and give them opportunities to enjoy and interact with wild birds in their natural environment. We hold birding walks over 60 times a year and publish the bulletin "Komadori (Japanese Robin)" bimonthly. The Japanese Robin Erithacus akahige is the prefectural bird of Ehime. We send instructors to events held by other organizations and schools if necessary.
To determine the influence of environmental changes, we have been conduncting a long-term survey: e.g. Wintering Anatidae population survey (from 1970, every winter) and Shigenobu River estuary bird count (from 1996, every month). Recently, we have been focusing on a distributional survey to collect sufficient data to prepare a Birds of Ehime Checklist / Red Data Book, especially for data deficient species such as Streaked shearwater, Japanese murrelet, Eurasian scops owl and Japanese night heron. Moreover, highlighting the risk to local governments about various land development issues is our duty.
1) Iyo Bank Environmental Fund (2008) ¥300,000 for a habitat survey of birds in Uwa sea islands.
2) Tamotsu Miura Fund (2008) ¥98,000 for a distributional survey of nocturnal birds in Ehime.
3) Matsuyama City (2002-2003) ¥2,200,000 for an ecological study of crows in Matsuyama city.
1) Matsuda, H. (2007) Record of a black kite Milvus migrans colliding with a wind turbine at Cape Sada, western Japan. Strix 25: 105-107. (in Japanese with English summary)
2) Yamamoto, T., Ogawa, J., Tange, K. & Akiyama, T. (2005) A city rook Corvus frugilegus roost. Strix 23: 149-152. (in Japanese with English summary)
3) Ehime branch, WBSJ. (1996) The Handbook of Birds of Ehime - HABATAKI -, revised edn. The Ehime Shimbun, Matsuyama. (Buy this now on Ehime Shinbun or Amazon!)
Have you ever worried about environmental degradation and our future? If so, to protect our beautiful world, you can do something by joining us! Please contact us by email if you want to know more details.
Matsuyama castle is a beautiful castle dominating the cityscape and is also a good place for birding. We have birding walks here on the first Sunday every month. The starting point is next to the prefectural office. Non-members are also welcome to join our walks. No special equipment is necessary as we have some spare for you.
Time: 8:00 am - 11:00 am
Special Membership: ¥12,000 / year
Comprehensive Membership: ¥7,000 / year
Local Membership: ¥3,000 / year
Donations are always welcome! :)
Ehime prefecture has many good places for birding. You can see bird photos of Ehime on our Japanese photo gallery page. Click here for a larger view of this map.
Ehime bureau, Wild Bird Society of Japan
353-5 Nishi-nagato, Matsuyama, Ehime, 791-8017, JAPAN
Tel/Fax: +81-89-923-3081
Email: mail (AT) ehime-wbsj.com