At least two migratory shorebirds tagged while breeding in Northern Alaska during the summers of 1999 and 2000 have been spotted in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, the Environment Ministry said Friday.
The sightings mark the first time a bird confirmed to be breeding in Alaska has been sighted in the Kanto Region. In a joint U.S.-Japan research initiative, a total of 46 dunlin were tagged over the past two summers while breeding in Alaska.
Two birds were sighted at Chiba Prefecture's Yatsu and Sanbanze tidal flats, the latter of which is threatened by a controversial reclamation project. Another was seen at the mouth of the Tama River in Kanagawa Prefecture. The tags indicate the Chiba birds were marked in 1999, and the dunlin at the mouth of the Tama River was tagged in summer 2000, said Naoko Nakajima of the ministry's Wildlife Division.
Little is known about the number of birds that undertake the nearly 600-km flight each year, but concern that the number of Japan-bound dunlins is dropping led to the survey, the ministry said.
"That the birds have been confirmed in and around wetlands, including Tokyo Bay, hints at the deep connection between the two (the birds and the wetlands)," Nakajima said.