Amami Woodcock and Thrush, Okinawa Rail, Pryer's Woodpecker
Ingo Waschkies (July 12, 2007)
Just back from a good trip to Amami and Okinawa where I stayed for four nights on both islands. July is a very good season to see all specialties apart from Amami Thrush - and even my wildest hopes were surpassed. To give you an idea: Amami Woodcock (11 seen, all well), Okinawa Rail (19 seen, 18 of them well), Pryer's Woodpecker (around 15 seen, 8 of them well). I birded Terukubi-Rindo on Okinawa from 5:45 am on; by 5:52 am, I had had awesome, close views of Pryer's Woodpecker and Okinawa Rail (after 7 minutes!); by 7:30 am, I had seen 5 Okinawa Rails, including a family, down to under 10 meters and 3 Pryer's Woodpecker (with 4 more heard only). That day continued well and at the end I had seen 10 rails and contacted 14 woodpeckers (9 seen). I am still trying to figure out some ID (ageing) questions and hope for some competent help.
1) Ageing of Amami Woodcock: Can these birds be aged by the coloration of the fleshy area around the eye? The majority of birds I encountered had an obvious, big, very rosy-colored area around the eye (more extended behind the eye). But for a few birds, that area was less rosy (more buff), tinted blackish behind the eye, and generally appeared smaller; also, those birds would typically have a more contrastingly patterned plumage, looking a lot more like Eurasian Woodcock. I'm not really experienced in ageing birds by wear of plumage, but I developed the feeling that these last birds were adults.
2) Ageing of Okinawa Rail: Does the coloration of the bill have something to do with age? Basically, I encountered three types of birds: typical postcard adults with bright red bill and yellow tip, obvious young birds where especially the facial plumage was not yet adult, and then some intermediate type which typically would have adult plumage (though generally less bright), though the bill would be dull red with the tip of the bill dull greyish. Immature birds? Females?
3) Ageing of Pryer's Woodpecker: I find no solid information on how to separate an adult male Pryer's from a young one; I understand they both have a red cap. I suspect that most of the red-capped individuals I saw were young ones-- they would typically make constant contact calls and would generally be less wary and more curious than all the adult females I encountered; also I guess that I would not encounter two adult males on the same trunk. But what are the objective field marks? The amount of red on the back of the head? The amount of black striping in the crown?
Trip report on these species:
Okinawa Rail
There is a reliable stakeout in Ada (credit for this information goes to Bjorn Anderson), where the rails come out of the relic mangrove patch to bathe each evening. To reach the place, drive down Road 2 east towards Ada and turn right into the village. The road will follow the northern side of a creek that widens where a second creek joins it from the south. You will see some mangroves on the south side of the creek. Drive down towards the sea as far as the view on the creek is open. Basically, you are at the seaward end of the mangrove 'forest' now, with a bridge some 50 m down towards the sea. Behind the mangroves on the other side is a cemetery. The rails will emerge here from the mangroves from maybe 1840 on (that is, approximately when the sun disappears behind the hills to the west) until total darkness. Bring your scope for awesome closeups (but the birds are well visible in bins already, maybe 25 m away). Only one rail will appear at a time. They will carefully walk out on the mud and scan the area, then bathe for a good minute or two; once that is done, they will usually speed back into cover, though sometimes they feed a bit along the shore, too. On three visits, I saw 6, 3 & 4 birds respectively. Be aware that this site might be tide-dependent, as all three evenings the tide was so low that the rails had to walk out from the mangroves onto the mud to reach the water. At high tide, I can imagine they might bathe inside the cover of the vegetation and stay invisible to the observer. Also, be aware that there is a dirt road just behind the line of mangrove trees and the villagers walk there sometimes in the evening; in that case you will have to be patient: the rails will come when the people are gone.
Ingo Waschkies (July 12, 2007)
Just back from a good trip to Amami and Okinawa where I stayed for four nights on both islands. July is a very good season to see all specialties apart from Amami Thrush - and even my wildest hopes were surpassed. To give you an idea: Amami Woodcock (11 seen, all well), Okinawa Rail (19 seen, 18 of them well), Pryer's Woodpecker (around 15 seen, 8 of them well). I birded Terukubi-Rindo on Okinawa from 5:45 am on; by 5:52 am, I had had awesome, close views of Pryer's Woodpecker and Okinawa Rail (after 7 minutes!); by 7:30 am, I had seen 5 Okinawa Rails, including a family, down to under 10 meters and 3 Pryer's Woodpecker (with 4 more heard only). That day continued well and at the end I had seen 10 rails and contacted 14 woodpeckers (9 seen). I am still trying to figure out some ID (ageing) questions and hope for some competent help.
1) Ageing of Amami Woodcock: Can these birds be aged by the coloration of the fleshy area around the eye? The majority of birds I encountered had an obvious, big, very rosy-colored area around the eye (more extended behind the eye). But for a few birds, that area was less rosy (more buff), tinted blackish behind the eye, and generally appeared smaller; also, those birds would typically have a more contrastingly patterned plumage, looking a lot more like Eurasian Woodcock. I'm not really experienced in ageing birds by wear of plumage, but I developed the feeling that these last birds were adults.
2) Ageing of Okinawa Rail: Does the coloration of the bill have something to do with age? Basically, I encountered three types of birds: typical postcard adults with bright red bill and yellow tip, obvious young birds where especially the facial plumage was not yet adult, and then some intermediate type which typically would have adult plumage (though generally less bright), though the bill would be dull red with the tip of the bill dull greyish. Immature birds? Females?
3) Ageing of Pryer's Woodpecker: I find no solid information on how to separate an adult male Pryer's from a young one; I understand they both have a red cap. I suspect that most of the red-capped individuals I saw were young ones-- they would typically make constant contact calls and would generally be less wary and more curious than all the adult females I encountered; also I guess that I would not encounter two adult males on the same trunk. But what are the objective field marks? The amount of red on the back of the head? The amount of black striping in the crown?
Trip report on these species:
Okinawa Rail
There is a reliable stakeout in Ada (credit for this information goes to Bjorn Anderson), where the rails come out of the relic mangrove patch to bathe each evening. To reach the place, drive down Road 2 east towards Ada and turn right into the village. The road will follow the northern side of a creek that widens where a second creek joins it from the south. You will see some mangroves on the south side of the creek. Drive down towards the sea as far as the view on the creek is open. Basically, you are at the seaward end of the mangrove 'forest' now, with a bridge some 50 m down towards the sea. Behind the mangroves on the other side is a cemetery. The rails will emerge here from the mangroves from maybe 1840 on (that is, approximately when the sun disappears behind the hills to the west) until total darkness. Bring your scope for awesome closeups (but the birds are well visible in bins already, maybe 25 m away). Only one rail will appear at a time. They will carefully walk out on the mud and scan the area, then bathe for a good minute or two; once that is done, they will usually speed back into cover, though sometimes they feed a bit along the shore, too. On three visits, I saw 6, 3 & 4 birds respectively. Be aware that this site might be tide-dependent, as all three evenings the tide was so low that the rails had to walk out from the mangroves onto the mud to reach the water. At high tide, I can imagine they might bathe inside the cover of the vegetation and stay invisible to the observer. Also, be aware that there is a dirt road just behind the line of mangrove trees and the villagers walk there sometimes in the evening; in that case you will have to be patient: the rails will come when the people are gone.
There is a second general stakeout area in early evening, also in Ada, in which the rails are supposed to cross Road 2. However, I don't know if there is a precise, reliable crossing point (this information was from the Yamburu Nature Center). I saw one rail crossing the road at 1820, just where you turn from Road 2 into Ada. This might be a more interesting option when the tide is too high for the mangrove site.
The 'classic way' also works: driving Terukubi-Rindo in early morning. I did that only once and encountered rails three times, two lone adults (at 5:50 am and around 6:30) and a family (2 adults with one young) at 7:30. All birds were in the stretch between Road 2 and the northern turn-off to Uka. I heard a few birds calling along the road in the evenings, too.
Amami Woodcock
Seen every night, and all sightings were of birds just standing on paved roads; the birds would just freeze and you can drive right up to them, even get out of the car and watch them from 2 m distance. In 2-3 hours on 3 nights, I had 1-2 sightings per night on forest roads in Sumyo. A better spot seems to be the roads around Yuwan-dake. Driving the maze of roads north of the summit, I had 5 Amami Woodcocks in about one hour. More interestingly, I had one woodcock on both mornings (shortly before 5 am) on the access road to Amami Natural Forest—this site is considerably northeast of Naze. Still, while the woodcock is apparently quite common, things look bad, as I encountered a feral cat on night drives both at Yuwan-dake and in Sumyo forest.
Pryer's Woodpecker
This bird is very easy to find in July. The main reason is that the birds incessantly make their contact call (maybe because of young birds present?). Once you learn the call, you will be surprised how many woodpeckers are along the road (I had 14 in one day). Once you hear one, you have perhaps a 50% chance of seeing the birds (for example, of those 14 I saw 9), but getting good views still requires a bit of luck and patience. Also, if you are very silent, you can find feeding birds knocking on wood. Forget about drumming; the drumming activity is very low, and mainly around 6 am. You have two strategies: either walk around on the footpath to Higi Falls where there are two territories, and eventually you will meet the woodpeckers (I had good views of presumably young birds here for a few minutes just besides the path)-- or (and better, in my opinion) drive Okuni-Rindo from Higi Falls up to Road 2 and then north on Terukubi-Rindo to Oku (I personally prefer that northern stretch because you get a good chance to see the rail, too). The woodpecker is common along the whole stretch; just cruise along and keep your ears sharp.
The woodpeckers are active all day, but they are more likely to perch in the open bare branches in the early morning until perhaps 9 am, and again from 1600 on; this is your best chance to get good views. I cannot really believe that the woodpecker is in imminent danger of extinction—it occurs down to low levels in suitable woods (e.g. Higi Falls), and the population density seems high. Unlike the rail, it can be reliably found in good densities south of Road 2 up to the border of Ogrimi and Higashi districts. There should still be space for several hundred individuals, though suitable nesting trees might be a problem—it is definitely severely threatened by habitat loss. I encountered fresh (at most a couple of years old) large clearcut areas along the access roads from Iji and from Oku. The latter area was prime woodpecker habitat with a territory at the lower end of the clearcut and another one at the upper end. I could watch the birds on one side of the road with no forest left on the other!
Amami Thrush
Not seen, not heard. They don't sing at this time of the year. Your best chance is night birding forest roads in Sumyo, but finding roosting birds on wires still needs awesome amounts of luck that I didn't have in three nights.
Fergus Crystal (July 13, 2007)
I was really interested in the detailed mail about Amami and Okinawa in July. It seems midsummer is a good time to visit these places. The tsuyu (rainy season) is finishing there at this time.
About ageing of Amami Woodcock: I too noticed the difference of facial skin colour of birds, and looking at pictures in the 550 and 900 field guides, the birds with lots of ocular pink skin look like juveniles. However, the neatness of the plumage of grey-skinned birds also suggests a first plumage. I never saw any pink-skinned birds during winter trips to Amami, and in March too (which is roding season there), and this would suggest that the pink skin is not a feature of adults in courting condition. Could it be a summer feature, when the weather is hotter? Perhaps the lack of feathering around the eyes and bill is related to summer feeding, heat loss, wear, parasites etc. Not all birds seem to be pink skinned in summer and autumn.
About the ageing of male Pryers Woodpecker: Two males I watched drumming in March in Yanbaru in March 2004 had a greater profusion of red colouration. The red was not all confined to the crown, but was also visible (on one bird extensively) on the upperparts. It is possible that the red increases with age in the males. In both cases the red of the upperparts was darker than that of the crown, a dark blood-red, but still clearly red and not as dark and distinct from the crown red as in 'normal' males. I have never seen juvenile males. I think Pryer's should be reclassified as Dendrocopus sp; at any rate, its appearance and behaviour seem very close indeed to that genus. If the species is affected by such a relationship, red on the crowns of juvenile males should appear lighter, clearer red, with more dark shaft streaking, the latter fine and only clearly visible at close range. In March, drumming was loud and regular along the central Yanbaru ridges, particularly just W of the army range.
Ageing of Okinawa Rail: I suspect that birds with weaker-coloured bills and legs are juveniles. The plumage would also appear 'milkier' and less boldly patterned.
Amami Thrush: Night roosters are found more often on the underside of tree crowns than on wires. A great place is the track leading to the Okawa Dam just outside Naze, and also, the hill roads leading up to the ridges above the Sumiyo fields (inland from the mangroves). In late June, I have seen Amami Thrush at Kinsakubaru Forest, at the T-junction of tracks near the bird sign. You need to be there at the crack of dawn (before cicadas) so you can hear the slightest leaf rustle. These birds are very alert. Interestingly, the bird I saw appeared to be a fledged juvenile, with pinkish skin around the bill base (see Amami Woodcock comments).
(NB: the following is excerpted from an earlier posting by Fergus Crystal, May 9, 2005):
On March 19th 2005, prior to the annual Amami Thrush Zoothera amami census, Moriyama Harumi and I had a prolonged view of a male in the central Amami forest. The bird was seen singing and feeding on the forest track ahead of us and we kept at a distance of about 20 m from it along 2 km of track for about 30 minutes. Because such a good view is rare for this species, I would like to transcribe my notes here.
Moriyama-san and I parked our cars in suitable habitat (virgin evergreen Amami forest with a good understory and plenty of tall trees above 20 m. along a ridge) at 0530 hrs and walked slowly along a 2 km stretch of gravel track. At 0544 hrs we heard the song of a male Amami Thrush, seemingly coming from the canopy about 30 m ahead of us. It was still too dark to search for the bird.
As the morning light started to break at 0550 hrs, we caught sight of the bird giving a burst of song standing on the track about 20 m ahead of us. The head was tilted up while singing (slightly) and this seemed to project the sound upwards. The deflection of sound against the overhead canopy made it seem as though the sound was coming from above us. The bird gave three more bursts of song, a three-part set of sparse whistles that died away somewhat like the whistles of distant Mistle Thrush Turdus iliacus song (but clearer, less subdued) and most similar to the song of Siberian Thrush Z. sibiricus. Renditions were spaced roughly two to three minutes apart. At daybreak (0600 hrs) the bird stopped singing literally seconds before the first Ryukyu RobinErithacus k.komadori and Varied Tit Parus varius amamii started singing.
The bird continued to move around track sides 20-30 m ahead of us, feeding particularly in areas of moss for worms. The bird moved purposefully across the track to favoured sites several times. The feeding behaviour was markedly different from that of Scaly Thrush Z. (dauma) aureus, and the differences noted are summarised below:
1. The bird had a plover-like 'scuttle-and-halt' action as it moved around. The body was held relatively erect even during fast scuttles, and the halts were abrupt. In this frozen stance the body was held erect but the head craned slightly downwards, listening/watching for prey.
2. The bird never adopted the curious crouched posture and 'double courtesy' of a feeding Scaly Thrush.
3. The bird regularly gave a single slight upwards flick of the tail.
4. The bird covered ground rapidly during 'scuttles' on long powerful legs, noticeably longer from tarsus to heel than Scaly Thrush.
5. The bird looked very similar to Scaly Thrush, and with no other birds nearby to scale it with, appeared to be of a similar size. The body carriage was bulky, and this made the head look smaller than it was. The bill also looked stronger and thicker than that of Scaly Thrush I have seen.
6. The bird regularly gave a nondescript, whispery 'sih', easily drowned out by nearby Grey Bunting Emberiza variabilis calls, which were much finer, sharper and more penetrating. The call was also appreciably weaker than the sharp 'zit' or 'sii' given by Siberian Thrush and the 'tsih' given by wintering Turdus sp.; the call is flatter and is not inflected in any way. Another bird (the female?) was heard calling from thick undergrowth about 10 m from the track at one point.
In addition, I noted some plumage details:
1. The bird appeared rather dark-backed, with extensive spotting covering the underparts.
2. The upper rump appeared especially black as the spots on the upperparts seemed to concentrate there.
3. The lower rump and uppertail coverts were contrastingly the palest area of the upperparts, as they showed broad golden buff spots, but the brightest spots were more whitish and these were in a brace along the outer scapulars above the folded wing (visible mostly from a side view).
4. For me, a characteristic feature was a quite pronounced dark tear-smudge that started from under the eye and extended diffusely downwards across the cheek (a 'mascara stain'). I have noted a similar stain on some Scaly Thrushes, but most seem to lack any sign of one, and where it does occur in Scaly Thrush it is much weaker. It is not really possible to see this feature in a spotlit roosting bird at night.
Takeshi Ogura taught me some of the differences between Scaly and Amami Thrush in the hand:
1. Retrices: Scaly: 14, Amami 12. These can be counted from below on a spotlit roosting bird, or in good photos of such birds.
2.Wing formulae differ (no details).
3. Crown feathers in both are buff, tipped black. Amami: these feathers show a bright oval gold spot before the black tip, but in Scaly there is only the ghost of such a spot and that area is concolorous buff with the rest of the feather.
4. Bill length and thickness obviously greater in Amami, as is skull size.
5.Amami: longest (central) uppertail covert is pointed at the tip, with a black chevron at the tip. Scaly: Longest (central) uppertail covert is rounded and has a black, crescent-shaped tip. These differences are visible in certain photos of the species in the new 2nd Ed. 550 guide.
Around 40 singing males were recorded in this year's census. Around 80 people took part (including 4 foreigners!). The census is normally conducted in the second week of March (the peak song period) and this is also an excellent time to get acquainted with roding Amami Woodcock Scolopax mira and drumming Amami Woodpecker Dendrocopus (leucotus) owstoni. If you want to take part, you need to contact Mr. Takashi who heads the census and the Amami Ornithologist`s Club in Naze.)
Ingo Waschkies (July 13, 2007)
All 'red-capped' Pryer's I saw had the 'blood-red' upperparts. It was between maroon and obviously red, but I suspect that it depends more on light conditions than on age. For example, I had one flying against a dark background below me in perfect sunlight and the red back was striking; on other occasions in the shadows, it looked almost uniformly darkish brown. As for the black streaking in the crown, there is a photo of a pair of woodpeckers in the Yambaru Nature Center leaflet, in which the presumably adult male has very strong black streaks in the crown; and actually, in all the six red-capped birds I saw, the black streaking was clearly visible. My suspicion was more that the hind part of the crown is also bright red in adults, while the red on the crown of juveniles is more concentrated/brighter on the front area of the crown; but although I had quite a few good views at birds I don't feel too sure about this (again, light conditions varied greatly). And yes, it looks a lot like a Dendrocopus woodpecker. My first impression was the jizz of a White-backed Woodpecker; coming from Amami, the step didn't seem so big at all.
Also, I managed to get photographs of three different woodcocks with 'juvenile-type' eye-ring--
The 'classic way' also works: driving Terukubi-Rindo in early morning. I did that only once and encountered rails three times, two lone adults (at 5:50 am and around 6:30) and a family (2 adults with one young) at 7:30. All birds were in the stretch between Road 2 and the northern turn-off to Uka. I heard a few birds calling along the road in the evenings, too.
Amami Woodcock
Seen every night, and all sightings were of birds just standing on paved roads; the birds would just freeze and you can drive right up to them, even get out of the car and watch them from 2 m distance. In 2-3 hours on 3 nights, I had 1-2 sightings per night on forest roads in Sumyo. A better spot seems to be the roads around Yuwan-dake. Driving the maze of roads north of the summit, I had 5 Amami Woodcocks in about one hour. More interestingly, I had one woodcock on both mornings (shortly before 5 am) on the access road to Amami Natural Forest—this site is considerably northeast of Naze. Still, while the woodcock is apparently quite common, things look bad, as I encountered a feral cat on night drives both at Yuwan-dake and in Sumyo forest.
Pryer's Woodpecker
This bird is very easy to find in July. The main reason is that the birds incessantly make their contact call (maybe because of young birds present?). Once you learn the call, you will be surprised how many woodpeckers are along the road (I had 14 in one day). Once you hear one, you have perhaps a 50% chance of seeing the birds (for example, of those 14 I saw 9), but getting good views still requires a bit of luck and patience. Also, if you are very silent, you can find feeding birds knocking on wood. Forget about drumming; the drumming activity is very low, and mainly around 6 am. You have two strategies: either walk around on the footpath to Higi Falls where there are two territories, and eventually you will meet the woodpeckers (I had good views of presumably young birds here for a few minutes just besides the path)-- or (and better, in my opinion) drive Okuni-Rindo from Higi Falls up to Road 2 and then north on Terukubi-Rindo to Oku (I personally prefer that northern stretch because you get a good chance to see the rail, too). The woodpecker is common along the whole stretch; just cruise along and keep your ears sharp.
The woodpeckers are active all day, but they are more likely to perch in the open bare branches in the early morning until perhaps 9 am, and again from 1600 on; this is your best chance to get good views. I cannot really believe that the woodpecker is in imminent danger of extinction—it occurs down to low levels in suitable woods (e.g. Higi Falls), and the population density seems high. Unlike the rail, it can be reliably found in good densities south of Road 2 up to the border of Ogrimi and Higashi districts. There should still be space for several hundred individuals, though suitable nesting trees might be a problem—it is definitely severely threatened by habitat loss. I encountered fresh (at most a couple of years old) large clearcut areas along the access roads from Iji and from Oku. The latter area was prime woodpecker habitat with a territory at the lower end of the clearcut and another one at the upper end. I could watch the birds on one side of the road with no forest left on the other!
Amami Thrush
Not seen, not heard. They don't sing at this time of the year. Your best chance is night birding forest roads in Sumyo, but finding roosting birds on wires still needs awesome amounts of luck that I didn't have in three nights.
Fergus Crystal (July 13, 2007)
I was really interested in the detailed mail about Amami and Okinawa in July. It seems midsummer is a good time to visit these places. The tsuyu (rainy season) is finishing there at this time.
About ageing of Amami Woodcock: I too noticed the difference of facial skin colour of birds, and looking at pictures in the 550 and 900 field guides, the birds with lots of ocular pink skin look like juveniles. However, the neatness of the plumage of grey-skinned birds also suggests a first plumage. I never saw any pink-skinned birds during winter trips to Amami, and in March too (which is roding season there), and this would suggest that the pink skin is not a feature of adults in courting condition. Could it be a summer feature, when the weather is hotter? Perhaps the lack of feathering around the eyes and bill is related to summer feeding, heat loss, wear, parasites etc. Not all birds seem to be pink skinned in summer and autumn.
About the ageing of male Pryers Woodpecker: Two males I watched drumming in March in Yanbaru in March 2004 had a greater profusion of red colouration. The red was not all confined to the crown, but was also visible (on one bird extensively) on the upperparts. It is possible that the red increases with age in the males. In both cases the red of the upperparts was darker than that of the crown, a dark blood-red, but still clearly red and not as dark and distinct from the crown red as in 'normal' males. I have never seen juvenile males. I think Pryer's should be reclassified as Dendrocopus sp; at any rate, its appearance and behaviour seem very close indeed to that genus. If the species is affected by such a relationship, red on the crowns of juvenile males should appear lighter, clearer red, with more dark shaft streaking, the latter fine and only clearly visible at close range. In March, drumming was loud and regular along the central Yanbaru ridges, particularly just W of the army range.
Ageing of Okinawa Rail: I suspect that birds with weaker-coloured bills and legs are juveniles. The plumage would also appear 'milkier' and less boldly patterned.
Amami Thrush: Night roosters are found more often on the underside of tree crowns than on wires. A great place is the track leading to the Okawa Dam just outside Naze, and also, the hill roads leading up to the ridges above the Sumiyo fields (inland from the mangroves). In late June, I have seen Amami Thrush at Kinsakubaru Forest, at the T-junction of tracks near the bird sign. You need to be there at the crack of dawn (before cicadas) so you can hear the slightest leaf rustle. These birds are very alert. Interestingly, the bird I saw appeared to be a fledged juvenile, with pinkish skin around the bill base (see Amami Woodcock comments).
(NB: the following is excerpted from an earlier posting by Fergus Crystal, May 9, 2005):
On March 19th 2005, prior to the annual Amami Thrush Zoothera amami census, Moriyama Harumi and I had a prolonged view of a male in the central Amami forest. The bird was seen singing and feeding on the forest track ahead of us and we kept at a distance of about 20 m from it along 2 km of track for about 30 minutes. Because such a good view is rare for this species, I would like to transcribe my notes here.
Moriyama-san and I parked our cars in suitable habitat (virgin evergreen Amami forest with a good understory and plenty of tall trees above 20 m. along a ridge) at 0530 hrs and walked slowly along a 2 km stretch of gravel track. At 0544 hrs we heard the song of a male Amami Thrush, seemingly coming from the canopy about 30 m ahead of us. It was still too dark to search for the bird.
As the morning light started to break at 0550 hrs, we caught sight of the bird giving a burst of song standing on the track about 20 m ahead of us. The head was tilted up while singing (slightly) and this seemed to project the sound upwards. The deflection of sound against the overhead canopy made it seem as though the sound was coming from above us. The bird gave three more bursts of song, a three-part set of sparse whistles that died away somewhat like the whistles of distant Mistle Thrush Turdus iliacus song (but clearer, less subdued) and most similar to the song of Siberian Thrush Z. sibiricus. Renditions were spaced roughly two to three minutes apart. At daybreak (0600 hrs) the bird stopped singing literally seconds before the first Ryukyu RobinErithacus k.komadori and Varied Tit Parus varius amamii started singing.
The bird continued to move around track sides 20-30 m ahead of us, feeding particularly in areas of moss for worms. The bird moved purposefully across the track to favoured sites several times. The feeding behaviour was markedly different from that of Scaly Thrush Z. (dauma) aureus, and the differences noted are summarised below:
1. The bird had a plover-like 'scuttle-and-halt' action as it moved around. The body was held relatively erect even during fast scuttles, and the halts were abrupt. In this frozen stance the body was held erect but the head craned slightly downwards, listening/watching for prey.
2. The bird never adopted the curious crouched posture and 'double courtesy' of a feeding Scaly Thrush.
3. The bird regularly gave a single slight upwards flick of the tail.
4. The bird covered ground rapidly during 'scuttles' on long powerful legs, noticeably longer from tarsus to heel than Scaly Thrush.
5. The bird looked very similar to Scaly Thrush, and with no other birds nearby to scale it with, appeared to be of a similar size. The body carriage was bulky, and this made the head look smaller than it was. The bill also looked stronger and thicker than that of Scaly Thrush I have seen.
6. The bird regularly gave a nondescript, whispery 'sih', easily drowned out by nearby Grey Bunting Emberiza variabilis calls, which were much finer, sharper and more penetrating. The call was also appreciably weaker than the sharp 'zit' or 'sii' given by Siberian Thrush and the 'tsih' given by wintering Turdus sp.; the call is flatter and is not inflected in any way. Another bird (the female?) was heard calling from thick undergrowth about 10 m from the track at one point.
In addition, I noted some plumage details:
1. The bird appeared rather dark-backed, with extensive spotting covering the underparts.
2. The upper rump appeared especially black as the spots on the upperparts seemed to concentrate there.
3. The lower rump and uppertail coverts were contrastingly the palest area of the upperparts, as they showed broad golden buff spots, but the brightest spots were more whitish and these were in a brace along the outer scapulars above the folded wing (visible mostly from a side view).
4. For me, a characteristic feature was a quite pronounced dark tear-smudge that started from under the eye and extended diffusely downwards across the cheek (a 'mascara stain'). I have noted a similar stain on some Scaly Thrushes, but most seem to lack any sign of one, and where it does occur in Scaly Thrush it is much weaker. It is not really possible to see this feature in a spotlit roosting bird at night.
Takeshi Ogura taught me some of the differences between Scaly and Amami Thrush in the hand:
1. Retrices: Scaly: 14, Amami 12. These can be counted from below on a spotlit roosting bird, or in good photos of such birds.
2.Wing formulae differ (no details).
3. Crown feathers in both are buff, tipped black. Amami: these feathers show a bright oval gold spot before the black tip, but in Scaly there is only the ghost of such a spot and that area is concolorous buff with the rest of the feather.
4. Bill length and thickness obviously greater in Amami, as is skull size.
5.Amami: longest (central) uppertail covert is pointed at the tip, with a black chevron at the tip. Scaly: Longest (central) uppertail covert is rounded and has a black, crescent-shaped tip. These differences are visible in certain photos of the species in the new 2nd Ed. 550 guide.
Around 40 singing males were recorded in this year's census. Around 80 people took part (including 4 foreigners!). The census is normally conducted in the second week of March (the peak song period) and this is also an excellent time to get acquainted with roding Amami Woodcock Scolopax mira and drumming Amami Woodpecker Dendrocopus (leucotus) owstoni. If you want to take part, you need to contact Mr. Takashi who heads the census and the Amami Ornithologist`s Club in Naze.)
Ingo Waschkies (July 13, 2007)
All 'red-capped' Pryer's I saw had the 'blood-red' upperparts. It was between maroon and obviously red, but I suspect that it depends more on light conditions than on age. For example, I had one flying against a dark background below me in perfect sunlight and the red back was striking; on other occasions in the shadows, it looked almost uniformly darkish brown. As for the black streaking in the crown, there is a photo of a pair of woodpeckers in the Yambaru Nature Center leaflet, in which the presumably adult male has very strong black streaks in the crown; and actually, in all the six red-capped birds I saw, the black streaking was clearly visible. My suspicion was more that the hind part of the crown is also bright red in adults, while the red on the crown of juveniles is more concentrated/brighter on the front area of the crown; but although I had quite a few good views at birds I don't feel too sure about this (again, light conditions varied greatly). And yes, it looks a lot like a Dendrocopus woodpecker. My first impression was the jizz of a White-backed Woodpecker; coming from Amami, the step didn't seem so big at all.
Also, I managed to get photographs of three different woodcocks with 'juvenile-type' eye-ring--
Apologies for the slightly blurry quality—with my real camera broken, these pictures were taken with an ordinary compact digital camera from about 2 m distance. I just stopped the car, stepped out and walked towards the woodcock; it wouldn't move until I stepped into the strong light from the car. I could even stretch my arm with the camera into the light cone. None of the birds with 'adult-type' eye-ring could be approached like that. If you can, please confirm whether or not those are truly juveniles.
Fergus Crystal (July 13, 2007)
The images you posted of Amami Woodcock: I think the birds have to be juveniles at this time of year: they show pristine plumage with no visible wear. I would expect adults at this time of year to show at least some wear. I wonder how long it takes for the ocular skin to be covered up with feathers and change colour?
Thanks for the comment on Pryer's. There were certainly 2 males I saw that appeared redder above than the other males (3) that I saw in March 2004. It could well be that ageing is best done by looking at the crown colour. It is interesting to note that White-backed Woodpecker juveniles show white, not dark, streaking on the crown. I wonder if this is present in the Amami (sub) species?
Sean Minns (July 14, 2007)
Although I have only ever been when there were adults, I would say that the pictures are of juveniles. As well as the larger area of skin around the eye, it seems the bill is paler at the base (though perhaps that should just be put down to the birds being in strong light in your pics), while the overall plumage seems a lot more rufous than the adults I saw in December and March.
Not sure about the Pryer's Woodpeckers, as I have only seen two or three birds in December 2002 and none in March 2005-- although I will say the males did seem to be less cryptic than the females with more obvious red caps. Certainly on the ground in shadow they appeared a lot darker reddish-brown, while out in open sunlight on tree trunks, they were more obviously reddish. Don't remember the blackish streaking on the males crown, but never really got close enough to see that detail.
Fergus Crystal (July 13, 2007)
The images you posted of Amami Woodcock: I think the birds have to be juveniles at this time of year: they show pristine plumage with no visible wear. I would expect adults at this time of year to show at least some wear. I wonder how long it takes for the ocular skin to be covered up with feathers and change colour?
Thanks for the comment on Pryer's. There were certainly 2 males I saw that appeared redder above than the other males (3) that I saw in March 2004. It could well be that ageing is best done by looking at the crown colour. It is interesting to note that White-backed Woodpecker juveniles show white, not dark, streaking on the crown. I wonder if this is present in the Amami (sub) species?
Sean Minns (July 14, 2007)
Although I have only ever been when there were adults, I would say that the pictures are of juveniles. As well as the larger area of skin around the eye, it seems the bill is paler at the base (though perhaps that should just be put down to the birds being in strong light in your pics), while the overall plumage seems a lot more rufous than the adults I saw in December and March.
Not sure about the Pryer's Woodpeckers, as I have only seen two or three birds in December 2002 and none in March 2005-- although I will say the males did seem to be less cryptic than the females with more obvious red caps. Certainly on the ground in shadow they appeared a lot darker reddish-brown, while out in open sunlight on tree trunks, they were more obviously reddish. Don't remember the blackish streaking on the males crown, but never really got close enough to see that detail.