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Japan Japan Ramsar wetland

Kerama Islands

75 bird species recorded; the most from March to May.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec47at the peak
Species recorded in each month · tap a month

SteFou! · CC BY 2.0

This month here

30 species in January.

The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

Large-billed Crow
Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchosResidentTisha Mukherjee · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rock Dove
Rock DoveColumba liviaResidentwilliam_stephens · CC BY 4.0
White Wagtail
White WagtailMotacilla albaWinter visitorAndreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5
Common Sandpiper
Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucosWinter visitorChristoph Müller · CC BY-SA 4.0
Grey-faced Buzzard
Grey-faced BuzzardButastur indicusWinter visitorM.Nishimura · CC BY-SA 3.0
Olive-backed Pipit
Olive-backed PipitAnthus hodgsoniWinter visitorJason Thompson · CC BY 2.0
Pale Thrush
Pale ThrushTurdus pallidusWinter visitorAlpsdake · CC BY-SA 3.0
Brown Shrike
Brown ShrikeLanius cristatusWinter visitorJJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pacific Golden Plover
Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulvaWinter visitorAMMuench · CC BY 4.0
Daurian Redstart
Daurian RedstartPhoenicurus auroreusWinter visitorLaitche · CC BY-SA 4.0
Common Snipe
Common SnipeGallinago gallinagoWinter visitorHobbyfotowiki · CC0
Green Sandpiper
Green SandpiperTringa ochropusWinter visitorpeterichman · CC BY-SA 2.0
Red-flanked Bluetail
Red-flanked BluetailTarsiger cyanurusWinter visitorMaterialscientist ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Siberian Rubythroat
Siberian RubythroatLuscinia calliopeWinter visitorJJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Black Wood PigeonColumba janthinaSummer visitor
Brown-eared Bulbul
Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotisResidentAlpsdake · CC BY-SA 3.0
Japanese Bush Warbler
Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphoneResidentAlpsdake · CC BY-SA 3.0
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanusResidentMatt Tillett from Cumberland, MD, USA · CC BY 2.0
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitariusResidentjose maria carretero palacios from jerez de los caballeros, españa · CC BY 2.0
Zitting Cisticola
Zitting CisticolaCisticola juncidisResidentAlexis Lours · CC BY 4.0
Pacific Swallow
Pacific SwallowHirundo javanicaResidentCharles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Little Egret
Little EgretEgretta garzettaResidentBirdman1 · CC BY 2.5
Grey Wagtail
Grey WagtailMotacilla cinereaResidentgailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0
Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicusResident
  • Resident all year
  • Summer visitor comes to breed
  • Winter visitor comes for the winter
  • Passage migrant in spring and autumn

In numbers

75 species, counted.

44out of 100

Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).

  • 75Speciesrecorded more than once
  • 29Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
  • 0ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
  • 884Recordsopen records within 6 km
  • 124 mAltitudeabove the sea
  • 2Raptors
  • 2Owls
  • 7Waders
  • 2Gulls & seabirds
  • 5Ducks & geese
  • 9Herons, ibises & grebes
  • 39Songbirds
  • 9Other birds

From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.

The checklist

All 75 species.

By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.

Raptors2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Grey-faced BuzzardButastur indicus
  • OspreyPandion haliaetus
Owls2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Elegant Scops-OwlOtus elegansNT
  • Northern BoobokNinox japonica
Waders7 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
  • Pacific Golden PloverPluvialis fulva
  • Common SnipeGallinago gallinago
  • Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus
  • Wood SandpiperTringa glareola
  • Green SandpiperTringa ochropus
  • Gray-tailed TattlerTringa brevipes
Gulls & seabirds2 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Whiskered TernChlidonias hybrida
  • Black-naped TernSterna sumatrana
Ducks & geese5 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Eurasian TealAnas crecca
  • Chinese Spot-billed DuckAnas zonorhyncha
  • Brent GooseBranta bernicla
  • Anas poecilorhynchaAnas poecilorhyncha
  • MallardAnas platyrhynchos
Herons, ibises & grebes9 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Little EgretEgretta garzetta
  • Chinese Pond HeronArdeola bacchus
  • Egretta intermediaEgretta intermedia
  • Great White EgretArdea alba
  • Reef HeronEgretta sacra
  • Striated HeronButorides striata
  • Grey HeronArdea cinerea
  • Black-crowned Night-HeronNycticorax nycticorax
  • Purple heronArdea purpurea
Songbirds39 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Large-billed CrowCorvus macrorhynchos
  • Zosterops japonicusZosterops japonicus
  • Brown-eared BulbulHypsipetes amaurotis
  • Japanese Bush WarblerHorornis diphone
  • Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanus
  • Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
  • Zitting CisticolaCisticola juncidis
  • Pacific SwallowHirundo javanica
  • White WagtailMotacilla alba
  • Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
  • Barn swallowHirundo rustica
  • Olive-backed PipitAnthus hodgsoni
  • Eastern Yellow WagtailMotacilla tschutschensis
  • Pale ThrushTurdus pallidus
  • Brown ShrikeLanius cristatus
  • Little BuntingEmberiza pusilla
  • Black-faced buntingEmberiza spodocephala
  • Daurian RedstartPhoenicurus auroreus
  • Turdus eunomusTurdus eunomus
  • Yellow-browed BuntingEmberiza chrysophrys
  • Chestnut-eared BuntingEmberiza fucata
  • Yellow-browed WarblerPhylloscopus inornatus
  • Masked buntingEmberiza personata
  • Light-vented BulbulPycnonotus sinensis
  • Asian House MartinDelichon dasypus
  • Yellow BuntingEmberiza sulphurata
  • Red-flanked BluetailTarsiger cyanurus
  • Siberian RubythroatLuscinia calliope
  • Grey-streaked FlycatcherMuscicapa griseisticta
  • Stejneger's StonechatSaxicola stejnegeri
  • Grey BuntingEmberiza variabilis
  • Spice FinchLonchura punctulata
  • Black-browed Reed WarblerAcrocephalus bistrigiceps
  • Taiga FlycatcherFicedula albicilla
  • Chestnut-cheeked StarlingAgropsar philippensis
  • White-cheeked StarlingSpodiopsar cineraceus
  • Red-billed StarlingSpodiopsar sericeus
  • Turdus naumanniTurdus naumanni
  • Eastern Red-rumped SwallowCecropis daurica
Other birds9 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Oriental Turtle DoveStreptopelia orientalis
  • Ruddy KingfisherHalcyon coromanda
  • Rock DoveColumba livia
  • Common KingfisherAlcedo atthis
  • Pacific SwiftApus pacificus
  • Lesser CuckooCuculus poliocephalus
  • Black Wood PigeonColumba janthina
  • Taiwan Green-pigeonTreron formosaeNT
  • House SwiftApus nipalensis

Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.

When to go

The most species from March to May.

Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.

  1. Jan3020°/18°61 mm
  2. Feb2420°/18°50 mm
  3. Mar4721°/19°81 mm
  4. Apr4523°/21°124 mm
  5. May4425°/24°209 mm
  6. Jun1528°/27°293 mm
  7. Jul1129°/28°125 mm
  8. Aug030°/28°174 mm
  9. Sep2329°/28°186 mm
  10. Oct3627°/26°126 mm
  11. Nov3024°/23°83 mm
  12. Dec922°/20°67 mm
  • Bar: species recorded that month.
  • Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Kerama Islands.

Island group

Kerama Islands is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Japan.

75 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 884 open records.

The most recorded are the Large-billed Crow, the Zosterops japonicus and the Brown-eared Bulbul.

9 species come for the summer, 18 for the winter and 2 only pass through.

The most species are recorded from March to May.

Kerama Island - 6081229008
SteFou! · CC BY 2.0

Get there and watch

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The place and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Kerama Islands seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1visitor centres within 6 km青のゆくる館
  • 14viewpoints within 5 km阿波連展望台, 高月山第一展望台, 高月山第二展望台 and 11 more
  • 2car parks within 3 km
  • 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 10 km阿真キャンプ場
  • 26places to stay within 10 kmシーフレンド, シラハマアイランズリゾート, ペンション星砂 and 23 more
  • bird hides within 6 km
  • observation towers within 6 km
  • marked trails within 4 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Kerama Islands.

The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas5 mountains within 25 km
Rirukawa-yama · 2.2 kmTakinomichi-yama · 3.4 kmUfu Taki · 5.2 kmBansho-yama · 6.2 kmŌ Take · 7.4 km
Islandyasthe island
Tokashiki Island15 km²

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The place, as people saw it.

Kerama Island
SteFou! · CC BY 2.0
Tokashiku Beach On Tokashiki Island 2009 (7372)
TomazVajngerl · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mount Awa seen from Mount Katsuu 202607
Kugel~commonswiki · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other places nearby.

Kerama Islands

Japan

  • 44Birdyas Score
  • 75Species
  • 29Migrants
  • 0Threatened

Lake Man

Japan · 33 km

  • 72Birdyas Score
  • 154Species
  • 73Migrants
  • 7Threatened

See the guide

Kume Island

Japan · 60 km

  • 46Birdyas Score
  • 66Species
  • 26Migrants
  • 2Threatened

See the guide

Kumejima

Japan · 57 km

  • 42Birdyas Score
  • 57Species
  • 23Migrants
  • 1Threatened

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q198422) · CC0
Birds884 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
See these recordsgbif.org
SpeciesGBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Coastya

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.