“Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has announced the successful completion of a protection and propagation program for two rare bird species on Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, the first initiative of its kind in the country to be completed…

In 1999, the then-Environment Agency and other organizations drew up a conservation and propagation plan aimed at bringing the species to a state in which they could survive stably. Measures included eradicating invasive species and designating parts of the Amami island chain as a national park. The efforts produced results, including the declared eradication of invasive mongooses on Amami-Oshima in 2024.

As a result, the estimated population of the Amami woodcock on three islands, including Amami-Oshima, rose from about 4,100 in 2007 to about 17,000 in 2021. The Amami thrush also showed a trend toward population recovery, and its range expanded. In the ministry’s Red List revised in March 2026, the two species were reclassified as ‘Near Threatened’ and, for the first time, were downgraded from the ‘Threatened’ category.”

From The Mainichi.