Rare woodpecker found on Japan's main island for 1st time in 4 years

A threatened woodpecker species has been identified from a 2021 photograph in what marks the first sighting on Japan's main island of Honshu in four years, with experts seeking state support for its protection.The bird, confirmed by a research group to be an adult male of Japan's largest woodpecker species, the black woodpecker, was photographed by 48-year-old Hideyuki Endo on Mt. Moriyoshi in the northeastern prefecture of Akita, the same location where one was last seen in 2017.While the black woodpecker is still a relatively common sight on the island of Hokkaido, just north of Honshu, t…READ FULL ARTICLE