Bird Assemblage of Upper Parts of the Subalpine Zone during Severe Winters in a Temperate Mountain, Central Japan

Climate change restructures biological communities, particularly during winter. We investigated bird assemblages in the subalpine zone between 2,100 and 2,520 m a.s.l. on eastern slopes during the coldest period, from January to February, in four winters from 2019 to 2024 on Mt. Norikura, central Japan. A total of nine bird species were recorded over four winters. Of these, seven species were recorded in one or two years. Willow Tit Poecile montanus and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopos kizuki were recorded in all years. The present study is a baseline for future comparisons in the early 21st century.