Conservationist Hajime Suzuki is working to save an endangered subspecies of Japanese wood pigeon native to the Ogasawara Islands 1,000 km south of Tokyo. His group runs a preservation program for the large birds.

Fewer than 50 of the birds, whose taxonomic name is Columba janthina nitens, are estimated to be left on the archipelago. Long isolated from any continent, the "Galapagos of the Orient" consists of some 30 islands, including two populated ones, Chichijima and Hahajima, with a combined area of 104 sq. km, and the Bonin chain stretching farther south.

This particular wood pigeon is a designated natural national treasure, just one of some 20 bird species in danger of disappearing in Japan.