Jenny Wren Rambles : Conservation and Wildlife Blog

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Eco-tours: Visiting the Oriental Stork in Hyogo Japan

Over spring break I took a few days off to visit some Hyogo attractions: Kinosaki Onsen (hot springs) and the Oriental White Stork Park. The hot springs were to relax, but the stork park was to learn about a local conservation success.

The Oriental White Stork

In case you missed my last post covering the storks’ biology and conservation history, here is a quick overview. The Oriental White stork is a large white bird with black feather tips that lives in wetlands and eats a variety of smaller animals like fish, frogs, and small mammals. It went locally extinct in Japan in 1971, but through captive breeding, habitat restoration, and reintroduction programs it has made a comeback with approximately 90 birds living wild in Japan again.

My first stork sighting

Hopping on the Kounotori Limited Express to Kinosaki Onsen, I sat back and enjoyed watching the countryside fly past the window for the 3-hour journey from Osaka. In Japan, you never know what you might see through the train windows. Rice paddies, small villages, cherry blossoms.

A view from the train window, passing a small park with cherry blossoms

In my case, I saw something very large and white fly past as the train ran alongside a river. Too large for an egret I thought. Could it be a stork? Unfortunately, it was going in the opposite direction of the train so I only had a quick glimpse, but I think it might’ve been my very first Oriental stork sighting. Thanks to breeding and reintroduction efforts, wild Oriental storks are living in Japan again and if you’re in the Toyooka area you might spot one of them along the rivers where they can hunt for food. I can’t say for sure that I spotted one, but I think the chances are good. In any case, don’t forget to look out the windows occasionally because you never know what you might be missing.

Kinosaki Onsen Station

If you’re not familiar with Japanese, you might not have noticed what is special about the express train’s name. Kounotori is the Japanese name for the Oriental stork and the limited express train that runs to Toyooka and Kinosaki Onsen is named after it. Arriving in Kinosaki, you will also see artwork and souvenirs depicting the storks, from postcards to daruma dolls and station artwork. You can tell that the people here are very proud of the storks and that they’re a part of the local culture. I enjoyed wondering when I would see something stork-related pop up while I was walking around the town. The stork daruma dolls were tempting but my goal was to take some pictures of the storks so I managed to resist.

Hachigoro Toshima Wetlands

After taking a day to relax at the hot springs and another to do some sightseeing in nearby Izushi, I planned my last day to focus on the storks. The first stop on my stork itinerary was the Hachigoro wetlands.

Hachigoro wetlands, photo credit Visit Kinosaki website

The wetlands are named after one of the first wild oriental storks to migrate back to the Toyooka area. They are a short walk or bike ride from Kinosaki onsen so they are very easy to visit. I rented a bike from one of the visitor information facilities first thing in the morning, then headed down the road along the train tracks and took a left onto the blue bridge. Stopping on the bridge to take a few photos, I paused to enjoy the cool and quiet of the river and watch the swallows flit around me before continuing on my way.

Crossing the bridge to get to Hachigoro Toshima wetlands

On the other side of the bridge was a surprise. An oriental stork nest, just past the bridge and on top of a utility pole. The male and female were both standing on top of the nest, but after a moment one flew off towards the river. Its partner remained at the nest, rearranging sticks. I couldn’t believe I was already getting an up-close view of wild storks! I grabbed my camera and took a few shots before continuing to the wetland area, just a short distance up the road.

Stork nest on the other side of the bridge

Hachigoro wetlands is a wetland habitat for waterfowl that was converted from rice fields and sits in a floodplain near the Maruyama river. It has one artificial nesting platform near the edge of the woods that is in use by a pair of oriental storks. Visitors can only access one side of the wetland so that they don’t disturb the birds. As you approach, you will see there is an observation shelter you can go inside with open windows looking out over the water. There are a couple of benches as well as information panels showcasing some of the species you may see. I sat on one of the benches and spent some time quietly watching and trying to take some pictures. It was a bright and sunny day and although there didn’t seem to be many birds out, I was able to see some egrets and ducks as well as the nesting pair of storks in the distance.

The artificial nest platform is set back farther away from the shelter so if you want a good view you should plan on bringing either a very large zoom lens, binoculars, or a viewing telescope. I’m still very much an amateur when it comes to birding so I don’t have my own binoculars and rely on my camera’s zoom to get a closer look. That being said, you can still enjoy watching the birds without binoculars and you don’t need a telescope to enjoy listening to the storks’ beak clattering.

Map of the wetlands showing the stork nest and observation shelter.

Cafe Lamp Eye

After quietly watching for a bit I made my way over to Cafe Lamp Eye for some breakfast. This cute cafe is just past the wetlands, a minute or so walk through the parking lot, and across the street. The interior reminded me of a cozy grandparent’s house with comfy floral couches and an assortment of armchairs and tables to choose from. The morning air was still a little chilly so they had a portable heater set up in the room, adding to the cozy atmosphere.

I took a seat in one of the armchairs set up in front of a table with a view of the cherry blossom trees in the back garden. Sinking into the chair, I felt an urge to stay there all day with a bit of crochet or a book to read. I ordered some fruit waffles for breakfast (absolutely delicious) and took my time to enjoy the food and atmosphere before finally pulling myself up out of the armchair to pay and head to my next destination.

Hyogo Oriental Stork Park

My second stork stop was the Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork in Toyooka. After returning my bike I went back to my hostel to pick up my bag and catch a bus to Toyooka station. It’s a bit of a bus ride to Toyooka, and another to the stork park, so I would recommend eating before you go as I later found out the food options there are very limited. On the bright side, there is a direct bus to the park from Toyooka station so you won’t get lost and you can also buy food or small lunchboxes from the station convenience store before you go. Once there however there is only one cafe that serves pizza, some coffee, and drinks, and the food orders end around 3:00.

After catching the bus, I arrived at the park around 2:00 and headed straight in, not realizing I was setting myself up for a very hungry afternoon. Entry to the park is a small 100 yen donation which comes with an oriental stork origami gift, and they do have English instructions and an English park pamphlet you can ask for. The museum itself also has a good amount of English information on the displays; most of the information about the storks and their conservation seemed to have English translations with only some of the specimen displays or smaller displays being Japanese only.

Stork origami, bird specimens, and oriental stork information in English

In the entrance area, there were some bird specimens of egrets, herons, and storks and in one of the education rooms, they had a side-by-side specimen display of the Oriental and White storks so you can see their differences.

Left: White stork, orange beak, black skin around dark eyes Right: Oriental stork, black beak, red skin around white eye

Observation Cages

Out through the back is the captive stork observation cages, biotope, and nature trail. The cages have terraced pools for the storks to wade in but most were hanging out inside their eating area. When I came back later a few came out and were wading in the water closer to the fence so I could get some better pictures. At the biotope past the cages, I could see insects flying around and listen to the many frogs croaking. There’s also a nature trail you can take into the forest a bit but I passed on it this time around as I was on a bit of a time crunch.

A short walk up the road from the museum is another biotope and an observation area for the breeding cages. You can really only see into one of the cages and you can’t get very close to it, but up on the hill is another observation point with binoculars and a display showing videos and information about the breeding cages.

Final Thoughts

The Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork is a great way to learn about the storks and a nice area to walk around and take in some of the natural landscape. Depending on your timing, you might be able to see some more of the wild storks hanging out in the terraced pools and nearby fields. Hachigoro Toshima wetlands are also a nice area for some relaxed birding and a chance to see some wild storks. Both are affordable attractions to visit at the low low prices of free (Hachigoro wetland) and 100 yen ( ~$1, Oriental Stork Park) and are easy to visit from the Kinosaki Onsen area for a conservation or wildlife-focused day trip. I definitely enjoyed my time visiting and would love to bring my family for a visit someday.

If you want to see some of my pictures from my trip, or an abridged storyline of it, check out my Instagram and the Oriental Stork highlight on my profile.

For more about visiting the storks and the Kinosaki or Toyooka area, check out the Visit Kinosaki website.

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Conservation Tales: The Oriental White Stork in Japan

If asked to name an iconic bird of Japan, most people would probably go for the red-crowned crane. Though rare, it is captured in many works of art, folk tales, and even company logos. Known for its elegant dancing during mating season, it is often featured in nature films and photography about Japan.

If you’ve paid attention to the title of this post though, you have probably realized this is not the bird I will be talking about. I’ll save that for a different day. Today I’d like to tell the story of another large rare Japanese bird: the Oriental white stork.

Description

The oriental white stork shares the red-crowned crane’s color scheme, with a mostly white body and black wing feathers. Although it is smaller than the more famous crane, it is still a sizeable bird at 43-59 in (110-150 cm) tall, roughly 6.2-13 lb (2.8-5.9 kg), and with a 7.3 ft (2.2 m) wingspan. Similar in appearance to the European white stork, it can be told apart by its black beak, red skin around the eyes, and white irises.

Historic and Current Range

Oriental stork distribution map By © Sémhur / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19083437

The oriental stork was historically found across Asia, from the Siberian region of Russia and Northeast China to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and further south with some birds wintering in parts of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Phillippines.

It became locally extinct in the Korean Peninsula and Japan in 1971. As a result of conservation efforts, the oriental stork has returned to Korea and Japan and most of the population appears to be found in China, with smaller population clusters in Russia, Korea, Japan. They are less commonly seen in other parts of Asia such as India and the Philippines.

Diet and Behavior

Storks are carnivores and eat a range of insects, small invertebrates, fish, amphibians, small reptiles, and small mammals. In Japan, they are a top predator in their wetland ecosystem, and their presence an indicator of a healthy habitat. The Oriental white storks mainly hunt by wading in wetland or river edge areas as well as rice paddies.

They are migratory birds that travel to breed or winter in other areas and are usually solitary except during breeding season. They nest in tall trees or man-made structures such as electricity poles or nesting platforms. They do not have much in the way of vocalization and mainly communicate by loudly clattering their beaks.

Road to Decline

While the oriental stork was once widespread in Asia, the species has declined and is considered endangered. The main threats and reasons for its decline are hunting, habitat loss, and other effects of human development and industrialization such as prey loss and environmental pollution.

In Japan, the storks were initially able to live alongside humans and hunt for prey in the flooded rice fields. But as agriculture became more industrialized, it soon led to problems for the storks and other smaller species that lived or hunted there. With industrialization, traditional farming practices were changed for higher rice production. Heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers not only reduced the storks’ natural prey but also led to the buildup of mercury and other chemicals in their bodies, a process known as biomagnification, which left them sick and unable to breed.

Traditional practices where fields were connected to natural waterways and left flooded for longer periods in the year were altered; concrete irrigation and drainage isolated from the fields prevented natural movement of aquatic species like fish, and fields left flooded for a shorter period meant that tadpoles didn’t have time to develop into frogs, further reducing the prey population. These factors coupled with the loss of natural nesting sites from logging of the pine forests led to the decline of the species in Japan.

The last wild birds were seen in 1971 in Toyooka, and after their deaths, the stork was declared extinct in Japan.

Conservation Timeline

Capture and Breeding

With the wild stork population at risk of local extinction, the oriental white stork was designated a special natural monument, and protection groups were established to help conserve the species from 1956. At this time, there were only 20 wild birds left in Japan. As the number of wild storks continued to decline, plans were made to set up a captive breeding facility.

By 1963 their numbers had dwindled to just 11 birds and an attempt was made to remove eggs from the wild to incubate in captivity. Unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful. The next step was to capture some of the few remaining wild birds for captive breeding. From 1963 to February 1971, three wild adult birds were caught and taken into the breeding center. In May of 1971, the last wild stork was captured in Toyooka but subsequently died resulting in the local extinction of the stork in Japan.

In 1985, Russia sent 6 young storks to Japan to help bolster the captive breeding population. Finally, in 1989, the captive Russian storks successfully bred and raised a chick. From this point on, the captive storks have successfully raised chicks every year.

Reintroductions

As the captive population grew, plans for re-introduction to the wild were formed and additional facilities, such as the Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork were developed. From 1999 on, the breeding population was added to with birds from zoos within Japan as well as wild birds from Russia. By 2002, the captive population had risen to over 100, and the first captive-bred birds were released in 2005. Two years later, in 2007, the first chick from reintroduced storks fledged in the wild.

Since then, captive breeding and re-introductions in Japan have continued along with efforts to restore and protect the storks’ habitat. And in 2014, the Graduate School of Regional Resource Management was established on the grounds of the Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork to support the sustainable management of natural resources.

Conservation Initiatives

Stork friendly rice-growing methods

Stork-friendly rice cultivation. From Visit Kinosaki: Stork Natural Rice webpage

For the storks to thrive again, it was crucial to restore their habitat. Stork-friendly farming methods were established and supported by government subsidies to encourage rice farmers to change their methods. This includes a 75-100% reduction of pesticide and fertilizer use and a return to leaving rice paddies flooded for a longer period. Reduction of pesticides allows natural prey to survive for the storks to feed on and prevents bio-accumulation of chemicals which could hinder storks’ ability to breed again. Leaving the fields flooded also provides additional habitat for waterfowl and prey such as frogs and insects.

Wetland Restoration

While storks can find prey in rice paddies and co-exist with organic farming methods, they need more habitat than that to thrive. In addition to the stork-friendly rice-growing methods, the city of Toyooka has established several habitats for wetland preservation. These include the Hachigoro Toshima wetland, Kaya wetland, Maruyama river, Tai wetland, rice paddy biotope, and lower Maruyama river.

Hachigoro wetlands. Image from Visit Kinosaki website

Some of these are wetlands or biotopes converted from unused rice paddy fields. These expand the habitat and feeding areas for the storks as well as function as natural corridors connecting wetland areas. Along the rivers, wetland areas and shallows are created to expand habitat and foraging areas for the storks. These habitats benefit not only the storks, but the species they feed on, such as insects, fish, and amphibians, and other waterfowl.

Current Status

While the stork has rebounded thanks to captive breeding and habitat restoration efforts, the population in Japan is still small. There are approximately 95 storks in captivity and 90 in the wild. The main location of breeding and conservation efforts is the Toyooka area in Hyogo Prefecture. As the captive population grew, reintroductions have expanded to other prefectures such as Chiba and Fukui. Worldwide, the population is estimated to be between 1,000-2,500 mature individuals.

Where to see them:

In addition to habitat restoration and stork-friendly farming methods, Toyooka city has also become an ecotourism spot to see the storks. From local schoolchildren to international tourists, university students, and researchers, visitors to the park and other nearby attractions have increased over the years with over 1,000 package tours sold since 2006. But if package tours aren’t your thing, no worries. It is very easy to see them on your own. And the best part is, you can pair it with a visit to the famous hot springs of Kinosaki.

Kinosaki Onsen: Hachigoro wetlands

The Hachigoro wetlands are located just outside of Kinosaki Onsen. They are free to visit and easily reached on foot or by bike from the town. Just a short ride/walk down the road and across the bridge and you will find them in no time flat. Only one side is open to the public to prevent disturbing the birds, but there is a viewing hut with some identification information and a view of the nesting platform.

Toyooka: Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork

Captive stork viewing cage at Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork

The Hyogo Park of the Oriental Stork can be reached with a direct bus from Toyooka station and requires only a small donation of 100 yen to enter. In the museum, you can learn more about the storks’ biology, conservation efforts, and local history. There are also many specimens of other local birds and wildlife, an education room, and videos of the storks on their nest. Outside, you can view some of the captive storks, visit a biotope, and even hike a nature trail. At the end of your visit, you can buy stork-friendly rice or other goods at the nearby souvenir stands.

Conclusion

Although the Oriental stork was once extinct in Japan, it has been brought back through the hard work and perseverance of local communities and governments as well as international cooperation with other countries that the stork calls home. The numbers are still small, but hopefully, the population will continue to grow as the Oriental stork is re-established in its historic range.

Resources and Further Reading

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Birding in Kyoto: Imperial Park & Kamogawa

Another weekend, another day I force myself outside because I could use the fresh air and exercise. This time, in Kyoto. Normally, I go to Kyoto for the temples and shrines, the markets, or the scenery. This time I would be trying to look for birds.

First stop: Kyoto Imperial Park

This is the location of the Imperial Palace (closed except for scheduled tours you must reserve) as well as a few other imperial buildings and other attractions. The park is fairly large, with some trees and green areas around the perimeter but also large gravel pathways surrounding the palace. At first, I didn’t see much because the birds were higher up in the trees and moving a little too fast for me to catch. Sparrows and pigeons of course were easy to see. Eventually, though, I found a small shrine where quite a few different birds were hanging out.

Shrines and temples in Japan can often be quiet havens of nature. They may have large mature trees protected as part of the shrine, inner gardens, and are almost always a lot quieter. This one had some shrubs and shorter trees where there were quite a lot of birds foraging among the leaf litter. Distracted by a crow gathering nest materials at first, I hung out here for a little while as I spotted more birds up in the branches and down in the leaves.

Large-billed Crow

This bird hopping across the entrance to the shrine is what first drew me in. It was collecting pine needles for nesting material and at one point, turning its head, reminded me of Nigel Thornberry with the way the needles stuck out on either side of its bill like a large mustache. After pulling at some paper litter, it eventually flew off to deliver its load to the nest.

Oriental Turtle Dove

I’m not sure I’ve ever noticed these doves before, maybe mistaking them for pigeons because of their size, or just not seeing them as often. The mourning doves we have back home are smaller and more vocal, but the turtle doves were quietly rustling around in the leaves. Flicking them out of the way looking for food, keeping one eye on the people walking past, but otherwise unconcerned.

Pale thrush

I have an image of thrushes being very spotty birds, so this one confused me at first. But I suppose its name fits because it had a pale unspotted belly and pretty solid coloring. It blended in well to the shadowy brown leaf litter. As it hopped around it kept stopping to look at me, warier of my presence than the dove.

Varied Tit

I believe this may have been a recently fledged young bird and its parents. It was easy to locate as it screeched for food, mouth open and wings fluttering in a familiar begging pose I had seen when caring for orphaned birds. After another bird deposited a sizable grub in its mouth, it quieted down and started hopping around in the branches, exploring on its own.

Japanese Tit

Quick as ever, this little bird wouldn’t sit still and quickly moved on, but I finally managed to get a full side view of it.

Brown-eared Bulbul

Briefly spotted this bird peeking out from the leaves of the camellia tree.

Dusky thrush

Got a better view of the dusky thrush away from the shrine in a more open grassy area beneath some taller pine trees. These thrushes had the more familiar speckled belly and were foraging in the grass.

Next stop: Kamogawa (Kamo River)

Not going to lie, I mainly just wanted to enjoy hanging out on the riverbank. Japan has a lot of rivers and they are often set up with walking paths and benches, so many people enjoy hanging out by the riverside. But water means wildlife, and there was no shortage of birds even at this popular river walkway.

Black kite

One of the first birds to catch my attention was the black kite. These raptors are incredibly common and are easy to spot circling above the rivers. They also call frequently and, to me, make up one of the distinct natural sounds of Japan. There was a pair hanging out in the top of a cherry blossoms tree, making for another great spring photo.

White-cheeked Starling

These birds might seem familiar to Pokemon fans because they resemble the pokemon Starly, with their brown bodies and white cheeks. These are also pretty common to see around local parks and were making their way along the bank in a little group.

Grey Heron

Another common sight near water, there were a couple of these wading around the bridge area and near the rocks.

Little Egret

On the other side of the river, this little egret was admiring its reflection in the water. Or maybe looking for food. One of those.
The big giveaway for this species is the black beak, most of the other egrets have a yellow beak.

Japanese Wagtail

This one was perched on some rocks in the middle of the river. This was another bird new to me, I didn’t know that white wagtails and Japanese wagtails were 2 different birds because they always move so fast! The Japanese wagtail has a smaller white mask above its eyes, while the white wagtail has a broader white mask across its face.

And now for some ducks.

Mallard

This male was hanging out in the shade of the bridge so he didn’t have the strong green sheen to his head and it was more of a dark blue, with a bit of green showing on the cheek. The female was not far behind, dipping below the water to dabble for food.

Green-winged teal

A pair hanging out in the middle of the river, enjoying the sun.

Eurasian Wigeon

This male was cruising with his girl around the bridge, enjoying the fine weather.

Baer’s Pochard

A pair of dark diving ducks, these two would quickly disappear under the water leaving only ripples. They were in the middle of the river where the water was deeper, going after aquatic insects maybe.

At first glance, the imperial park and the riverside didn’t seem to have that many birds (other than the usual pigeons, sparrows, and ducks), but once I slowed down and looked a little closer I began to notice more. Even in a city as large as Kyoto, there is plenty of nature and wildlife to be found.

Until next time. . .

Enjoy this pigeon photobomb!

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A Visit to Itami Insectarium

One of the local attractions in my city is a small insectarium in a large park. I’ve been to the insectarium a few times before, but after a dreary week of cloudy skies and rain, I decided to check it out again. Luckily, I was just in time for the last weekend of their special exhibit on red list insects on the verge of extinction.

The entrance to the insectarium has a garden and colorful mural.

After a bit of a Saturday lie-in, I biked over to spend an hour or two wandering around inside. There weren’t many people there yet, so I quickly sanitized my hands and purchased a ticket through the vending machine before entering the world of insects.

“Honey, I shrunk the kids!”

This museum is very much geared towards children, which you can tell by the “Honey I shrunk the kids” style giant insect habitat model which is the first exhibit you walk through. Passing between giant blades of grass, everywhere you look you are likely to spot another insect. A sampling of the biodiversity lying at our feet, just out of sight.

If you’re not careful, you might get eaten by this mantis camouflaged in the grass!!

Here there are a few displays of pinned insect specimens with some information about insect species or families. Rounding a corner (and a giant dragonfly) you can see into an ant colony model on the other side. Once through this upsized kingdom of insects, you are faced with a giant model bee. Usually, it is an interactive display that children can climb up to and touch screens for more information. For now, though, it is closed off due to COVID safety restrictions.

Specimens galore

Buzzing past the bee for a few pics, I detoured into a large room on the left: the specimen room. Here, behind glass cases, are specimens of butterflies, bees, beetles, and other insects found in Japan and within Itami city specifically. Neatly organized together in groups with facts posted here and there, you can quickly appreciate just how many insects there are living all around us.

This room also had two special exhibits. One on ladybugs, and the other on the bull-headed shrike. I swung by the ladybug exhibit, quickly looking through the life cycle photos before taking a little more time at the shrike exhibit. I hadn’t realized we even had shrike here! Over the last 30 years, the insectarium had been collecting specimens of a unique shrike behavior. Namely, impaling their prey on sharp thorns or sticks. This behavior is what led to their other name: the butcher bird.

The museum had collected a large variety of impaled prey items, from insects like centipedes and giant hornets to small mammals and reptiles like mice and lizards. Quite the balanced diet!

Shrikes have a hooked beak like a raptor, but not the strong talons and feet to help hold and tear their prey apart. They impale it on sharp thorns or branches, or even wedged into forks, to help hold it in place or store it to eat later. So if you happen to see fish or shrimp stuck on some random branches away from the water, that just means you’ve found a shrike’s pantry!

Float among the butterflies

After carefully looking through the desiccated remains of shrike leftovers, it was time for something a little more lively and colorful. Crossing to the other side of the building, past some live insect displays, is the entrance to the butterfly atrium.

This is always one of my favorite parts of the museum. A chance to see so many butterflies, and up-close too. This time, I could even watch them lay their eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Meandering up the slope, surrounded by tropical flowers and fluttering butterflies, the perfect pick me up after a long week spent inside due to rain.

Special Exhibit

At the top of the walkway, it exits out onto the third floor where the learning room/library and special exhibit rooms are. Here, I entered the ICU or “Insect Care Unit”. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at their dedication to the theme. They had 3 large beetle models hooked up to an IV drip just outside the entrance. Cute and easy to understand.

The exhibit was packed with a lot of information. A list of all the threatened insect species in Japan, a chart breaking down the numbers of threatened or critically threatened species, and posters further breaking down the species of specific habitats that were under threat. They explained why they were threatened and what needs to be done, or is being done to address it. Other posters focused on a specific species rather than all the species in one habitat and showcased insects the insectarium was breeding for release into the wild.

While some of this information might be a little difficult for younger children, they did have a nice visual display illustrating why extinction was bad. A globe made of puzzle pieces with a different species or part of nature on each piece represented our planet. The more pieces that get taken away, the less stable it becomes until eventually, it all falls apart. Showing we are all connected and rely on each other to make one planet.

On my way out I grabbed the insectarium’s news booklet which covered the special exhibit with some more details on their conservation activities. This was free for visitors and a nice souvenir to take home for further reading.

A visit is just a walk in the park. . .

Before heading to the mall to grab a snack, I walked through a bit of the park to see if there were any birds around. (Maybe hoping I’d see a shrike after the interesting exhibit inside) I didn’t have to go far before I realized there was a large flock of Great cormorants nesting on the island in the middle of the pond. This island is unique because it is actually in the shape of the islands of Japan, although you can’t really tell from the shoreline. I watched the cormorants swimming, flying, and sunning for a while, taking a few pictures of them and some herons resting nearby.

Feeling hungry, I packed away my camera and headed to the mall. I could explore the rest of the park later, but for now, donuts were calling.

To see more of my visit to Itami Insectarium, check out the Insectarium highlight on my Instagram, @jennywrenrambles.

To learn a little more about the shrike, check out the link below.
https://blog.nature.org/science/2020/01/27/shrikes-meet-the-bird-that-impales-prey-on-spikes/

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Birding at Osaka Castle Park

Spring is around the corner and after weeks hiding from the cold in my apartment, I finally dragged myself outside for some fresh air and a bit of birding.

Around the end of February in Japan, it’s plum blossom season. It’s one of the first big blossom events after the winter but often overshadowed by cherry blossom season which comes in March-April. That being said, the fragrant plum blossoms still attract plenty of people to the groves planted around castles and temples.

In addition to people, the groves also attract many birds with the sweet nectar of their blooms and insect life waking from winter. And when it comes to plum trees, there is one bird, in particular, you can expect to see and which everyone wants a picture of. The Warbling or Japanese White-eye. An olive bird with white spectacles around its eyes, these little birds flit from tree to tree drinking the nectar from the plum blossoms. Sitting atop the blossoms, they make for beautiful spring photos which is why you’ll often see a group of photographers with big telephoto lenses all pointed at the same tree.

To get this same picture, and hoping to find some more birds, I went to Osaka castle park for a late morning of relaxed birding.

Stepping through the castle gate, I entered the grove on the left and began to wander through, keeping an eye out for the birds while basking in the pink clouds of blossoms.

To get the most out of the view, groves of flowering trees are carefully tended and arranged with meandering paths around roped-off patches of trees. This lets people get close enough to the trees for pictures but maintains large patches where birds can land and forage out of reach.

After wandering around, taking some pictures of the castle and the blooming trees, I made my way toward the back of the grove. This area is a little quieter and in the shade of some bigger pine trees and a castle wall. I find it tends to have a little more bird diversity than the more open and active area near the gate.

True to expectations, this is where I found and photographed most of the birds on my outing.

Warbling white-eye / Japanese white-eye

These little birds seemed to usually be in pairs or small groups, hopping among the branches drinking the nectar. They’re fun to watch and hold still long enough to take your pictures before they move on to another branch or tree. They’re also popular as a symbol of spring in Japan, hence why everyone wants to get that perfect flower framed pic of them!

Brown-eared bulbul

I was surprised to see that this bird, larger than the white-eye, was also feeding on the nectar from the blossoms. Although, because of its big size, when it landed on the smaller branches it tended to knock some of the petals loose and scare off the smaller birds.

Daurian redstart

I only saw one of these birds, hanging out at the very back of the grove. Rather than feed on the nectar, this one was foraging on grubs and insects from the ground.

Japanese Tit

I was trying for a picture of this little bird since its black and white head reminded me of the cute chickadees back home. Unfortunately, after getting a picture from behind, it was scared off by someone talking to me and never came back down from the castle walls.

Eurasian sparrow

These birds are common everywhere but still cute to see and easy to snap a picture of.

White wagtail

A speedy little bird that doesn’t sit still for long, running along the ground before flying off.

Dusky thrush

It blends in perfectly with the brown brush behind it.

Not 100% sure of this I.D., but seems like this brown bird may be the dusky thrush. It blended in pretty well with the brown leaves and branches, so I only noticed when it moved!

After getting my fill of blossoms and birds at the castle, I headed down to the moat to check out what waterfowl were hanging around. Unfortunately, most of them took off to the far side of the moat, but I managed to get a few pictures of the ones closer to the rail before they swam off.

Eurasian coot

These birds seemed less bothered by people approaching the rail and continued to paddle around, fairly close, just doing their own thing.

Tufted duck

You can see from the tuft of feathers on the back of its head where it gets its name from

There were quite a lot of these guys swimming around.

Eastern spot-billed duck

I think these are pretty common to see around, the average duck if you will.

Green-winged teal

It was difficult to see the color on these due to the cloudy weather, but after some photo editing, I’m pretty confident I got the ID right.

Redhead duck

This was one of the ducks that was too far away for a good picture, but it stood out for its color. I’ll try for a better picture next time.

All in all, not a bad day. I haven’t tried bird watching in a while, but it was a nice change of pace. I also had a new camera lens to work with which made it fun to try and get pictures of all the birds I was seeing. Now that the weather is warming up, I’m going to try and get out more often and see what else I can find in the parks and gardens around here.

Until next time . . .

Enjoy this fine pigeon!

Featured

Japanese Birds of Spring

There’s still a bit of winter chill hanging around but spring is just around the corner. Here in Japan, we are in the midst of plum blossom season, oft-forgotten in the shadow of sakura season. With the days growing longer and the weather (ever so gradually) warming, the birds and beasts are coming out. If you ever happen to visit Japan during this time, here are a few Japanese birds of spring to keep an eye out for and where you may spot them.

1. Japanese White-eye/ メジロ (me-ji-ro)

Japanese white-eye perched on some plum blossoms at the plum grove in Osaka Castle Park

If you visit some of the plum blossom groves in February or March, there is a good chance you will see this bird perched among the blossoms. The Japanese white-eye, also known as the warbling white-eye, is easy to spot among the pink with an olive green head and back and the white circle around its eye from which it gets its name. These agile birds flit from branch to branch drinking the nectar of the plum and cherry blossoms and eating small insects. If you’re looking to spot some, look towards the tops of the trees where they like to hang out. Otherwise, keep an eye out for where groups of people are pointing their cameras!

Where to see it:

My go-to spots are Osaka Castle Park’s plum grove as well as Jonangu shrine in Kyoto, where you can enjoy the weeping plum blossoms and camellia. Since the trees are a little shorter than the cherry blossom trees, but just as packed with blossoms, there’s a solid chance you can get a good look at the white-eyes. For cherry blossom season, you can go to just about any park. Japan’s love for sakura means they have them planted everywhere, so it only takes a quick google to find a park or cherry blossom spot nearby.

2. Japanese Bush Warbler/ ウグイス (u-gui-su)

By Alpsdake – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31779418

The Japanese Bush Warbler is a nondescript bird you are more likely to hear than see. Many in Japan mistake the white-eye above for this bird, because they can often hear it but only see the olive white-eyes flying around in the trees. The bush warblers are brownish in color with a lighter gray-brown belly and a bit of a darker stripe along their eye with light “eyebrows”. Despite this lackluster appearance and their tendency to stay hidden in the brush, they are considered the true harbingers of spring in Japan. In fact, another name for them in Japanese is “harutsugedori” or the “bird that announces spring”. This is because their iconic breeding calls can be heard in spring, and some consider this to signal spring’s true start. The breeding call sounds like a low whistle ending in a warbling trill.

Cultural symbolism: Spring & Sutras

This bird has great symbolic meaning in Japan. They believe its call sounds like “Ho-hoke’kyo”, one of the other names for the Buddhist Lotus Sutra. Additionally, the bush warbler’s name in Japanese, “uguisu”, is one of the kigo words used in traditional poetry to symbolize spring, and is featured in poetry anthologies from the Nara and Heian periods. It has such a strong association with spring, they even have a traditional sweet named after it: uguisu mochi. If you are visiting Japan in spring, see if you can hear this call when you go out, and don’t forget to stop by a Japanese sweets shop to pick up some uguisu mochi along the way!

3. Barn Swallow/ ツバメ (tsu-ba-meh)

Barn swallows are migratory birds that return to Japan in the spring in preparation for their summer breeding season. They are small-bodied birds with pointed wings and a long, deeply forked tail. Dark, metallic blue feathers on their head, back, and tail make a bold contrast to their rusty throats and white or cream bellies. These acrobatic birds swoop through the air eating flying insects such as flies and moths (and come summer, hopefully, mosquitos!).

Symbols of Spring: Traditional Poetry

Barn swallows also have a place in Japanese traditional poetry as kigo, words or phrases that represent the seasons, representing spring and summer. In spring kigo, swallows appear as swallows in flight: hi en 飛燕 and first swallow of the season: hatsu tsubame 初燕. Next time you head outside, look to the skies and see if you can spot your hatsu tsubame!

Photo from https://www.miyanomayu.com/archives/8939297.html

Where to see it:

Another great place to see this bird is, surprisingly, local train stations or shop buildings. Swallows build their mud nests against the wall of a building, usually under an overhang. Because of their special significance in Japan, rather than try and remove these nests to prevent bird droppings from disturbing customers, businesses will often simply put up an umbrella under the nest to catch the droppings and put up signs to alert customers. I see this often at my local supermarket where they will put out a little sign on a cone to get people’s attention and an umbrella to keep things clean.

These 3 birds are symbolic of springtime in Japan and have been memorialized in traditional poetry, sweets, and of course on Instagram. They can be found throughout most of Japan so odds are high you’ll be able to see them (or in the case of the bush warbler hear them) during a spring visit.

Are there any birds symbolic of spring where you are from? Or any you look forward to seeing once winter ends? Comment below and let me know!

Featured

What is cold-stunning and how are sea turtles affected?

Last week a major winter storm hit Texas, knocking out power and putting many at risk of freezing. Among the news of burst pipes and blackouts, you may have also heard about thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles being rescued. Today, I want to explain a little about what cold stunning is and how sea turtles are affected.

Texas winter storm weather map February 2021 — Image via WFAA.com

What is cold-stunning:

Cold-stunning is like hypothermia for sea turtles. When the water suddenly becomes too cold, less than ~10 degrees Celsius or ~50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sea turtles are unable to get to warmer water, they become cold-stunned. Sea turtles are reptiles, so they rely on the temperature of the surrounding water to help keep their body temperature warm enough to be active. When the water temperature suddenly drops, their bodies become too cold.

What happens to cold-stunned sea turtles:

Like other reptiles, when their bodies become cold, the turtles lose energy. Cold-stunned sea turtles will slow down and become inactive. They will often float close to the surface, unable to eat or swim to warmer temperatures. Floating at the surface exposed to the air can make them even colder, making their cold-stunned state worse. Unable to move much, they can have trouble lifting their head to breathe and may drown, be eaten by predators, further injured or killed by boat strikes, or be carried by the wind and currents to the shore where they wash up on the beach.

Where does cold-stunning happen?

Green sea turtle range map via californiaherps.com. Many of the cold-stunned turtles in Texas were green sea turtles. The map shows dark blue zones are common ranges for adults and large juveniles, including the coast of Texas.

Cold-stunning events in America mostly happen along the U.S. Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. These are areas the turtles migrate through to escape colder weather, feed, and breed. (It can also happen in Europe and any area with sea turtles that has a sudden drop in temperature to 10 degrees Celsius or less) Cold-stunning is also more likely to happen in shallower waters, where the temperature drops faster. If turtles can get to deeper water, they may be able to avoid cold-stunning somewhat since the deeper water is more insulated. But if temperatures drop too fast or stay low too long, they are unable to escape it.

What are the dangers to the population:

All sea turtle species are endangered and face many threats in the wild. The turtles and their eggs may be poached for food, the adults for their shells or meat, or they can become entangled in nets or other plastic debris. Sea turtles can take 10 years before they reach maturity and can start breeding and depending on the species, a female may lay hundreds of eggs in one breeding event. Cold-stunning is dangerous for wild populations because it can affect large numbers of sea turtles in one event. A loss of a large number of adult turtles due to cold-stunning can be a blow to the entire population as it will take longer for it to recover and continue to grow. If these turtles can be rescued and rehabilitated, there is a chance they will be able to breed and grow the population in the future.

Climate change connection:

It can be difficult to make a direct 1-to-1 connection between climate change and this one particular cold-stunning event, but scientists agree that climate change is driving more extreme weather events like the winter storm that hit Texas. Changing weather patterns and sudden extreme temperature changes can catch wild animal populations off guard, in the middle of their migration, or in areas that would normally be safe for them. This can interrupt their migration, feeding, or breeding and make it more difficult for them to survive.

How cold-stunned sea turtles are saved:

Cold-stunned sea turtles rescued in Texas — Photo via Sea Turtle Inc.

As you may have seen in the news, volunteers and concerned locals have been bringing in cold-stunned sea turtles for rehabilitation. People have found the turtles at sea and brought them in on their boats. Others have been checking the beaches and either called or driven them to rescue centers themselves. Once they are brought in, they are placed somewhere dry to prevent further heat loss. Then, they are gradually warmed up. They get a health check and if they are strong and healthy enough, they will be released back into the wild. Fortunately, many rescued sea turtles are being released back into the ocean now that temperatures have returned to normal.

What you can do to help:

If you are in a coastal area, you can check with local turtle rescue centers for guidance. These centers may be able to come out and pick up the turtles, but if there is a mass cold-stunning event they may need help from the public to bring them in. If this is the case, you can help pick up and drive the turtles to the rescue center. If you do this, DO NOT turn up the heat in your car. It would be best to have the heat off because the turtles need to be warmed slowly. If they are warmed up too much too fast you can shock their system.
If you are not in a coastal area, you can donate money to rescue organizations and help spread the word about what is happening.

The good news is, the weather has warmed up again and hundreds of sea turtles are already being released. However, there may still be turtles affected by cold-stunning on the coast, so rescue centers are still on the lookout to bring in any sick turtles.

My Goals (New & Old) for 2021

Now that my plans have changed and I have some extra time to prepare for my master’s degree, I need to make sure that it doesn’t go to waste. For the next year, I’m setting some goals to keep myself on track and focused.

Financial: Save More Money

Coming out of my 4th year on JET, I had enough saved to cover most of my tuition. Living expenses, not so much. After not getting ANY of the scholarships or grants I applied to, I was resigned to taking out loans again to cover food and rent. Going into this next year, I’m going to try to save as much as I can to go towards my living expenses.

The good news is, my living expenses in Japan are pretty low and consistent. So I can roughly estimate how much I’ll need each month.

The bad news is, Japan has many ways to tempt you out of your money.

Back in the US, I would be more inclined to stay at home, maybe occasionally picking up some used books for cheap. In Japan, with multiple public holidays and widespread public transport, travel is a constant temptation. There is also an endless supply of cool and unique things (events, limited merch, food) to coax the yen out of your wallet.

Luckily, after four years in Japan, I’ve already done quite a lot of travel. I’ve hit a lot of events and visited like half of the prefectures. Now I’m reaching the point where travel is seeming like more effort than I’m willing to put in, to be honest. I’m more inclined to stay close to home and rest or work on personal projects. With the continuing state of the pandemic and cases rising again, despite Japan’s domestic travel campaign, I probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

I’m going to need to work on the shopping aspect a bit though. After shipping my stuff home I had to buy new winter clothes, plus fabric to make masks for myself, and I couldn’t resist a few books. . .

Career: Expand Conservation Skills

Given an extra year, my gap in relevant experience in conservation is growing. It’s hard to believe my last internship was almost 5 years ago. Worried, as ever, that this gap could be a problem, I am looking at ways to improve my skills. I already have a couple of courses in mind, but the first I’m going to start with is the free online GIS course offered by the Marine Mammals Research Association. I have noticed that GIS experience seems to pop up a lot as a desired skill for fieldwork/research and in resumes. I’m not the most tech-savvy, so this is an area I want to work on, and I think it will be a great addition to my resume. Plus, it’s something I can do on my own time.

I also want to work on my research skills. I haven’t done much reading of scientific articles in recent years, but when I started this blog, in the interest of being as factual as possible, I started looking for more research papers about the topics I was writing about. I would like to get more efficient at finding, reading, and understanding these papers as well as finding reliable scientific information. This should help me finish my posts in a more consistent time-frame, and prepare me for research during my degree program.

Health: Physical Fitness

This has been a long-running goal of mine that always gets thrown off track by weather, work commitments, low motivation, you know the deal. I don’t know how I managed to cook regularly and exercise semi-regularly before because now I can barely seem to fit one into my after school time.

I’m not unhealthy or in terrible shape, I just want to be better.

Establish a habit that I can stick with.

Unfortunately, I hate finding and cooking recipes and working out.
So this will be a continuation of a longstanding goal. I’ll have to work on meal planning and better time management so I can fit in those workouts

Personal Project: Improve blog

And of course, after neglecting it over the summer (fall, and winter), I want to get back on track with this blog. This is something I want to grow and develop. Given the unpredictability and competition in the job market, I think it could give me some focus and consistency in my life. I’ve already managed to come farther with it than I initially thought. Now I need to make sure it doesn’t end there. It has been a learning curve as I don’t have a ton of confidence or experience in writing or the technology end of things (it was a full year between getting the site and naming it and publishing my first post). Going forward, I want to improve the site design and stick to a posting schedule.

2020 has been a rough year with a lot of hard decisions and changes. If I can make some progress on these goals, it will be a positive step into 2021. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Pandemic Life Update 2: The Next Wave

I haven’t been very active on this blog in a while. The turmoil of preparing to leave and then deciding to stay in Japan is partly to blame. My work situation has changed a bit with a second school and a commute added. Once I get home, my time seems to get filled with other projects (yup, still making masks for myself to wear) or general life (cooking for myself despite getting bored of planning recipes).

I feel like I have less energy and time. It seems like I come home, sit down to catch my breath, and eat, and all of a sudden it’s 8 pm.

Where did the time go?

Maybe it’s just the 2020 effect. Sapping me of my motivation and energy while dealing with everything that’s going on. I’m lucky that my life hasn’t been too impacted by the pandemic, and things are more or less running as normal here in Japan. Everyone is mostly wearing masks, using hand sanitizer, and register lines are still distanced. But just like many other places, Japan is going through another rise in cases. Positive COVID cases are popping up closer, hospitals are filling, and everyone is getting ready to hunker down for winter.

I was recently given the yearly re-contracting papers. As a 5th year JET, I am at the limit and can no longer extend my contract. But everyone keeps asking, and indicating they would be happy for me to stay if it’s possible. On the one hand, this has been a little reassuring. Teaching isn’t my passion and I feel like someone else could do better work, so I worry that my work isn`t as good as it should be. But if the teachers and my Principal and Vice Principal are happy, then maybe my work is more satisfactory than I thought. It feels nice to know that others are happy with my work or that I’ve made a good impression. It’s tempting to want to continue that and stay in a safe and stable situation. I do enjoy Japan. But now I think I’m more at peace with the decision to leave.

I don’t have the same doubts or lingering attachment as I did last year, or even this summer. Even though the stability is attractive, I recognize that I’m not going to be able to progress in my career and life goals the way I would like to if I stayed in Japan. I have other projects I want to spend my time on and I can do that more efficiently outside of Japan. It’s hard, given the economic situation, to give up a stable setup, but it helps that I’m at the contract limit and can just go back home and live with my parents in the meantime, so that makes the decision a little easier.

Still going to England?

In terms of next year, everyone keeps asking if I’m still planning on going to England, especially given the current situation. From my perspective, pretty much everyone is going through another wave of infections, and England is still 9-10 months away for me. There is time for things to improve, vaccines are starting to roll out, and I’m going to try and be optimistic because I have already deferred twice. Worst case scenario, they will have had more experience and opportunities to iron things out when it comes to distanced learning and adjusting the curriculum to keep everyone safe. I plan on reaching out to the outgoing students from my program to see what their experience was this past year and what changes the curriculum experienced. I’m not going to make any big decisions now and hope for the best.

I am also, as usual, formulating new backup and short term plans. I have kept in touch with some of my biology/wildlife teachers and recently joined a local Facebook group for vet tech and animal-related jobs and internships. If it comes down to it, I can go back to volunteering/interning at these local places I’m familiar with and work on honing my practical skills again. My Master’s degree is still my planned next step, but it doesn’t hurt to have backups in mind.

Anyway, now that I’ve kind of come to terms with all that, I am going to try and spend my winter break relaxing and making plans for the new year.

Postponing after all . . .

The last few months have been hectic and stressful, which is why I’ve kind of hit pause on this blog. There have been some big changes to my plans (as you probably already know from the title) and having to readjust after has taken some time.

Originally, I was planning to return home on August 4th. Leading up to that, I needed to pack up and ship my belongings home, clean out and organize my apartment and desk at school, and finish various other leaving procedures like canceling contracts and figuring out how to get to the airport. During all this preparation, however, I was still getting updates on how the US had not curbed infections. They were still rising, in fact. There were hot spots all over and who could have predicted that Americans could not do the absolute bare minimum.

Anyway

With various international travel restrictions, even getting home was going to be tricky since flights were reduced. My flight had already changed once to include a transfer between airports. On top of that, my University hadn’t given any guidance on entry procedures or support for incoming international students (such as if and how self-isolation would be handled).

Doubts and Regrets

As my leaving date approached, I started to feel more doubt and apprehension. In Japan, I had stable employment, health insurance, a comfortable apartment. Not to mention I was in a country with lower infections and widespread use of masks (and no one passing out from lack of oxygen despite 90% humidity and summer heat. Shocking). Going back to the US, even briefly, carried more risk than staying. I would have to pass through 4 international airports, 2 in hot spots, to get home.

I was worried for several reasons. I could pick up the virus in transit and pass it to my family. I didn’t have health insurance in the US, so getting sick could wipe out my savings. The virus also has a wide range of symptoms, with some people experiencing extended periods of illness and even long-term, potentially permanent, damage to their health. Not good considering my career goals would require me to be fit and healthy. More and more I was regretting not re-contracting.

The way the JET Program works, you make your decision to re-contract or end your time on the program in December. I had already made that decision before the pandemic hit. However, as the virus spread, states of emergency declared, and travel restrictions put in place, it became less and less sure that the new batch of JET participants would be able to get into the country for 2020. Their start date was already pushed back because of the (now postponed) Olympics, but due to the virus departures had been pushed back again. Very little information was coming out about what would happen in September. Everyone was wondering if they could get in at all or if the program would be postponed for a year. It didn’t help that a lot of the JET participants come from the US, which was barred entry to Japan because of spiking cases.

I was given a second chance.

Given the current state of the world, leaving ALTs were given another chance to extend their contract, including 5th years who would get special permission to stay a 6th year. The new deadline was the first week of June. I turned it down because I was hoping things would improve. I wouldn’t be starting my program until October, so I thought there was still a chance things could improve by then. I already had everything planned out and a room arranged for Bristol. I was excited to get back to biology and start taking real steps towards my career. Honestly, I was kind of tired of teaching. While I enjoyed living in Japan, I wasn’t in love with the job and was ready for a change.

But then things didn’t get better.

And now we’re back to that weekend of worrying. The weekend before my goodbye party and final apartment check. A weekend of doubt and feeling like maybe I had made the wrong decision. I wondered, given the desperate state of things and the possibility of no incoming replacement, if I could ask for another chance to extend my contract. It was so last minute though. I thought it would be impossible.

And then a third chance.

An hour before my goodbye party on Tuesday, I got an email from the BOE. They said that it seemed hopeless that the new ALTs would be able to get in, and if anyone leaving was still interested in staying to let them know ASAP. I took it. I went to the principal with one of my JTEs to explain the situation. He was happy to have me stay and called the BOE on my behalf.

So it turns out, I’m postponing after all. I’m disappointed but I think this is the safest thing to do. On the bright side, I’ll be able to save more money to cover my living expenses for Bristol. I also hope to work on other skills, such as learning GIS, so that I can make the most of this extra time to prepare. And maybe I’ll even manage to stay on top of this blog 😉

(she typed ironically not realizing it would be months before this post actually got uploaded)