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)
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)
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!
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!
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