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Japan Forward
16-05-2025
- General
- Japan Forward
Are Sparrows Disappearing?
このページを 日本語 で読む Sparrows, beloved by the Japanese and celebrated in children's songs, are now vanishing at a rate comparable to an endangered species. This unsettling trend was highlighted in a government report released in October 2024. Four years earlier in 2021, I relocated from Tokyo to Sado Island to photograph Japan's Special Natural Monument, the crested ibis. Recently, I turned my lens to sparrows for the very first time. Winter transforms Sado Island into a stark, chilly landscape. The vibrant autumn foliage is gone, and the rice fields lie bare after the harvest. Hoping to capture images of sparrows — a bird I frequently saw during harvest season — I set out in my car. I expected to find them quickly. Instead, the crested ibis, as usual, made its appearance. However, there wasn't a sparrow in sight. 'Not today, you guys,' I murmured as I passed the ibises, resolute in my search for sparrows. After over three hours of driving, I finally spotted them. 'Sparrow dango !' There they were, a large group of sparrows huddled tightly together among the reeds, resembling skewered sweet dumplings. This behavior, referred to in Japanese as 'sparrow dango ,' describes how sparrows perch in close clusters, evoking the image of sweet dumplings on a stick. Sparrows cluster tightly like dumplings, perched among the reeds. (©Fumie Oyama) Sparrows, measuring about 15 cm long, are native to Japan and widely distributed across the Eurasian continent. Thriving near human settlements such as urban areas and farmlands, they feed on seeds, insects, and even food scraps. Despite their proximity to people, sparrows are highly cautious and will flee at the slightest disturbance. A study conducted by Japan's Ministry of the Environment from 2005 to 2022 analyzed data from 325 satoyama sites. The findings revealed that sparrow populations are declining at an annual rate of 3.6%. This meets the criteria for classification as an endangered species on the Red List, which requires an annual decline of 3.5% or more. Likely causes of this decline include fewer traditional house eaves favored for nesting, shrinking farmland, and fewer insects due to environmental degradation. A flock of sparrows feeds on Canadian goldenrod seeds. (©Fumie Oyama) What about Sado? Masaoki Tsuchiya, head of the Sado branch of the Wild Bird Society of Japan, commented on the local sparrow population. 'We've never conducted a survey,' he said, 'but I don't think their numbers are declining.' However, sparrow populations in Sado saw a sharp decline in the 1950s and 60s. During this time, China, under Mao Zedong, implemented the Four Pests Campaign (1958–1962), which targeted sparrows, alongside rats, mosquitoes, and flies, for mass extermination. Tsuchiya speculates, 'Some sparrows migrate, so it's possible that China's mass culling of sparrows contributed to a decline in migratory populations during that period.' In Japan, sparrows have also been regarded as pests because they tend to feed on crops. Yet, they serve an important role in consuming insects. In China, the large-scale extermination of sparrows reportedly led to an explosion in insect populations. That ultimately contributed to a catastrophic famine. A large flock of sparrows huddles closely together.(©Fumie Oyama) Finding sparrows proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. With winter setting in and food sources like seeds and insects scarce, sparrows gathered in groups rather than spreading out. That was likely to avoid predators. Even when I spotted them, their skittish behavior — far more cautious than the crested ibis — caused them to take flight almost immediately, adding to the challenge. Japan once allowed the crested ibis to go extinct. Restoring its population has required an immense investment of time, money, and unrelenting effort, including reducing pesticide use on Sado Island. We cannot let sparrows, a vital part of nature's balance, suffer the same fate. Their presence is a reminder of the critical need to protect and preserve biodiversity. A sparrow feeds on a mantis nearly as tall as itself. (©Fumie Oyama) Sparrows are an integral part of biodiversity. (©Fumie Oyama) This report was first published on Japan 2 Earth. It is the 17th in the series, Sado Wildlife in Focus. Read more essays by photojournalist Fumie Oyama , a JAPAN Forward website featuring Japan's initiatives featuring the SDGs. EDITORIAL | Japan's Mongoose Eradication is Good News for Biodiversity Author: Fumie Oyama Fumio Oyama Fumie Oyama is a two-time winner of the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association Award as a photographer for the Sankei Shimbun. After covering the reintroduction of the crested ibis to the wild for 11 years, Oyama left the company in 2020 to move to Sado Island. There, he continues to photograph the ibis and other wildlife while engaging in farming. He currently promotes the charms of Sado Island as a photojournalist. Follow Fumie Oyama on Instagram. このページを 日本語 で読む
The Mainichi
07-05-2025
- Health
- The Mainichi
Bird flu suspected in mass deaths of sea animals in eastern Hokkaido
NEMURO, Hokkaido -- The highly pathogenic avian influenza, known for its high mortality rate, is suspected as the cause of mass deaths and abnormal behavior of sea animals in eastern Hokkaido. Since mid-March, the eastern coast of Hokkaido has seen a rise in seabirds and marine mammals believed to have been infected with bird flu. In the city of Nemuro, an independent survey by volunteers had confirmed the carcasses of 614 seabirds as of May 4, along with seals and sea otters. Although infection was confirmed in a dead sea otter found in the neighboring town of Hamanaka, many surrounding municipalities lack sufficient investigative frameworks, suggesting the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Masahiro Toyama, a curator at Nemuro's Museum of History and Nature, and rangers from the Wild Bird Society of Japan noticed abnormalities among seabirds and are continuing a survey voluntarily. The team collected the carcass of a crested auklet from Habomai Fishing Port in Nemuro on March 14 and sent a sample to the Institute for Raptor Biomedicine Japan in the city of Kushiro, where a PCR test confirmed infection with the bird flu A virus. That same day, additional carcasses of a red-necked grebe and a pelagic cormorant were also found at Nemuro's Hanasaki Port. Numerous sightings of abnormal behavior, likely caused by infection, have also been reported. On March 16, a local man birding at Katsuragi Beach in Nemuro witnessed a black-tailed gull and a slaty-backed gull suddenly collapse. Furthermore, a ranger at the Shunkunitai Wild Bird Sanctuary's nature center in Nemuro on March 18 saw a slaty-backed gull stumbling and unable to stand, and two days later a crested auklet was seen spinning and shaking its head at Hanasaki Port. These eerie scenes are reminiscent of depictions in Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," a book exposing the hazards of pesticide use. Some carcass samples underwent simple tests at the Nemuro Subprefectural Bureau before being sent to the Institute for Raptor Biomedicine Japan and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. Nearly 90% of specimens apparently tested positive for avian flu. Meanwhile, reports from a fisheries worker who is also a wildlife protection officer for the Ministry of the Environment indicate that since mid-March, at least five carcasses of what are believed to be crested auklets have been spotted about 10 kilometers offshore in the Pacific Ocean. Additional carcasses of seabirds such as the Laysan albatross, spectacled guillemot, velvet scoter and rhinoceros auklet have since been confirmed floating offshore. Damage has also extended to marine mammals, marking the first confirmed cases of seal and sea otter infections in Japan. A total of six dead or weakened seals were found between April 18 and 25, with tests confirming infections in two of the four harbor seals examined. The weakened animals reportedly exhibited symptoms such as bloodshot eyes, labored breathing and trembling. In Hamanaka, a sea otter carcass collected on April 22 tested positive for avian flu. On May 4 and 5, two more sea otter carcasses suspected to be infected were recovered along the coast of Katsuragi in Nemuro. Concerns about mass deaths at breeding sites The investigation team, by walking the coast to confirm and collect carcasses and aggregating information from fishery workers, has identified a total of 23 species of seabirds potentially infected, including five species listed on the Environment Ministry's Red List (the common murre, ancient murrelet, Laysan albatross, pelagic cormorant and spectacled guillemot). The most numerous are the crested auklets, which accounted for 155 of the about 200 birds collected on April 18. Toyama expressed uncertainty about the background of the mass deaths and the infection routes. There has also been a report that as a fishery worker threw a common scoter found dead on a boat into the sea, an eagle ate it. Toyama pointed out, "There are concerns about infection chains stemming from scavenging." With seabirds entering their breeding season, he expressed a sense of crisis, saying, "The spread of infection in breeding colonies may result in mass deaths of seabirds." (Japanese original by Hiroaki Homma, Nemuro Bureau)
