Bird Flu, ctd

 

It might be just me … it seems to me many warbling white eyes are dying in the northern part of Yokohama. The other day, I’ve met another sad bird lying on the asphalt. Dead. The reason why Kanagawa Prefecture does not inspect dead warbling white eyes is simple economics. Those large migratory birds with flu viruses are easy to spot when they mingle with chickens. And chickens are a source of income for chicken farmers. Thus, the Office records the incidences of dying large birds. But I’ve heard there is no definite answer if small birds, like warbling white eyes, can carry pathogens ... By the way, is it definite COVID-19 came from bats? … It would be better to prepare for the contingencies. First, when we try to know the latest of large outbreaks of bird flu in Japan, please check here, the HP of Ministry of Environment who compiles the national data of such things. And here is another doc from the Ministry to deal practically with bird flu in Japan.

Poor creature …

Wild Bird Society of Japan calls for attention regarding bird flu this year. Their blog details what to do with flu-death of birds. They recommend the flu-free way of birdwatching, like

1. Don’t go near the shore where many bird poops are accumulated;

2. After watching, wash the soles of your shoes and sanitize them with alcohol.

3. Don’t detour to chicken farms and zoo after birdwatching;

4. Don’t visit several birdwatching sites in one day;

5. Don’t do bird-watching in a place near an outbreak.

In any case, when you find a dead bird, call the nearby city office to report the incident. Also, NEVER touch dead birds. We know COVID has started (blah-blah-blah … sigh*) …

Nests of Asian house martin in Yadoriki.
Will they come back this spring?

Then, last weekend I’ve been to Yadoriki and met lots of healthy birds singing, flying, and doing the things birds’ do. It may be Yadoriki is still bird-flu free. Let’s keep our fingers crossing …

Japanese wagtail, a Japanese endemic species, in Yadoriki.
They are designated as “Bird of Town” by Matsuda Town.

Black-backed wagtail in Yadoriki.
Yadoriki community is home for lots of wagtails.
That day we also met Grey wagtail.
In Saitama Prefecture,
people found Black-backed wagtails are
robbing the breeding ground for
Japanese wagtail and Grey wagtail ... concerned ...

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

In a Forest of Hungry Caterpillars: Eric Carle Play Park in Futakotamagawa

 

Today, I changed track a bit, crossing Tama River 多摩川 to Tokyo. Er, well, it’s really a detour. Just crossing the river from Kanagawa Prefecture by Tokyu Den’entoshi Line, I got off at the first station in Tokyo, which is Futakotamagawa Station 二子玉川駅. My destination was Eric Carl Play Park, opened in Futakotamagawa Rise S.C. in November 2021. The place is a very young sibling of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. The spirit of the place in Tokyo is the same as the American museum, but there is a definite difference between the two. The museum in MA is spreading its campus in a large former orchard of North America. Japanese play park is at the 8th floor of newly opened shopping centre in Stagaya Ward of Yokyo, with large windows viewing a row of suburban houses of Tokyo. I guess this would be very symbolic for the idea of “forest” among ordinary Japanese. As of September 2022, Setagaya Ward has the largest population and number of households among 23 Wards of Tokyo. And the 23 Wards have roughly 9% of Japanese population. Anyway, let’s go there today. You don’t need any walking shoes or backpack with lunch. Everything is there provided you carry your cellphone (for cashless payment) and/or wallet. I tell you it’s VERY urban place.

Futakotamagawa Station

The way to the Play Park is very simple. You get off at the station, and follow the signs to Futakotamagawa Rise. The first building on our left is called Town Front. Enter the first floor with lots of shops for cosmetics and café. Take the elevator to the 8th floor where about 2/3 of its space is for the Play Park. The rest are a photo studio for kids and a hair salon. You won’t lose your way, I believe. Before entering the Play Park, it would be better explaining the history of the Futakotamagawa. Until about 150 years ago, the place was called Tamagawa 玉川 with lots of inns and cafés for tourists and pilgrims to Oyama Aburi Shrine 大山阿夫利神社 (; my post on March 17, 2017). In the early 20th century, Tamagawa Electric Railway built a train service between Shibuya and Futakotamagawa, that started housing sprawl around the former tourist town of Tamagawa. In 1938, Tamagawa Electric Railway was bought by Tokyo Yokohama Electric Railway that changed its name in 1942 to Tokyu Railways. From the beginning, the businessmen for these railways corporations intended to make the area along their company’s line for housing of newly created Japanese middle class families. Now the town Tamagawa is filled with suburban houses and condominiums where lots of families with/without kids reside and daily commute to downtown Tokyo. You’ll meet many many many parents (mom and/or dad) push strollers around Futakotamagawa Rise. (It would be an enviable scenery for aging rural communities in the other parts of Japan …) These babies in Futakotamagawa would be the mainstream of Japan in 30 years’ time.

On our left of this photo is Town Front.

At the entrance of Play Park …
It was very difficult to take photos there,
as there were babies and kids always.
I’m trying my best to keep their privacy intact in this post!

Now let’s enter the Play Park. Oh, I have to tell you it’s not free. A ticket is 2500 yen for everybody except babies less than 1 year old. You pay at the entrance and the staff gives you a reusable tumbler made of biodegradable plastic containing bamboo fiber. When you go there next time, you show this cup and the entrance fee will be reduced to 2000 yen. You pass the gate, and will be asked to take your shoes off and leave them in octagonal wooden shoe racks. Once you begin your stroll in the Play Park, you soon understand why we leave our shoes there. Lots of babies are crawling on the carpet and the wood floor. (Hey, we’re in Japan!) The entire facility is like a nursery, with a strong theme of forest, sea, and animals.

You’ll have this tumbler.

The parking space for strollers

Take off your shoes here,
and leave them in that octagonal box of your choice.

From the entrance, the first place we enter is called “Amazing Garden.” It’s a maze made of plastic hedges with the height of preschool kids. Here and there, replicas of Eric Carle’s animals are shown at the height of eyes of toddlers. I imagine for crawling toddlers the place would really be an amazing labyrinth. Moms and dads are expected to help their kids to navigate through it. Once we pass through the Garden, there is Discovery Zone where animals of Eric Carle are waiting for the kids to come and play with. Many figures are made of soft cushions, or have buffer material pasted on the back of panels whose edges are treated to be round and smooth. If babies and toddlers crush with them, the impacts are supposed to be minimum. The Discovery Zone also has exhibitions of nice specimens of insects. (I personally enjoyed them a lot!) I think such juxtaposition of fluffy dolls and specimens are educationally very effective for fresh sensitivity of preschoolers. At the end of Discovery Zone is an entrance of an Atelier for art creations. There, kids can draw pictures, paint wood blocks, work with cardboards for crafting anything they want to, free of charge (er, no, already paid at the entrance). Some works are exhibited on the walls of the Atelier, that indicate certain talents of the creators!

The maze for crawling babies

Discovery Zone.
These colorful cushions are used
when the staff do picture book reading for kids.

Of course,
there are many Hungry Caterpillars!

And butterflies!

Legs of octopus are cushions.

A back of animal panel.
Safe for babies to crush.

Everybody loves rhinoceros beetles.

You open this box pasted on the wall,
and the voice of crickets comes out.

Atelier

They are afforesting a mountain with their trees.
You can contribute, of course.

An example of available materials for atelier

Don’t you find talent here?

Exit from the Atelier, we meet with a wood jungle-gym of Swedish HAGS Co. Many preschoolers climb it up on very smooth surface without hesitation. Its amazing to see their physical potential. Next to the jungle gym is a “Moon” from “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.” Welcome to the dreamy world of Eric Carle … After exiting from the Moon, there is a space for playing with automata named “Mechanics in Motion.” All the Machines are made of woods and move only by man-power or the laws of gravity. The space also has a grand piano with which kids can create their music in whatever form. The space is like a box for large wooden toys. Next to the Automata, there are spaces for kids to read gigantic book of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and for prekindergarten babies for milks and changing nappies. For parents, these resting places are juxtaposed with “Relaxation Zone” where we can read many books of Eric Carle (in Japanese and English), and use the tumbler we’re given at the entrance to enjoy several kinds of tea and coffee/latte. The staff for the Play Park are at each facility helping kids to play safely there, or presiding over workshops for art works and book readings. All in all, the Play Park is a nice educational place for preschoolers to enjoy extremely safely with wood toys and colorful staffed animals. I think it has the value of 2500 yen.

The jungle gym

It has a small bouldering wall for preschoolers.

Unfortunately, the size is for kids only
 … I could not fit in.

But this wooden slope is for anybody of any size.
I found it SOOOOOOOO refreshing to slide here
 (and did several times, actually).

Babies of less than 1 year old also can enjoy the jungle gym
 (and their moms and dads were busy navigating photo ops)
 here.

Dad, would you please get me the moon?

Automata

with really hungry caterpillars

The piano to play!

Tea? Coffee? Juice?

Eric Carle’s books, here.

The space for babies to have milk

Let’s play!

The final space is for souvenirs.
I found they had good selection.

The Forest Environment Transfer Tax of Japan that started in 2019 will operate its full scheme from next year, 2024, with the Forest Environment Tax. The idea is every individual who has address in Japan and tax liability will pay Forest Environment Tax in poll tax style. The amassed money at the national treasury will then be distributed to each municipality as Forest Environment Transfer Tax whose amount is calculated based on the population volume of municipality. The intention is to facilitate town offices to manage their forests and surrounding natural landscapes. It also is expected to fulfill the national duty internationally promised at Paris Accord against Global Warming and to lessen the damages of natural disasters with freak weather patterns and earthquakes. The problem is, the national grant is calculated by per capita bases which makes 23 Wards of Tokyo the most subsidized municipality in Japan in this scheme. By the way, there is no forest to speak of for this policy to operate in 23 Wards of Tokyo. Oh, yes, there are Imperial Palace, Meiji Jingu Shrine, Inokashira Park, etc. Do you think these places don’t have professional landscapers paid for ages by the Tokyo Town Hall and the National Government? A similar problem is happening in Kanagawa Prefecture, as the largest beneficiary of the new tax is the City of Yokohama with the largest population in the prefecture. As the City has the special status for the largest Ordinance-designated City of Japan, Yokohama does not have any obligation to share the manna from the National Government with the other town halls of Kanagawa. Still, I think Yokohama is better than 23 Ward as we have increasing number of Citizen Forests where Lovers are busy taking care of the neighborhood nature. 23 Wards have not eaten their distributed candies (almost) at all from the beginning of 2019.

A views from the top floor of the tower of
Tokyo Metropolitan Government

The politicians who created this law said, as it is so, people of 23 Wards should do shopping a lot for the things made from Japanese forests, like wood toys at Eric Carle Play Park ... Er, OK. I’m not sure how much Japanese material were used in the Play Park. Though, those babies in the Play Park would have been imprinted the smooth feeling and smell of wood toys, friendly smiles of Eric Carle’s animals, silent but funny sounds from recorded voices of crickets, and sweet taste of non-caffeinated drinks. They will be another moms and dads in 30 or so years’ time and may build their new home with woods harvested from Japanese forests sustained by national tax subsidy. Their spending would circulate for the sustenance of people who take care of Japanese nature. If that be so, Eric Carle Play Park of completely synthetic environment in a shopping center contributes to something for Japanese forests, I presume.

Please contribute to forest maintenance,
with your toys!

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Fall of Icarus: Bird-flu?

 

All of a sudden, it fell from the sky. On New Year’s day, mom and I were chatting, sitting in a sunroom of our house. Then, suddenly, a tiny bird came down from the heaven. “Oh, my …” I went out and found it was a warbling white eye. It was difficult to mistake its bright-green body. I poked it a bit with a garden tong. No motion. Its eyes are empty in a small white circle. It was dead.

A young grey heron in Niiharu Citizen Forest.
Hey, you eat a lot and stay well, won‘t you?

I asked my forest instructor senior who worked for Tokyo Metropolitan Government, specialized for dealing with such matters. She said each municipality should have an office to deal with animal death with suspicious cause. This time, it might be by bird-flu. But she pointed out it was not frequent for small birds dying with the pandemic. So, we first have to check that office then to inquire bureau of public cleaning how to deal with the matter, she advised me. For Kanagawa Prefecture, the first port of call was

Natural Environment Conservation Division 神奈川県自然環境保全課 

Phone 045-210-1111 (main switchboard number)

Narathura japonica

I telephoned that number and asked the personnel what to do. She said warbling white eye was not on the list for checking bird-flu so I could call the city office for dealing with the dead body. I next called Yokohama’s Resources and Waste Recycling Bureau. … er, its contact phone number differs from Ward to Ward so that I called the number for an office where I live. When you have a body of dead animal in Yokohama, a dead wild bird or your beloved pooch, it does not matter, please ask the way to deal with it to the Ward Office or the local office of Recycling Bureau of your neighborhood. The list of Recycling Bureau‘s contact address can be found here … The other end of the telephone line instructed me to pack the poor bird in a plastic bag and leave it in front of our house, with a memo indicating to the contracted waste disposal company that the content was what I asked the city to deal with. I did just that, and the person from that firm came to pick it up. The funeral for a warbling white eye was completed. Sad.

As of January 8th, Kanagawa Prefecture has not yet suffered an outbreak of bird-flu. Though, in another prefectures, it ravaged lives of poultry farmers (; the latest can be found from the HP of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries). Have you noticed skyrocketing price of eggs in Japan? Several years back, I met a veteran birdwatcher on the shore of Sagami River 相模川. She said when bird-flu was rife, the number of birds came to an observation spot drastically became smaller … I hope we do not have such things this year … My dad said a warbling white eye was a regular for our family’s garden. But since that incident, he has not met one. It’s really sad.

When you find a similar situation,
NEVER touch it barehanded
as it may carry deadly viruses.
Do you remember the beginning of COVID-19?

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Fantastic Voyage: trying to identify aquatic creatures under microscope

 

FY2022 deadline for informing water monitoring results is January 27th, 2023 (; my post on October 21, 2022). We monitors are busy preparing report now. With stereo microscope, we inspect the specimen collected during the outdoor research. Some veteran volunteers have their own device so that they can prepare the accounts at home. Some, like me, who do not have stereo microscope can ask the Kanagawa Environmental Research Center for usage of the lab. Last month, I reserved a place and did just that. I concentrated myself on the specimens under the microscope in a quiet lab ... a bit different from outdoor activity in forest ... I found it quite a fun!

A close up of one species from damselfly family.
Diamond-shaped jaw is the point
 we should find to identify its species.
It is observable only via microscope.

For the study, the prefecture published a reference book, downloadable free from here. Unfortunately, the publication date was March 2020 when COVID-19 started to halt all human activities on the planet. It did not become much news at that time. Almost 3 years have passed since then, and many have realized it’s a damned good book for practical works at bench. Ministry of Environment also published a reference book, also downloadable from here. But I think Ministerial version is a bit cumbersome to use with microscope. On the other hand, Prefecture’s reference book is concentrated on the creatures probably found in rivers of Kanagawa. I don’t know if such region-specific documentation is useful in the other parts of the planet or, for that matter in another prefectures of Japan. With these caveats, if you’re interested in nature reference books of aquatic lives of Japanese fresh water, please check them. It’s free!

The reference book

The way to identify the specimens stored in a jar is

1. By naked eyes, sort out the specimens in several large categories, starting from a question if their body has apparent sections. If not, next check if it has shell or not. Up to this stage, we identified 3 categories, right? Next, with tweezers gather each category in 3 different petri dishes filled with 80% ethanol. 

2. Set a petri dish under stereo microscope. For the dish of creatures with sections, check if it has legs with sections. If one does not have segmented legs, but has a large head, probably it is a larva for Crambidae family with environmental score 7. If the head is not so large, it would be in a family of Diptera. We proceed to check which species of Diptera it is. On the other hand, if the bug has segmented legs, then check the number of legs … 6, 8, or more? Next, (ctd) … We simply follow Yes/No questions with arrows in the reference until it stops to one particular species that is/is not assigned the score to measure the quality of water where they lived.

The first stage page for identification.

The third stage page for Diptera.

3. We do the above repeatedly until all the specimens in a jar are identified and recorded their existence. Some bugs can be identified in level 2 stage. We plug in the score numbers for an excel sheet. The number of individuals does not matter. So, as in a below photo, even if we find lots of freshwater shrimps, we simply record “We’ve identified freshwater shrimp.”

4. For conclusion, the scores each specimen earned are summed up, then divided by the number of species that has >0 score found in that particular spot. Say, for one place where the specimen was created, if the total score was 45 and 7 species were identified, the score of water quality of that place is 45/7 = 6.43. The higher the score, the better the water quality. Full score is 10, and extremely polluted stream has score 0. Such value of each species is determined by the academic community and the Ministry of Environment who modified English Biological Monitoring Working Party according to the characteristics of Japanese biosphere.

The body of this water spider really glittered gold.
I was charmed …

I found the approach for calculation is easy to use for citizen volunteers like me without college degree for biological studies. The real effort goes to the identification stage using the microscope and the reference book. In today’s post, I’m showing you the photos from microscopic study for specimens found in the water near Higashi-Oshima Camping Ground of Sagamihara City 東大島キャンプ場 (; my post on November 11, 2022). There were lots of lots of freshwater shrimps (Atyidae). Shrimps are easy to identify. Atyidae earns 0, zero, zilch, nada. At least in Kanagawa Prefecture, critical species for endemic shrimp-like creatures in our rivers are the families for Pontogeneia rostrata, Anisogammaridae and Gammaridea. All of them earn score 8, i.e. for very clean water. The rest of the shrimps and shrimp-like things are foreign invaders brought to our water by recreational anglers and tropical fish lovers who used them as bites/feed, then casually threw them away in nearby river as “surplus garbage.” Such introduced species scores zero and do not contribute higher numbers of water quality. It seems to me the scientists for Environmental Research Center are fed up with finding lots of shrimps (and American crawfishes of course; pls see my post on November 11 and 18, 2022) in the midstream and downstream of Sagami 相模川 and Sakawa Rivers 酒匂川. In addition to zero value for water quality measurement, they imply the local ecosystem is highly affected by invasive foreign species. Whether their effect is positive or not would be a different matter, yeah. Lots of shrimps could be good for endemic fishes for their lunch. But …

Another finding I encountered that day was about houses of caddisflies (Trichoptera). I´ve captured many of them near the camping ground. Many larvae of caddisflies live in a house they construct with their favourite material in water and silk from their body. The stuff they choose depend on the water they prefer living. If their place has lots of sands in riverbed, they construct their house made of sands and tiny gravels. If a flow has lots of reeds on the shore, the baby insects use pieces of reeds for their nursery. To do the microscopic study, we have to observe their entire body often hidden in such house. I first thought we could destroy the house with tweezers easily. Those baby caddisflies were in any case dead (; they were specimens!), and could not protect their house, so I thought. WRONG. Dr. Hasegawa, the lead scientist for the project (; my post on October 28, 2022), said, “Oh, Naomi. No, no no. These tiny houses are very strong. We cannot destroy it without crushing the specimen inside. Please softly pull out a specimen from their case.” Yeah. These petite houses were so strong to tear up. Inevitably I had to slowly take the specimens out from them. Very interestingly, the insects’ head which normally pokes out from the house, looked robust, but the rest of their body which stays inside was softer. As they make their house according to the shape of their body, there are several kinds of nests in the family of caddisflies. Long, round, neatly constructed, or simple jumble of leafy bits ... It would reflect each creature’s personality, perhaps. It may sound a bit perverted to call specimen (i.e. dead bugs) in this way, but … they were cute.😊

This house has two-way construction.
Inside is made of sand and silk.
It is then enclosed by the bits of reeds.
The bug inside must have been very diligent.

The specimen pulled out from the nest.
It was about 5mm long.

I have to do the same microscopic study for the other specimens I collected last year by the end of this month. Staying in a wide-open space from the top of the mountain is irresistible. Studying tiny creatures with microscope is fascinating. The nature of forest is all tantalizing from big to small.

The jar and a stereo microscope

If you find environmental issues in waters of Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Environmental Research Center 神奈川県環境科学センター

1-3-39 Shinomiya, Hiratsuka City, 254-0014
〒254-0014平塚市四之宮1-3-39
Phone: 0463-24-3311
FAX: 0463-24-3300
k-center@k-erc.pref.kanagawa.jp 

https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/docs/b4f/index.html