CROWS AND PESKY BIRDS IN JAPAN

PESKY BIRDS IN JAPAN

null
crow in Japan Thousands of crows, cormorants and even owls have descended on Tokyo and other Japanese cities, eating garbage and tormenting residents. The 11,000 cormorants that have made their home in a former imperial park produce so much white dropping it shows up on aerial photography. There are lots of pigeons too. In some places they take the subway to get from one place to the next. In Fukuoka they make their way through a tunnel.

Kites are a type of hawk with a wingspan of up to one meter. In Kamakura, Kanagawa they have attacked people and snatched food from outdoor markets. Their problems is they have become too bold and accustomed to people who like to throw food in the air and watch them catch it.

A Humboldt penguin that escaped from an aquarium in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, in March 2012 was repeatedly spotted swimming in Tokyo Bay and was able to elude captors on several occasions. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported: Zoological experts believe the penguin does not intend to leave Tokyo Bay, perhaps because it likes the fish in the area. One expert said, "Tokyo Bay is a good habitat for penguins." Humboldt penguins are accustomed to living in relatively warm waters along the Peruvian and Chilean coasts. There are about 1,700 Humboldt penguins in Japan, of which 134 are kept at the Tokyo park, where the runaway escaped. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, May 21, 2012]

“At around 8:50 a.m. on May 7, the Tokyo Coast Guard Office received a report that a penguin was swimming in waters near Shiokaze Park. The coast guard office dispatched a patrol vessel and special rescue boat to the area, where the crew spotted a penguin with a yellow identification tag on its right wing.The crew of the special rescue boat approached the penguin, but were unable to catch it. About an hour later, they lost sight of the penguin.On May 8, the penguin was seen off Harumi Pier, about three kilometers away. On May 12, the penguin was spotted near Rainbow Bridge.

“Soon after the penguin was discovered missing, it was seen downstream in the Arakawa river. Since then, the penguin has been spotted about 30 times. Although it has gradually migrated westward, it has shown no signs of leaving Tokyo Bay.At the park, penguins have managed to escape on two occasions, but in both cases, were successfully recaptured in nearby bushes. This is the first time that a runaway penguin as reached the sea. Kazuhiro Sakamoto, deputy director of the Tokyo Sea Life Park, said, "The penguin might have developed a behavioral response to search for a new colony." Regarding the reason why the penguin has not yet left Tokyo Bay, Kazuoki Ueda, a researcher at nonprofit organization Penguin Conference Japan, said: "Penguins have a homing instinct. So it may be unable to live far from the park where it was born.”

“Tokyo Bay has plenty of fish favored by penguins, such as young sweetfish and goby, and the waters are calm. Though park officials are brainstorming ways to recapture the penguin, it is a difficult task as Humboldt penguins can stay underwater for nearly five minutes and swim at speeds of 30 kph to 40 kph. Because penguins return to land at around sunset to sleep, officials are hoping to recapture the penguin when it is asleep. However, there are many areas along the coast of Tokyo Bay where a penguin can go unnoticed by humans. The penguin has yet to be spotted on land.

Crows in Japan

Crows are the most widely seen bird in Japan. The largest and most destructive ones are jungle crows, which have three foot wing spans and migrated to Japan from Southeast Asia, displacing the smaller local carrion crows. The Japanese have traditionally regarded crows as bearers of ill fortune. According to one superstition "Three crow cries, and someone has died," Another goes: "See a crow and take three steps back." Even so a three-legged crow is the symbol of Japan's national soccer team and was a major player in Japan's creation myth. See Creation Myth, Religion

The number of crows in Tokyo rose from around 7,000 in 1985 to about 37,000 in 2002. By some estimates there are 110,000 crows in the greater Tokyo area.. They are fearless of humans and raptors and have no natural enemies. On average they live to be 19 years old. Their numbers are increasing.

Crows can be found in a wide variety of habitats: any place where there are trees, buildings or cliff to make a nest on, They use whatever materials are available to make nests, even wires and garbage. Birds in cities tend to jungle crows while those in rural areas are more likely to be carrion crows. Crows are omnivorous and will eat almost anything: carrion, insects, other birds’s eggs and garbage,.

Jungle Crows and Carrion Crows

Cawing crow by Ohara Koson, c. 1900s

The jungle crow and carrion crow are the two species of crow commonly seen in Japan. Jungle crows have large bodies, powerful feet and strong sharp beaks. They are natural scavengers and prefer to nest in trees. They travel in groups called mobs that are notorious for their noise and brazenness. In Japan, the crows are well-adapted to urban life. They build their nests oi park trees, utility poles and power lines. They drink water from fountains and feed on everything from dried fruit to vomit. Carrion crows are difficult to tell from jungle crows but produce a harsher “kaww” and bob their heads when they make the sound while jungle crows produce a clearer call and bob their head and tail when they make the noise.

Kevin Short wrote in the Daily Yomiuri, “These two species can be told apart by the thickness of their bill. In fact, the common Japanese names, hashi-buto-garasu for the jungle crow and hashi-boso-garasu for the carrion crow, respectively mean “thick-billed crow” and “thin-billed crow.” Also, the jungle crow is slightly larger and heavier built, and sports a high protruding forehead. [Source: Kevin Short, Daily Yomiuri, June 17, 2010]

“Ecologically, the jungle crow prefers dense forests and coastlines; while the carrion likes meadows and open farmland. The rocky coasts and heavily forested mountains of the Kii Peninsula would have provided ideal jungle crow habitat, but the extensive rice paddies of the Nara Basin would have favored carrion crows.” Which species is the crow in Japanese mythology. “The shape of the bill and forehead on the traditional images are inconclusive, but the current emblem used by the national soccer team is clearly that of a jungle crow.”

“The jungle crow’s thick, sharply-hooked bill rivals that of an eagle. Such a powerful bill is ideal for ripping open a fish or deer carcass. Ironically, it is also perfect for slicing open a plastic garbage bag. As a result, jungle crows have proliferated in urban areas. Intelligent and adaptive, they also prey heavily on urban birds such as doves, pigeons, starlings and sparrows. I have seen these fearsome hunters swallow an unfortunate sparrow fledgling in a single gulp.”

“During the spring and summer nesting season, each mated pair establishes and defends their own feeding territory. Jungle crows are famous for stealing metal clothes hangers from backyards and verandahs to weave into their huge nests. They seem to have a special fetish for blue items. The parents aggressively defend their nest and brood, and in some urban parks and gardens even dive-bomb people that stray too close.”

“In the southern Kanto Region, jungle crows have taken over the urban and suburban residential areas, but carrion crows still thrive in the open countryside. Here they enjoy a varied natural diet, including frogs, lizards, snakes, crayfish, loaches, stream crabs, grasshoppers and beetles, as well as numerous sweet fruits and berries.”

Crows as Pests in Japan

Crows are terrible nuisances. They rip open garbage bags and spread garbage everywhere, startle motorists, rip open laundry bags, stare down dogs, and scare children. They nest on power lines, disrupt commuter trains, pluck laundry from off clotheslines, produce loud squawking noises and bombard pedestrians with the gooey droppings.

Crows had been videotaped in the Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo picking up pieces of gravel and placing them on busy rail lines. Nests in power lines have caused short circuits that led to about 50 or 60 power blackouts each year. There have been reports of crows carrying off kittens. At the Ueno zoo in Tokyo there were reports of them carrying off prairie dogs and pecking holes in the backs of deer.

In April 2001, Ananova reported: “Tokyo's crow population has exploded to around 30,000, and residents say the birds have started attacking them. There are reports of people falling off their bicycles as aggressive crows fly at them. Local government officials are trying to curb the numbers by removing eggs or newborn birds from nests. The Wild Bird Society of Japan says the population has increased by around 10,000 in the last three years. Johoku Park's management office has been inundated with complaints from people living nearby who say the crows attack them while they walk their dogs. Park guard Tsuneo Yamazaki told the Daily Yomiuri: "Even if you try to scare the birds away, they are not afraid of humans at all. In fact, they will turn against you. "There are people who fell off their bicycles while being chased by crows. We really would like to do something about it." [Source: Ananova, April 18, 2001]

Crows are particularly aggressive in the spring nesting season when they defend their territories from perceived intruders. At that time of the year there are hundreds of reports of crows swooping down and attacking from behind, kicking and pecking their victims head. Occasionally they draw blood.

Crows have pilfered cypress bark from the roof of temples in Japan and carried it into the mountains to make their nests, producing leaks which have damaged valuable Buddha statues.

Crows and People in Japan

Crows have largely lost their fear of humans. Attempts to shoo them away are often futile. The crow simply hop a couples steps out of harms way. Mothers are so fearful of crows they clear their children out parks when mobs of crows show up. People have been hurt falling while pursued by crows and even seriously hurt after being struck by a vehicle while fleeing.

An exterminator who takes down about 250 crow nests a month in the spring told the Washington Post, "People are scared by these crows. They are big, black, with big beak, and kind of scary." One 38-year-old housewife told AP, "When I see a crow, I usually run away."

Describing the battle between crows and humans, one Tokyo sanitation worker said, "It's war between us. It's like oil and water, like sharks and men." The governor of Tokyo said he planned "to make crow meat pies Tokyo's special dish."

Some people have suggested the crow problem is really a people problem. As part of an efforts to get people to recycle their trash some places require people to put their garbage in clear bags. Crows like the clear bags and particularly go after ones that have pink things inside which bring to mind the carrion they naturally feed on.

A number of studies have been conducted on crow behavior. One found that crows prefer food scraps in transparent bags and least of all like scarps in black bags.

Smart Crows in Japan

Crows have large forebrains and regarded as among the smartest birds. There brain to body ratio is double that of horses, pigs and cats.

In Sendai, carrion crows harvest walnuts and have developed and ingenious way to break open their shell. They drop nuts off of tree branches onto roads and wait for cars to run over them and collect the nuts. They even wait for Walk signs at crosswalks to collect the nuts.

have also been observed making note of where other birds are building their nest so they can steal the eggs later. They are one of the few known tool-making animals: having been observed fashioning tools out of sticks and pieces of wire to extract insects from inside of trees.

Efforts to Control Crows in Japan

In some places blue nets have distributed to residents to place over their garbage cans. Other places people are required to put their trash bags in special enclosures or use special translucent bags and collect their garbage before dawn when the bird are most fond of feeding. In some parks in Tokyo small flags attached to trees warn people of the presence of crows. Each spring workers fan out across the city to take down crow nests.

Power companies have installed umbrella-like devices and put up wires on power lines to keep crows away. They didn't work. Garbage collectors have proposed better ways for people to put out their garbage but people have often ignore the advise. Some even feed the crows.

In Tokyo, Mayor Ishihara launched a $1 million a year “total crow-eradicating” campaign which emphasized using deadly force to deal with the crows. In one campaign the government hoped to kill 7,000 crows by luring them with meat into wood-and wire traps and later exterminating them with carbon dioxide. The 100 traps used cost about $250,000 and had an wire opening that let the birds in but caught their feathers when they tried to get out, preventing them from escaping.

In April 2002, the Tokyo government announced that it had captured 4,210 crows in the previous four months using 100 traps placed in zoos and parks with dog food, mayonnaise and lard as bait. Officials didn’t say what they did with the crows after they were caught. By 2005 the crow population in Tokyo was 17,900, half of what it was in 2001. The goal is to reduce the number to 7,000.

The number of crows caught in traps has been declining as the birds get wise to what the traps. Many feel these efforts were largely futile. Most of the crows that were caught were too young to bred and crows seemed to be as much of pests as they always were.

Image Sources: 1) JNTO 2) 3) Ray Kinnane 4) Gifu government 6) Birquest Mark Beamon, Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, Daily Yomiuri, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2025