When The Swallows Come Back To Hachioji, Tokyo
Like many big cities, birds can be bothersome by crapping all over people, places and things below them. And like in many big cities Tokyo puts up nets, spikes, predator bird statues and bird chirping over speakers among other deterrences. At my local station though, the station has decided to celebrate some of it's local birds.
A pair of swallows built their nest on top of a station monitoring camera.
The sign says "beware of bird droppings" and "The swallows from last year have returned and built their nest again".
Last year they had built their next near the ticket gate behind where these phots were taken.
It's pretty nice to have the birds around, but 1 family is enough. If it was multiple families then they would definitely create some messy problems.
Having said that, bugs are a huge annoyance in Japan, especially mosquitos. Swallows are predators of those bugs so I'm all for more swallows, just not where people traverse.
These swallows are gone now and I wonder if they will return next year to the same place? Or will others move in for the good life? Regardless, I'll be there to find out next spring and let you know.
Thanks for reading!
I think I saw this online recently but didn’t know it was just in Hachioji. 😅 I guess they’ll be back again next year. 😂
Did it look like the same place? This is Keio line, Naganuma station. I'm sure there are other stations across the country that do this.
I'm not so sure if it's the same place since I haven't seen it again but that's really cool if it's also happening elsewhere. 😅
I guess they really like the station's surveillance camera.
I wonder why they station didn't put spikes in if they knew the birds were already building a nest here last year.
Haven't seen you around for a while, hope all is good
Last year they built their nest on a wall sign just above the ticket window, which is just outside of this area. I guess they didn't think birds would fly in and build a nest where they did.
Things are pretty bad. Economy is just shit and inflation is wreaking havoc. Making it through the year is gonna be a challenge. Hope all is well on your side of the pond.
Glad to see the Swallow being appreciated!
Right! And I thought only San Juan Capistrano appreciated them.