On Sado Island, daytime temperatures still climb above 30°C (86°F), but by late August, the mornings and evenings are beginning to feel cooler. Across the Kuninaka Plain, the rice paddies are turning golden as farmers prepare to harvest sake rice and early-maturing varieties.
It is also the time of year when large flocks of sparrows become impossible to miss.
Thousands of them descend on the ripening rice, darting among the stalks as if they own the place.
Sparrow populations in Japan are said to have fallen to levels comparable to those of endangered species. But you would never know it on Sado.
At this time of year, I am busy managing the water in my rice paddies. As I mow the grass and check on the rice, I often find sparrows swarming around the fields just before harvest. They have even taken over the sunflower fields.
There are so many of them that, from a distance, the mass of brown birds looks like a swarm of moths circling a light.
Thousands of sparrows fly among the rice paddies. (©Fumie Oyama)
Friend or Foe?
As a rice farmer, I have to admit that I don’t find them particularly “cute.” Sometimes, it feels as though they are helping themselves to the rice I have worked so hard to grow.
If even a relatively inexperienced farmer like me feels this way, I wondered what those who have spent many years growing rice think of sparrows. So I asked them.
A sparrow pecking at ripening rice. (©Fumie Oyama)
Shinichiro Saito, who grows rice on Sado without pesticides or chemical fertilizers and serves as chairman of the Sado Society for Protecting Rice Paddies for Toki (Crested Ibis), sees sparrows as an inseparable part of farming.
“For farmers, sparrows are both pests and beneficial birds,” he says. “We can’t do without them.”
Protecting the Toki
In 2007, Sado City introduced the “Toki to Kurasu Sato” certification program to create feeding grounds for the crested ibis, a Special Natural Monument of Japan.
Under the program, rice grown using less than half the amount of pesticides and chemical fertilizers permitted under local standards is certified and sold as specially designated rice.
As pesticide use has declined, small creatures such as loaches have returned to Sado’s rice paddies, providing food for crested ibises released on the island. The birds have also begun breeding and establishing themselves there.
A sparrow carrying an insect in its beak. The sunflower seeds are too hard to eat. (©Fumie Oyama)
A Delicate Balance
Rice paddies with reduced pesticide use are a haven for insects, too. Sparrows feed on soft, ripening rice before harvest, but they also eat insects that can damage the crop. In that sense, they can be both a nuisance and a benefit to farmers.
And disrupting that balance can ultimately have serious consequences for people.
In China in the 1950s, sparrows were considered pests and systematically eradicated. Their disappearance allowed insect populations to soar, damaging crops and contributing to a devastating famine.
According to Saito, sparrow damage tends to be concentrated at the beginning and end of the harvest season. Koshihikari, Sado’s main rice variety, is harvested across the island at roughly the same time, which helps spread out the damage caused by the birds.
A large flock of sparrows perched on a fence. (©Fumie Oyama)
Various bird deterrents, including nets, reflective tape and models of large birds of prey, are sold on Sado. But Saito does not use them.
Instead, he accepts that some of his rice will be eaten. He also grows several early-maturing varieties rather than relying on a single variety, helping to spread out the damage.
An analysis of a survey covering fiscal 2005 through fiscal 2022, released by the Environment Ministry in October 2024, found that sparrow numbers in Japan had declined by an average of 3.6% a year.
That is greater than the 3.5% annual decline used as a threshold for classification as an “endangered species” under Japan’s Red List.
The news that sparrow numbers had fallen to levels comparable to those of endangered species attracted attention across Japan. But on Sado, you would never know it.
Saito says, however, that farmers he knows in other parts of the country have told him they are seeing fewer sparrows.
Sparrows lined up in a row. (©Fumie Oyama)
Declining Sparrows and Farmers
And sparrows are not the only ones disappearing from Japan’s countryside. The number of farmers growing rice is also declining, partly because there are fewer people to take over their farms.
The Japanese government is promoting large-scale rice farming through smart agriculture, introducing technologies such as robots and drones to reduce the labor required. It is also encouraging private companies to enter the agricultural sector, bringing major changes to the way farming is done in Japan.
But Saito worries that if rice paddies come to be viewed simply as factories for producing rice, sparrows may eventually be seen only as pests that reduce yields.
I hope Japan can remain a place where crested ibises, sparrows and farmers can continue to live alongside one another.
A sparrow among sunflowers. (©Fumie Oyama)
RELATED:
This is the 36th in the series Sado Wildlife in Focus by photojournalist Fumie Oyama.
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 Oyama on Instagram.
Continue Reading