Basket of stuff. | 一籃野

March 11, 2025 雲の日🌞
Destination: 野川公園 Nogawa Park, Mitaka

A 30-minutes bus ride from home, a large green space is located west of my share house. Nogawa Park neighbours a university called International Christian University (ICU). The university is crowded with many foreign students who are there on exchange or studying Japanese. I knew a few from my share house. To be more precise, Nogawa park was originally a part of ICU back in the 1980s. It used to be a golf course back then.

According to some sources on the internet, the novel Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami mentions an outdoor escalator located on a golf course. Some think this refers to the particular course at ICU because Murakami often wrote about the university in his earlier work and lived in Mitaka City for a while. I am an occasional fan of Murakami’s novels; sometimes I am deeply immersed in his stories, while other times I barely read them at all. Looking back on the days I lived in Mitaka, maybe it’s a good time to re-read Pinball, 1973 & A Wild Sheep Chase.

Nogawa park is now an enjoyable park where fireflies also breed in the summer. The park was designed to protect the Nogawa river, allowing wildlife to flourish. A nature observation center also operated for environmental education; inside the center, you can learn about recent sightings of wildlife and see some historical aerial photo of the park.

On the day of my visit, it was cloudy with minimal sunlight. Yet birds were everywhere.

After I crossed the bridge (かしの木橋) from the roadside and entered the park, the river revealed itself immediately. A short distance away, a “blue gemstone” perched on a pale tree branch, staring intently into the water. It was a majestically cool male Common Kingfisher. When it turned its head toward me, its sharp black beak and the white feathers of its chin formed the shape of a short sword. I could imagine the fish swimming in fear once they saw the kingfisher wielding its lethal weapon.

I looked into the shallow part of the river, where fallen leaves, branches and many polished rocks lay. A black-and-white bird spotted me instantly and skittered away from my sight. The Japanese Wagtail’s breeding plumage blended in smoothly with the river, but its long, wagging tail just caught my eye.

Both sides of the river are lined with trees, but most of their leaves had fallen. A group of Long-tailed Tits, Warbling White-eyes and a Varied Tit were jumping around, the flocks didn’t seem to be stopping for anyone or anything. I guess there wasn’t much food on the bare tree branches, but thanks to the leafless trees, I could spot them without any effort.

On a medium-thick tree trunk, the bark was covered in dark spots and moss. Two Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers were moving up and around the trunk. One was already foraging there, while the other was a latecomer. They looked at each other for a few seconds. The newcomer looked right into the other’s eyes, seeming to ask for permission to share the food here. However, the veteran did not seem to mind its presence and continued with its business.

I walked along the river and arrived at the Nature Observation Garden. Wooden pavements were built along the paths inside the garden. A common Kingfisher just stood there and was enjoying its lunch. Other than that, it was not as lively as the area outside the garden.

The most interesting sighting was a Large-billed Crow searching with its enormous beak under a carpet of fallen leaves. I stood a respectful distance away and observed for a while. However, it gave me a “none of your business” look in the middle of its search. Some studies found that crows hide or cache the excess food in tree crevices, probably it was unwilling to share its secret food location with me.

I walked a loop inside the garden and left. Then, I headed north toward Musashino Park, where the river flows along. More tiny birds popped out from the sky and nearby bushes.

Sunset in March is around 5:30pm. It got dark quickly as there was no sun. I suddenly remembered I hadn’t done my grocery yet, so it was time to end the day. It was a simple yet fulfilling day spent with birds.

The next time I visited here was already 2025’s summer, with fireflies around.

Read more:

1. eBird checklist for that day https://ebird.org/checklist/S217821186
2. A blog about the ICU golf course (in Japanese)
   https://koganei-kanko.jp/maron/archives/76810