Right Back to Tohoku when the Wintering Birds Have Just Left

By Kyle Young Low

On March 18, Prof. Kozo Watanabe, Miku, and I returned to Miyagi prefecture in Tohoku to collect yet another set of wetland water samples. 

With most of the wintering migratory birds having already moved on, the wetlands felt calmer, quieter… almost like a reset button had been pressed. That being said, this sampling trip serves as a comparative data point to study the ecological impact of wintering birds in a Japanese wetland. Same place, different season, whole new story. So, it's a perfect time to take a second look at the same wetland but without its wintering guests.

Gone are the wintering birds

​Revisiting the exact same sites from last year, we couldn’t help but notice the striking absence of flocks filling the sky.
Interestingly, the water itself looked much cleaner this time. And with no birds to disturb, I finally got the chance to step right into the wetland to collect the samples. Apparently, ​the water was surprisingly shallow!

Big thanks to Prof. Kozo Watanabe, who jumped right into the sampling with us. Safe to say, his field ecologist instincts are still very much alive and kicking.

Even though most migratory birds had left for their nesting grounds, a few wintering stragglers along with some local residents made an appearance. 

​​Although not in great numbers, there are still some wintering birds left behind.

While on the field, we made a quick lunch break at a local spot. We enjoyed some western-influenced Japanese cuisine (洋食).​ 

Japanese Pork chop with spinach on the side from locally sourced livestock

After wrapping up the field work, we returned to our collaborator's lab (Sano-sensei's Environmental Water Quality Lab) at Tohoku University and began sample processing in earnest.

Of course, none of these would possibly work without the many people coming together to make this project happen. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank Prof. Sano for his gracious support, Prof. Omura for his subject matter expertise, Dr. Takahashi for his technical know-how on eDNA, and Assoc. Prof. Mohan for the insightful conversations we've shared. 

Interlaboratory programs like this is a great experience for Ph.D students. Let us continue to foster this interlaboratory partnership and perhaps .