Hooded Crane Pangs

The rare hooded crane once nested here in Yamaguchi Prefecture in the hundreds. Most now winter in southern Kyushu island, but a few—a bare handful—nest in the rural community of Yashiro, a part of Shunan city about 25 minutes’ drive north of here. The town has a dedicated observation center that overlooks some of the rice fields that they frequent, with a CCTV monitor aimed at another spot.

I went to the nesting grounds today to see if I could spot any. A sign on the observation center wall said there are currently four nesting in Yashiro, and the monitor showed two of them. There was a field scope set up for a more direct look, so I actually got to see two of the only four hooded cranes currently on the island of Honshu… But just barely. My 210mm lens could pick them out.

Then I saw that the spot was close to a public road. So, I went closer.

I was eventually able to see them pretty well through my lens, but there were all these signs “No crane watching,” “Please take pictures from the observation center” and the like. The signs implied that taking pictures of the birds would frighten them or drive them away.

But… I was standing on a public road. There were cars driving by—including an employee of the observation center who glared me as he rumbled by in his truck. There was a restaurant right there with a parking lot where, presumably, people opening and closing their car doors. It seemed like a relatively lively spot. And I was just walking along, probably a good 150 meters away.

I was conflicted. I wanted to watch them, but the officials didn’t want me to.

On the one hand, I get that they don’t want crowds of people filling the area, or anyone sneaking into fields and scaring the birds away and/or messing up the rice fields. It would be bad both for the birds and the local community. On the other, it’s not bird lovers or photographers who are destroying the habitat and driving the birds away on a daily basis. I get that they can’t exactly ask local farmers to scale back their livelihoods for the sake of birds, and birders are indeed just following a hobby.

Now, I’m not sure what to think about myself. I did something I was asked not to, because the reasoning behind the request seems misguided. But I’m not above the rules. Are they rules, though?