Local birds take advantage of drop in visitors due to COVID-19

A volunteer guide at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum had a surprise when they took a look inside the bell of the Children’s Monument, dedicated to Sasaki Sadako, in Hiroshima Peace Park the other day. The bell, which has been little used during the COVID-19 pandemic due to low visitor numbers has become a home for nesting sparrows.

The guide discovered the new residents after taking a look inside having noticed that the sound was making bell was rather rather dull compared to its usual hard clanging sound.

Local bird experts say that sparrows look for protected nesting spots in tight spots like these to avoid attacks from crows and other predatory birds.

Hiroshima’s Greenery Management division told the Chugoku Shinbun that although the birds are not causing any harm, they will be considering how to address the situation.

You can see a short video (from which the images in this post were taken) of the birds on the Chugoku Shinbun website here.

Source: Chugoku Shinbun

Sparrow update here!