#78 近所の気になる鳥と図鑑の日の話

A Riverside Bird Walk That Racked Up 100,000 Views

Matsubara-san produced a video for the YouTube channel Arukuzu-kan in which he walks along a Tokyo river looking for birds. He self-deprecatingly described it as "a man in his late thirties making a fuss along a riverbank," yet the video unexpectedly crossed 100,000 views. He spent half a day walking the Sumida and Arakawa rivers, confirming around 10 species in total—with 5–6 featured in the video. Since that shoot he says he can't stop following birds with his eyes and feels a flutter of excitement every time he spots one. For this episode he opens the "Birds" volume of Zukan LIVE and revisits each bird he actually encountered.

Getting to Know Familiar Birds Through the Field Guide

**White-cheeked Starling (Mukudori)** Known for forming enormous flocks in street trees on autumn evenings, the starling surprised Matsubara-san: he only recently realized that those noisy swarms and the small brown birds hopping around park lawns were the same species. He describes the moment as "dots connecting into a line"—one read of the field guide and scattered knowledge snaps together. The starling's white face and orange bill give it what he calls a character-design-like appearance, essentially identical to the Pokémon Starly (Mukkuru).

**Little Egret (Kosagi)** About 60 cm long and identifiable by its black bill and black legs, the Little Egret was plentiful along both rivers; one noticeably larger distant bird appeared to be a Great Egret. A "Paddling" column in Zukan LIVE explains how the egret rapidly vibrates one foot in the shallows to flush out fish and shrimp before snatching them. Though a common urban sight, it is designated an endangered species—a fact that surprises most people. Matsubara-san also mentions wanting to observe rounder-bodied heron relatives such as the Black-crowned Night Heron and Yellow Bittern.

**Great Cormorant and Temminck's Cormorant (Kawau and Umiu)** During filming the Great Cormorant stayed frustratingly distant, but one finally appeared up close toward evening—and Matsubara-san immediately became a fan. The field guide includes a comparison column: the distinguishing feature is the white skin patch at the base of the bill. On the Great Cormorant it is narrow; on Temminck's Cormorant it extends all the way behind the eye. A bonus fact: the birds used in Nagara River ukai (cormorant fishing) are Temminck's Cormorants, not Great Cormorants.

**White Wagtail, Oriental Turtle-Dove, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow** The White Wagtail—distinctive for its long tail, which it bobs up and down as it walks—turns up even in convenience-store parking lots, though Matsubara-san has only spotted it twice. The Oriental Turtle-Dove frequents power lines and woodlands and is so standard among birdwatchers that it functions as a "ruler bird" for size comparison; he was simply happy to distinguish a dove other than the common feral pigeon. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow is declining in urban areas as nesting sites disappear, and both hosts admit they rarely see one anymore.

October 22 Is "Zukan no Hi" (Encyclopedia Day)

The episode aired on October 22—Zukan no Hi, Encyclopedia Day. On that date in 1908 (Meiji 41), the Tokyo Museum of Natural History published Shokubutsu Zukan (Plant Pictorial Encyclopedia), the first Japanese book to carry the word "zukan" in its title—and the very publication that coined the term. The volume was overseen by botanist Makino Tomitaro (牧野富太郎), the historical figure behind the NHK morning drama Ranman (らんまん). Both hosts laugh ruefully at the fact that, despite working in field guides professionally, neither had ever looked into the word's own history.

Japan's Unique Field-Guide Culture and Editorial Philosophy

Overseas books titled "Animal Encyclopedia" typically lead with large full-page photographs—visual books first, reference tools second. Japanese field guides pack in vastly more species and prioritize searchability, collectability, and database density. Multiple publishers releasing new children's field guides every year is, in Matsubara-san's analysis, a uniquely Galápagos-like phenomenon with no real parallel abroad.

He articulates the editorial philosophy through a musical metaphor: "Insects are 16-beat; dinosaurs are four-on-the-floor." Insects, small and numerous, convey their essence through dense grids of specimens. Dinosaurs demand a dramatic double-page spread to land with full impact. A human body field guide, by contrast, might devote one full spread to the stomach and another to the kidneys, giving it a magazine-like structure. Each theme demands an entirely different optimal form.

In this context Matsubara-san introduces Mushi to Manga to Nihonjin (虫と漫画と日本人, published late August), a dialogue between Yoro Takeshi (養老孟司) and Yanase Ichi (柳瀬一) that links Japan's polytheistic worldview to its field-guide culture and the mass coexistence of characters exemplified by Pokémon. He also mentions that he knows Yanase personally.