Strangely Colored Birds
A few weeks ago, eight brightly colored birds were released into the wild. They were Japanese crested ibises. Ibises are usually white with a little pink on their wings, but these birds had orange, blue, red, and even green wings. Why were they so strangely colored? It’s a long story. Ibises used to live all over Japan, but people hunted them, and farming chemicals killed their food. The last wild ibis died in 2003. Luckily, China still had ibises, and they gave a male and female to Japan. The pair lived on Sado Island and had babies. Now there are about 500 ibises in Japan. Most of them live on Sado Island, but three weeks ago, scientists released eight on Honshu for the first time. They colored the wings of the birds so that they could see where the birds go. I hope ibises spread all over Japan again. (149 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a