The Lesser Whistling Duck found on Ishigaki Island on 1 May has shown up again!! It has now been here for two weeks. I was able to get video as well. How long will it stay?

It turns out this Lesser Whistling Duck had been seen on Iriomote Island on 28 April, before it was photographed on Ishigaki. Apparently someone only realised what it was after it appeared in the newspaper. On top of that, a local resident says they saw two birds last year in the lower reaches of a certain river. The person is a farmer with a keen interest in wildlife, and from what they described, Lesser Whistling Duck seems very likely.

Furthermore, a blog post records that a bird — photographed unclearly — was seen on Kohama Island in late May to early June 2006.

Lesser Whistling Duck's northern breeding limit was Okinawa, but confirmed records had been absent since an observation in the Kerama Islands in 1963. A Yamashina Institute for Ornithology report noted two birds seen during a 1999 survey, but without photographs and with few details.

It sets the imagination going — could a small number be living somewhere along a river on Iriomote Island, much like the Mandarin Ducks of Yanbaru?