GUIDED BIRDWATCHING TOUR
We'll drive you around Ishigaki Island to wherever the birds are showing best that day. Observation is mostly from inside the vehicle, and we keep it to a maximum of 3 guests so everyone can take their time.
なかなか撮れないアオバズクの狩り。落ち着き無くキョロキョロしていたと思ったら一瞬で獲物ゲット。その場で食わずに、持っていったので、抱卵しているメスかヒナに餌を届けたのでしょう。^^
動画はかわいいのでぜひ見てください。
山の東側でしかも19:00だったので写真はぎりぎり。^^;
Shutter speed 1/4 sec. ^^; It's a battle against blur.
Unlike during the day, the eyes don't look so fierce, do they. ^^
一日中雨でした。アカショウビンは8の8。^^
Male Ruddy Kingfisher. Pair with the one below.
Female Ruddy Kingfisher. Pair with the one above.
Male Ruddy Kingfisher. Pair with the one below.
Female Ruddy Kingfisher. Pair with the one above.
Ruddy Kingfisher, male. Pair with the photo below.
Ruddy Kingfisher, female, on the left. Pair with the photo above.
Probably a female Ruddy Kingfisher.
Also a female Ruddy Kingfisher. It seems both the male and female in this territory have been replaced.
昨日の夕方、コノハズクが飛んでいくシルエットが見えたので、今日探してみると、オスもメスもいました!!
石垣島には、コノハズクとアオバズクが生息します。昔、オオコノハズクが地面にいるのを見たのですが、それ以来、鳴き声すら聞きません…。見間違いかなー。^^;
A Ryukyu Scops Owl has blended right into the tree. Cropped for clarity. ^^
The Brown Hawk-Owl ended up hidden behind the leaves… ^^;
きれいなオスでした。^^
It was catching grasshoppers actively.
今年は多いですね。巣も5つありました。^^
I had thought it was a different male from last year, but it turned out to be the same one.
It was the female that had changed. When the female changes, the courtship-feeding spot changes too.
I wonder if the previous female died somewhere?
Courtship feeding, but the location is just too bad. ^^;
Second time photographing this Ruddy Kingfisher.
Ruddy Kingfisher in the north. Unusually, it was in a field.
The nest is finished, but no eggs yet. In a few more days it will start incubating and become hard to observe.
雨の中、アカショウビンは元気です。
On its favourite branch.
The Ruddy Kingfisher's legs are so short it can't walk when it lands on the ground, and when it shakes itself its bill is so large it loses its balance and falls off the branch… ^^;
Ruddy Kingfisher on a moss-covered Chinaberry tree.
天気が少し回復したので、アオバズクとコノハズクを探しにいきました。^^
A Brown Hawk-Owl was there in the backlight.
The Ryukyu Scops Owl had blended into the tree completely — I was startled when I spotted it right in front of me. ^^;
実はカエルも好きなんです。今が、繁殖のまっただ中で、あちこちからリュウキュウカジカガエルの鈴のような美しい鳴き声が聞こえてきます。^^
Male Ryukyu Kajika Frogs are all over the place.
I couldn't quite get a shot of one calling… ^^;
A small frog, about 30 mm.
A few couples here and there.
There was also a spider I couldn't quite identify. It seemed to be dipping its legs in the water, sensing vibrations to target small fish.
アオバズクが2羽いました。^^ 蚊も多くてまいりました…。
Female Brown Hawk-Owl.
Male Brown Hawk-Owl.
Female Brown Hawk-Owl.
リュウキュウコノハズクも2羽いました。^^
Female Ryukyu Scops Owl.
Male Ryukyu Scops Owl — paired with the female above. I had been hearing its call nearby for a while, but this time it finally showed itself!!
The male was a notably reddish individual.
Female Ryukyu Scops Owl.
今年は、コノハズクが多いのでしょうか? 今日で5個体目の撮影。^^
ウオーキング中の品のいいご婦人が通りかかったんで、コノハズクを教えてあげました。ご婦人曰く、この辺りはアオバズクなんかも見るそうです。
I heard a call while driving, so I went looking — and there it was. ^^
Afterwards it flew over my head and disappeared into the thicket on the other side.
It was high up in a tangle of vines, and badly backlit… The colours are all off. ^^;
4月24日に巣穴掘りをしていたアカショウビン ですが、気に入らなかったらしく他の木に巣穴を掘っていました。
片方が掘り終わると小声で鳴いて、もう一羽の巣穴掘りを促していました。^^
The male is on the right, the female on the left. The female, having finished digging the nest hole, is calling softly.
Facing the same direction — so cute. ^^
逆光がセンダンの新芽を緑に輝かせて、いかにも夏のアオバズクでした!!
目立つところに止まっていてびっくり。
It heard a crow calling and snapped its eyes wide open, on alert. Still perching on one foot, though.
This individual had no wariness at all, and fell asleep, so I called it a day… ^^;
アカショウビンとカンムリワシです。
The plumage is transitioning from juvenile to immature.
A Ruddy Kingfisher on the forest road. It was perching high up, so I shot handheld. Heavy… ^^;
2週間以上いっていませんでしたので、久しぶりにホタルを見てきました。数は減りつつあります。
The yellow dots are Yaeyama fireflies; the green streaks are Yellow-striped fireflies.
最近、コノハズクの探し方がわかってきたような気がします。1日で3個体も探せましたー。
耳を澄まして、とにかく歩くので疲れた…。^^;
I searched for the owner of the ko-hō ko-hō call — and there it was. A male Ryukyu Scops Owl. ^^
The individual being mobbed by small birds in the video is this same bird.
This Ryukyu Scops Owl was deep in the thicket!!
Walking through the windbreak, I found a third Oriental Scops Owl!!
昼からコノハズク探しで林道を歩き回っていたら、アミヒカリタケらしきキノコを見つけたので、ホタル撮影の帰りに寄ってみたら奇麗に光ってましたー。^^
その帰りにカエルが4種一度に観察できる場所に寄ったら、シロヒカリタケが光っていました。アミヒカリタケよりはかなり弱い光です。
The bioluminescence of the Mycena chlorophos is quite strong. ^^ I think it will have withered by tomorrow.
It was growing higher than my height (180 cm). I should have brought a stepladder. ^^;
Mycena chlorophos.
This is the same mushroom lit with a flashlight. If anyone knows the species name, please let me know. -> It turned out to be Mycena chlorophos.
漁港の防風林を探索していたら、後ろからコノハズクが通りすぎました。きっと近くで営巣しているのでしょう。^^
慌ててカメラと三脚を車から取ってきたので、脈動でカメラがぶれる…。^^;
It is calling while looking upward.
It flew!! The Oriental Scops Owl has wings that are surprisingly long and supple for its body size. ^^
It is hiding among the leaves of Barringtonia racemosa, but it gets found out because the Warbling White-eyes mob it.
北部に昼飯を食いにいったついでに撮ってきました。^^
Those glass-clear, transparent eyes are beautiful. ^^
The rain stopped, so the Oriental Scops Owl came out too. ^^
There was another one, but it was in a state where only its backside was sticking out through the gaps in the Barringtonia racemosa leaves.
夕方になるとアオスジコシブトハナバチが枝などに鈴なりになって寝ます。まるっこくてかわいらしいハチです。
About 20 individuals had gathered on this branch. ^^
It is gripping the branch firmly with its mandibles. What a metallic-looking face.
きょうは、アオバズクから始まり、出だしはよかったのですが、コノハズクが鳴き声すらしない…。もうだめかなと思ったら、念願のコノハズクも見つかりました。^^
It was perched in a nice spot. ^^
A recently fledged crow had wandered into this Brown Hawk-Owl's territory, and the Brown Hawk-Owl engaged in an aerial battle against several crows. In the end, it drove all the crows away. Raptors really are feisty.
Brown Hawk-Owls really suit the color green. ^^
I was almost ready to give up when I heard an Oriental Scops Owl calling!!
I searched in the direction of the call for a while but couldn't find it, and when I turned around to head home, it was right in front of me. ^^;
There was a Ruddy Kingfisher too.
リュウキュウコノハズクうまく隠れます。
Backlit again… ^^; I wonder if it is deliberately hiding with that in mind.
メスはどこも抱卵に入っているので見つかるのはオスばかり。先週から一斉に抱卵に入りました。
A male Ruddy Kingfisher paired with a different female from last year. They built their nest in a Formosan subterranean termite mound, but the entrance has broken open and the incubating female is in plain sight — I wonder if that's okay…
This one's mate, the female, also nested in a termite mound. About 10 m to the west of last year's site.
He was every bit the male. I was worried this year because the birds were late to arrive on migration, but he came back to his usual territory. ^^