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.
シロハラに少し遅れてアカハラも入ってきました。ジョウビタキは感じのいい石の上から餌を探したり、たまに囀ったりしていました。
600mm lens with a 2× teleconverter — 1200mm. Shutter speed was 1/80, so all I could do was try to keep it steady.
There are lots of Naumann's Thrushes in lawns and along rice paddy ridges.
きょうは、カンムリワシの幼鳥が3羽観察できました。撮影地の名蔵の水田地帯は、幼鳥が数羽で入れ替わり立ち替わり。多い時で4羽いたそうです。
For a moment it did something like a hover. After that, it was eating something in the grass.
A Crested Serpent Eagle I photographed together with my mentor. Unfortunately a white pole crept into the background, so I had to crop. ^^;
Incidentally, my mentor has confirmed 12 individual juvenile birds. Impressive.
I thought they were going to fight, but it was resolved peacefully.
When the Crested Serpent Eagle flew, red bee-like insects flew up from the ground. The red thing visible just below and to the right of the eagle is one of them. I wonder what they are?
I let my guard down and it crossed right alongside the car. ^^;
Only one adult.
リュウキュウツチトリモチの季節がやってきました。
Balanophora all over the place. Feels a little earlier than last year.
It pushes aside soil and dead leaves to poke its face above ground.
きょうは、カンムリワシ少なめでした。
It seemed to spot something, but came up empty. ^^;
崎枝半島にはノビタキが、川平石崎半島にはジョウビタキがたくさん入っていました。
A female Siberian Stonechat.
This Siberian Stonechat was nearly attacked by a Common Kestrel. ^^;
Male Daurian Redstart. This individual was at Sakieda Peninsula, not Ishizaki Peninsula. It shows no fear of people.
へんな動きをするカラスの群れがいると思ったらミヤマガラスでした。7羽いました。
It was searching for food in a distant rice field, turning over the soil.
ツグミ類どんどん増えています。シマアカモズも島のあちこちに。
Compared to other thrushes like Pale Thrush and Brown-headed Thrush, this one is considerably less wary.
A Brown Shrike caught a grasshopper.
白水、名蔵にはカンムリワシの幼鳥成鳥含めて10羽近くいます。なんて密度が高いんだろう。^^;
Kan-chan, the dominant bird at Nagura.
An individual that has been loitering around Kan-chan's territory lately. It's clearly intimidated by Kan-chan's threats. ^^;
This juvenile keeps hanging around the area no matter how many times it's chased off.
Could this be Kan-chan's partner?
This is the individual at Hakusui. It is pinning a small Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle under its foot.
浦田原にハヤブサが2羽いました。ペアでしょうか。
The individual perched at the lower right.
The individual perched at the upper left.
They were perched in this positional relationship. But they were far away… ^^;
ハチジョウツグミが平田原に10羽ほど入っていました。^^
新しく購入したEF600mm F4L IS II USMを使ってみました。新型は軽くていいですね。
The call is slightly higher-pitched than a Dusky Thrush. In flight, the orange in the tail feathers stands out beautifully.
オシドリが2羽が浦田原に飛来していました。
Much more wary than the four birds the other day.
数日前入手した、EF600 F4L IS II USMをテストしてきました。2倍のエクステンダーをつけてもよく解像します。レンズの解像度が上がったのと手ぶれ補正が4段になったことが大きいと思われます。
田んぼにいたカンムリワシとハチジョウツグミとイソシギでテストしました。それぞれの写真の等倍にクロップしたものも掲載しています。
A Crested Serpent Eagle shot with the EF600 F4L IS II USM alone. I kept the shutter speed lower than usual and shot at 1/320, but there is no camera shake and the resolution is good.
A 100% crop is shown below.
100% crop of the photo above.
A Naumann's Thrush shot with the EF600 F4L IS II USM and EXTENDER EF2×III.
A 100% crop is shown below.
100% crop of the photo above.
This is also a test with the EF600 F4L IS II USM and EXTENDER EF2×III.
This is the 100% crop. With my previous 600mm lens and 2× extender, the catchlight in the eye would come out with a purplish tint, but the new model renders it in natural colour.
It resolves well even under overcast skies. This is also a 1:1 crop.
悪食ムラサキサギがきょうは、シロハラを襲っていましたが、結局のみ込めず捨てていきました。^^;
It took it down with a single strike to the throat.
It tried to swallow the prey repeatedly — wetting it and so on — but couldn't quite get it down.
In the end it just left it there and flew off. A Pale Thrush that died for nothing (lower right). ^^;
オオノスリが数日前から滞在しています。本日、やっと写真に収めることができました。^^
ただノスリと違って、随分大きく(カンムリワシよりも大きく)、顔つきもきつい感じです。
It was far away, so I've cropped heavily.
It was gliding gracefully along the ridge.
夕方から鳥納めに行ってきました。そして今日から冬休み。^^
見てくれた皆さん、今年はお世話になりました。来年も宜しくお願いします。
A distant juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard. With the 2× extender on, it's still resolving well at that distance.
A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle was eating a Little Egret. Since Crested Serpent Eagles don't hunt herons, I think it's the leftovers from an Eastern Buzzard that has been in the area for the past few days.