A daily record.
Featuring photos of wild birds and nature, mainly from Okinawa Main Island and Ishigaki Island

Both the Brown Hawk-Owl and the Oriental Scops Owl have started incubating. ^^

There are more than around this time last year.

Hoya was blooming high up.

It caught a caterpillar in the tree right beside me and carried it off to the nest. Once before, it perched on the front of my lens. ^^;

It carries the food inside but comes back out without giving it to the chick, so fledging must be close. ^^

Unlike the Ruddy Kingfisher and the Oriental Scops Owl, it brings food frequently.

It's a male. Telling the sexes apart is difficult with Oriental Scops Owls, but with Brown Hawk-Owls you can kind of tell. ^^

It had been sleeping way up high for a long time, but when a crow came nearby it opened its eyes just a little for me. ^^

The contrast of green and red is beautiful.

A cute Oriental Scops Owl. Little ear tufts sticking up from the top of its head. ^^

It was calling high up in a Fukugi tree, and my neck got tired from looking up searching for it…. ^^;

Seeing only one eye gives it a strange look.

This is a spot where Oriental Scops Owls nest every year, but it was my first time seeing the female. ^^

The male was nowhere to be found.

Also a spot where they nest every year. My guess is this one will fledge the earliest.

The male was perched in the tree behind.

A female Oriental Scops Owl watching her chick.

Crows are also nesting nearby, and the male Oriental Scops Owl attacks every time the parent crow brings food to its chick. ^^;

The female waits at the entrance of the nest hole.

The Oriental Scops Owls at the fishing port have become hard to find with all the foliage grown in, but I managed to spot them.

There was another one just a few metres from the owl above. When one started calling, the other called back as if in reply. Territorial display, I'd say.

The foliage here was too thick and this was the best I could get…. ^^;

The chicks here also seem to be growing well — the parent had been pushed out of the nest hole. ^^

Got the whole bird, but the background… ^^;

It catches small moths neatly in mid-air and carries them to the nest. The female appeared to be hunting farther away.

Too cute. It was holding its bill open in the scorching heat.

What adorable creatures. ^^ They will stay in the area for two or three days.

It's a chick, but those talons are impressive!!

The parent is perched about a metre away. I wish they had lined up together….

The Oriental Scops Owl chicks haven't fledged yet. I wonder when they will?

A fledgling.

From the back left: male, juvenile. In the foreground, the female.

A male Brown Hawk-Owl.

I can only see its face — could it be incubating?

An Oriental Scops Owl chick just about to fledge. Adorable.

It keeps looking upward, clearly on edge about something above.

The gecko it brought was too large for the chick to eat.

The male passes food to the female. He doesn't hand it over straight away, using it to encourage the chicks to fledge.

I confirmed two birds. Same as every year.

This is a different pair. Day by day the branch they perch on is getting lower.

The top one is the first chick, the bottom the second. The third shows up occasionally but hasn't come up to the top yet.

It brought cicada larvae about three times. It catches them as they emerge from the ground to moult.

This time it brought a grasshopper.

The mother Oriental Scops Owl. She was perched in a different spot from usual, so I thought she had fledged overnight — but not yet.

Two of them are out at the nest entrance almost constantly. The third one pokes its head out occasionally.

It brought a grasshopper.

Off to find food again.

Of the three chicks at this nest, only one was found.

It had been hiding in the undergrowth but was attacked by a Japanese Sparrowhawk. It seems to have managed to escape, though.

A fledgling Ruddy Kingfisher in a valley thick with elephant ear plants.

After the Japanese Sparrowhawk's attack, even the parent bird was in a panic and couldn't locate the fledgling… ^^;

Three sibling Ryukyu Scops Owls. ^^

The mother makes sure to deliver food all the way to the third chick at the back!!

The eldest scratches the second's head, and the third begs the second for food, but the second ignores him… ^^;

The female at this nesting pair of Ryukyu Scops Owls has started coming outside too. ^^

Chick-rearing is in full swing.

It climbed and climbed, and then fledged.

It was wandering all around the treetops, exploring. ^^

The remaining two are still being fed at the nest.

A fledgling Ryukyu Scops Owl deep in the undergrowth. Seeing them in daylight gives a completely different impression.

The female Ryukyu Scops Owl was also there about a metre away, but I could only make out her silhouette and wasn't able to get a shot.

At this nesting site, the female has finally come out of the nest completely. She's not used to me yet, so she's a little wary.

Maybe about one more week until fledging.

There's still a little white down left. ^^

This is how they clamber out when leaving the nest.

The mother Ryukyu Scops Owl. She keeps watch over the fledged second chick from nearby. Unlike a Brown Hawk-Owl, she almost never goes right next to it.

It does have ear tufts, but compared to adults it's rounded all over. ^^