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

I'm not sure how she finds them, but she kept bringing earthworms.

After delivering food, she immediately went back out to forage.

Stuffing a grasshopper deep into the chick's wide-open mouth. ^^;

Three chicks are visible. The Ryukyu Kingfisher lays fewer eggs than the Japanese Kingfisher — just three. Occasionally an individual will lay four.

A chick that apparently fledged last night. First time I've seen a fledgling from this pair's nest. ^^

They always fledge when I least expect it…

The female brought food to the nest several times.

This is a different nest. It looks like the chicks haven't fledged yet.

A rare parent-and-chick two-shot with Ryukyu Scops Owls. ^^ At 600mm it was too close. ^^;

Looking a little more dignified than last night, maybe?

The female parent came to check on things several times without any food. I'm worried the chick might be abandoned if it can't get out much longer…

The chicks peering out of the nest hole are getting bigger day by day.

Is that a cockroach it's carrying?

After flapping its wings energetically, it fell back into the nest hole…. ^^;

The female parent brought a Tsukutsukuboushi cicada, but the chick seems full and won't eat. ^^;

Finally, all the remaining chicks came outside!!

This is the male Ryukyu Scops Owl parent.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl looking quite dignified with his ear-tufts upright.

A two-shot of the second and third chicks. They flew right over my head. ^^

The eldest is a bit more wary. It's pestering the parent to bring food.

This one is also the eldest. It flies around the forest a lot. Doesn't seem to be practicing hunting yet.

The female Japanese Sparrowhawk parent. Striking bird. The male hasn't shown himself at all…. ^^;

Also a female. She is dismembering a Large Brown Cicada.

A Ryukyu Scops Owl chick peering out from the hollow. So cute! ^^

The first fledgling left the nest two days ago.

It kept popping in and out. ^^

Today's prey deliveries were mostly grasshoppers, cicadas, and bees. Earthworms just once.

Twelve feeding visits in two hours. The chick has a healthy appetite.

Once it's halfway out, it launches itself in one go.

First flight — success!! Landed neatly on a branch.

This one failed. It fell to the ground. ^^;

Large Brown Cicadas are a struggle even for the adults, but the chick manages to swallow one surprisingly well.

Today the feedings were much less frequent — perhaps to encourage fledging — just five times over six and a half hours.

I can also control the focus remotely from my MacBook Air using EOS Utility 3, but the bird didn't come often enough for that to matter.

The dark-eyed Ryukyu Scops Owl, appearing for the first time in a while.

Two of the chicks were taken by a snake, but the remaining one is growing steadily. It should fledge within two or three days.

It brought a grasshopper. The adult and chick are quite different in both colour and size.

Another grasshopper. The chick already seemed full and didn't eat this one.

As with people, when there are fewer siblings there's plenty of food to go around, so they grow up at a leisurely pace.

Most of the pods have dropped, leaving just the heads.

The parent shows the prey but won't give it to the chick — behaviour meant to encourage fledging. When they do this, the chick usually fledges that same day, but this one didn't seem ready.

After eating a Cane Toad there is blood around the base of its bill.

Diving after spotting prey.

It caught a large Cane Toad. Even with both eyes gouged out the toad held on stubbornly, and after more than an hour of struggling the owl flipped it over and tore into its belly. It seems to avoid the poison glands. Partway through, a juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle showed up but was completely ignored and eventually wandered off. The video also captures the juvenile calling in a rather pitiful voice.

In the middle of all that drama, a White-breasted Waterhen crossed the scene… ^^; Just woken up?

So cute! Compared to when the other two were taken and it was tumbling from the nest, it looks strikingly bigger and stronger now. ^^

The father of the chick above.

The black-eyed one was in almost the same spot as the other day. I wonder if it's nesting here? I can't get in any further, so that's as much as I know. ^^;