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

A Crested Serpent Eagle in flight for the first time in a while. Crested Serpent Eagles aren't the most active birds, so waiting an hour for a flight shot is not unusual. This time it was a 45-minute wait. ^^;

A male Crested Serpent Eagle. The crest stands out, ruffled by the wind.

The partner of the Crested Serpent Eagle above. The female is a size larger.

The male Crested Serpent Eagle perched in a tree that made for an easy shot. ^^

As evening comes, Malayan Night Herons appear from nowhere and get busy foraging.

A muddy Pheasant-tailed Jacana. It was pecking at small insects.

It was a very hot day today, and the Grey-streaked Flycatcher has its bill open.

It must be using that wide gape to catch flying insects on the wing.

I managed to photograph a juvenile male Ruff at close range.

There was a beautiful juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. It was an unwary individual and I could photograph it up close.

This Swinhoe's Snipe (?) thinks it is hiding — even like this.

Common Greenshank juvenile plumage → first-winter plumage.

Red-legged? Winter plumage?.

Wood Sandpiper.

Black-bellied Tern was resting. Breeding plumage → non-breeding plumage.

A juvenile Marsh Sandpiper (left) lunging.

Its shin caught the adult square in the face.

The adult says hello from between the juvenile's legs. ^^ They're both deadly serious about it!!

A Marsh Sandpiper regurgitating a large pellet.

Frightened by a raptor, it stayed completely frozen in this position.

A juvenile Common Kestrel caught a large grasshopper in mid-air.

The Pheasant-tailed Jacana has large feet and long claws suited for walking on floating vegetation and the like.

It was perched on the barbed-wire fence of a farm.

A Crested Serpent Eagle charging in when prey is flushed during pasture mowing.

When it finishes eating, it returns to the original branch.

It caught a mouse. Swallowed the long tail whole.

The fifth juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle of the season.

A winter-plumage Oriental Pratincole that caught a large grasshopper.

Swallowed the large grasshopper whole, too.

This one is an Oriental Pratincole still showing a hint of summer plumage.

The Slaty-legged Crake appeared to be concussed. I hope it recovers.

I heard around 60 passed through Miyako-jima yesterday, but on Ishigaki-jima there were only a handful. ^^;

The silver grass is bathed in evening sunlight, glowing golden.

I noticed something large mixed in with a flock of Grey-faced Buzzards coming from a distance — it turned out to be a juvenile Crested Honey Buzzard. They rarely pass through Ishigaki-jima, so it was a treat. ^^

It showed me its back as well. Would love to get a shot against blue sky.

Most of the Crested Honey Buzzards I see on Ishigaki-jima are juveniles. I wonder if they just get swept along with the Grey-faced Buzzards?

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult.

Grey-faced Buzzard, juvenile.

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult.

Grey-faced Buzzard, juvenile.

One odd bird in a flock of Grey-faced Buzzards — it turned out to be an adult Eurasian Hobby.

Apparently a large kettle formed early in the day, but after 15:00 there were only a few kettles of around 50–70 birds.

Male Slaty-legged Crake. The base of the bill is actually green!!

Pectoral Sandpiper. Numbers are low; when I do come across one in the island's paddies, it's almost always a single bird.

Ruff. Relatively large numbers have arrived this year.

A small flock of a few birds earlier, but on this day there was just one Wood Sandpiper.

Adult. The sky was beautifully blue, but the Grey-faced Buzzards never formed a kettle.

Grey-faced Buzzard, juvenile.

The Eurasian Hobby left a bomb behind. ^^;

A Eurasian Hobby gliding leisurely in the evening light.

A White-winged Tern fully in winter plumage.

In the shade, the bluish tinge of the plumage is really beautiful.

It appears to be a different individual from the Oriental Honey Buzzard the other day.

The pattern on the back looks slightly different too.

Today's Grey-faced Buzzards seemed to be mostly adults.

Numbers were low and they never formed an impressive kettle.

White-winged Tern in winter plumage. They look like they're fluttering along lazily, but the approach speed is surprisingly fast and they're overhead and gone in an instant. ^^; Even so, the autofocus on the 1D X and 600mm combo locked onto the White-winged Tern and never let go. ^^

Fully in winter plumage — the salt-and-pepper head. ^^

They occasionally rest on the bridge railing, but the moment a Grey-faced Buzzard passes overhead they all take off at once.

Kamchatka Leaf Warbler can be quite tricky to photograph, but shooting from above means no branches in the way — much easier. ^^

They were moving through the trees in a small flock of a few birds, apparently catching small insects and the like.

The one in the middle is a Spotted Redshank juvenile.

Common Snipe, maybe.

A Common Greenshank was dozing.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard glowing in the evening sun. What a stunning bird. ^^

With a northerly wind blowing, there were few Grey-faced Buzzards I could shoot in good light.

Even when a kettle formed, it was at most just a few dozen birds.

This Ruddy Kingfisher is missing the claw on the outer toe of its right foot.

Three Daurian Redstarts had come into Kawahira-Ishizaki. All were males. This individual is in first-winter plumage.

It kept dropping to the ground and picking something up to eat.

It seemed to have a favourite perch on this branch. It was an individual that didn't fear people much.

Common Greenshank is itself a pale sandpiper, but the leucistic individual was nearly pure white and quite beautiful.

This is a regular Common Greenshank.

The Marsh Sandpipers were in a group of three.

There was just one Dunlin in winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilts are everywhere and by far the least wary. ^^;

The Black-winged Kite is characterised by its striking face — bright red eyes and black markings around them. Quite a handsome bird.

True to its Japanese name, part of the shoulder is black.

The focus was a little soft on this one.

I thought I saw something in the distance — it turned out to be a Black-winged Kite flying with a Black Rat in its talons!!

It perched on a sprinkler and ate the Black Rat. Heavy crop. ^^;

When I first spotted it, this is how far away it was at 840mm. So distant. ^^;

Grey-faced Buzzards were also hunting grasshoppers and other prey in the pasture.

Scrambling to intercept another Grey-faced Buzzard that had entered its territory.

Oriental Pratincoles were flocking in large numbers on the red soil.

Since cranes were the target, I started with Hooded Cranes at sunrise.

There was one Common Crane mixed in as well.

According to the Crane Observation Center there are two Sandhill Cranes, but I could only find one.

Hooded Cranes were gathered in large numbers in the fallow fields. The fields were screened off with sheeting all around — well looked after.

Lots of ducks too. Every time a Black Kite circled overhead they would take flight. Mallards and Eurasian Wigeons.

These are Northern Pintails.

Ducks packed in everywhere. Occasionally they were being chased around by crows.

Eurasian Wigeons at the river mouth as well.

A flock of Hooded Cranes flying in the morning glow.

Arriving flocks spiral down from very high up.

Common Crane in flight.

These are Falcated Ducks at Miyama Pond, near the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant exhibition hall.

There were also plenty of Mandarin Ducks at Miyama Pond.

Male Russet Sparrows at Nishi-Kantaku. Every bird lined up along the power lines was a Russet Sparrow. ^^;

There was a Daurian Jackdaw nearby too, but I forgot to photograph it….

This is a female Russet Sparrow.

Meadow Bunting at Satsuma-Sendai Takahama.

There were lots of Siberian Stonechats as well.

The Red-throated Pipit was fairly wary.

Black-winged Kite — a dive straight out of its characteristic hover. Beautiful and impressive.

The sky was overcast unfortunately, but the ruby-red eye colour just about came through.

The blue-grey wing colour of the Black-winged Kite is surprisingly beautiful even on an overcast day.

The closest it came all day. It showed up right when I was handing over a box of sweets to the landowner!!

Two Black-winged Kites flying in tandem with the Pacific as a backdrop.

Just as the session was nearly over, a thin ray of sun finally broke through and the Black-winged Kite's ruby-red eyes were clearly visible!! No matter how many times I see them, they're beautiful.

A steep dive with wings held up in a 'banzai' pose.

Here too, the thin sunlight allowed me to confirm the red eyes.

A Black-winged Kite fleeing after being mobbed by small birds.

It was scratching its head in flight.

Next time I'd like to try shooting on a fine day.