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.
今日は、一日中雨でした。風も吹き付けているので、野鳥はあまり見られず、カンムリワシが数羽とチョウゲンボウ、シロハラ、イソヒヨドリ、ハチジョウツグミが観察できた程度です。
A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle was searching for prey in the rain.
This Malayan Night Heron was at Yonehara Beach, and remarkably, it had been hand-fed by a local man from the neighbourhood. A crow and the night heron were amicably receiving food from him together.
石垣島ではムナグロがほとんどですが、大浜海岸にダイゼンが1羽いました。もちろんムナグロはたくさんいて、他にはキアシシギやチュウシャクシギ、キョウジョシギなどがいました。チュウシャクシギは1羽が長い事滞在しています。
先日のK91のフラッグが付いたクロツラヘラサギ は1羽で浦田原の田んぼにいました。
The setting sun has given it a brownish cast, but this is a Grey Plover in winter plumage.
This one is a Pacific Golden Plover.
A Whimbrel that is always seen alone.
A Grey-tailed Tattler caught a crab.
A Black-faced Spoonbill with a flag.
取材の合間に島の西側を回ってきました。川平石崎には、ハチジョウツグミやツグミ、ジョウビタキ、シマアカモズなど、崎枝には小さな沈砂池にハシビロガモやコガモがいました。帰り道にはサシバが獲物を狙って枝から牧草地を見下ろしていました。
When I arrived at Kabira Ishizaki, a female Daurian Redstart came out to meet me.
A Naumann's Thrush that had dug up the lawn to catch an earthworm. Quite impressive.
There was one more Naumann's Thrush.
A female Isabelline Shrike in winter plumage.
A male Northern Shoveler in the red-soil-stained sedimentation pond. He has almost fully transitioned from eclipse plumage into breeding plumage.
This male Northern Shoveler is still in eclipse plumage.
There were also about three male Eurasian Teals.
A Grey-faced Buzzard hunting in a meadow.
師匠から、ズグロチャキンチョウがいるとのことで田んぼに行ったのですが、見つけられずでした。
同じ田んぼに、ハヤブサにでも襲われたのでしょうか。首のあたりを少し食われたアマサギがいました。こんな状態でも変わらず餌探しに勤しんでいました…。^^;
タシギが数羽とタカブシギが数羽いましたが、シギチは少なくなってしまいました。
Even with a hole in its neck, it was still taking grasshoppers and other prey. Tough bird.
Looking carefully, Common Snipe were dotted here and there along the berm.
冬のヤツガシラの季節がやってきました。12月下旬から渡りと越冬組のヤツガシラが石垣島にはやってきます。川平石崎にヤツガシラが1羽いました。師匠、名古屋からのバードウオッチャーの経由で教えていただきました。鳥の世界も狭いですねー。
ツグミの仲間はここ数日でドカンと増えました。今年もハチジョウツグミはたくさんです。ツグミの仲間はここ3年連続で多い冬が続いています。
This Eurasian Hoopoe is usually all about cockroaches, but today it was eating what looked like a hawkmoth larva. The thing was so big the bird kept wandering around with it dangling from the tip of its bill, but it finally managed to swallow it.
It was stitching across the lawn like a sewing machine, probing for cockroaches, but there didn't seem to be many here, and after a while it flew off somewhere.
Good numbers of Naumann's Thrushes have come in too. There are also plenty of Brown-headed Thrushes and Pale Thrushes, but the Pale Thrush seems to be top dog, ruling over the lawn. ^^;
川平石崎にヤツガシラが2羽飛来していました。夕方から野暮用があったので、数枚だけ撮影し2羽並んでの撮影はかないませんでした。^^;
石垣島では、年末から翌年の3月末ごろまではヤツガシラのシーズンです。
It was on the lawn just inside the entrance to the peninsula.
One bird perched on a branch, preening and relaxing, and never came down. A Eurasian Hoopoe raising its crest, startled by the sound of the shutter.
川平で取材があったので帰りに川平石崎へ寄ってみました。今日も2羽で一緒に行動していましたがたまにカラスに邪魔されていました。
A Eurasian Hoopoe preening up in a tree.
This individual was used to people. Hoopoes generally aren't afraid of humans, but the other one was noticeably more wary.
The spot where the Eurasian Hoopoe had been dust-bathing. I looked around to see if any feathers had been dropped. ^^;
白水の農耕地で、道を挟んで田んぼにはシマアカモズ、サトウキビ畑にはカンムリワシがいました。カンムリワシも大きな獲物が減ってきているのか、シマアカモズの獲物とたいして変わらない大きさのバッタを捕まえたりしていました。
In winter, prey gets scarcer and they're often eating grasshoppers, crabs, and the like.
A beautiful male Brown Shrike was also catching grasshoppers and other prey.