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

A Peregrine Falcon flying over the waves. I thought it might be going after a duck, but apparently not.

Resting on the rocks, paying no attention to potential prey.

The Mallard I forgot to photograph the other day.

In the pasture, a Common Kestrel searching for food.

A Light-vented Bulbul damaging the cabbage crop.

The second sighting of a Bean Goose at this spot this season. Two of a flock of five.

As they circled over the rice paddies, the flock split into two groups.

The Pied Avocet — the avocet — was still present.

White-breasted Waterhen, scarce on Okinawa Island. I finally managed to get a photo.

A Northern Lapwing — unusual for Okinawa.

An adult female Eastern Buzzard hunting in the evening.

Startled after nearly getting clipped on the head by a Common Kestrel.

The Eastern Buzzard just barely hits the brakes, tucks its neck in, and dodges the Common Kestrel's attack.

It was attacked repeatedly.

The eighth Pied Avocet this year. With so many turning up, the excitement is starting to wear off… ^^;

It was foraging in a rush field, bathed in the evening glow.

A Common Kestrel in the setting sun. Given the low light in the evening and shooting handheld, this result is more than satisfactory.

The combination of the 7D Mark II and EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM looks like it will come in very handy going forward.

Okinawa's turf stays a beautiful green even in winter. The Olive-backed Pipit was catching small insects lurking in the lawn.

A flock of a dozen or so Olive-backed Pipits.

The White Wagtail working as parking-lot attendant at the Manko Waterbird and Wetland Center.

Since the first record on November 11, Pale Thrush numbers have kept climbing and they are now everywhere. Still just as hard to photograph as ever.

Kentish Plovers and others are resting on a land-readjustment site.

Plenty of Kentish Plovers, yet not a single ringed individual. ^^;

Pale Thrushes perched on high branches could be approached reasonably well.

The park has a vast expanse of lawn — ideal for Pale Thrushes and others searching for food.

Pale Thrush. The EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM I recently bought new handles backlit situations well too.

A Lesser Sand Plover that had come from Jiangsu Province, China.

It also has a metal ring on the left leg, but the number could not be read.

Dunlin in first-winter plumage. About 20 birds were resting in scattered groups.

Kentish Plover, male, winter plumage.

A Far Eastern Curlew resting at high tide.

A Lesser Sand Plover that flew into a power line and died instantly.

Poor thing. I'd like to call for urgent underground cabling of power lines.

A single Northern Lapwing turned up. It showed no sign of moving from this posture.

Temminck's Stint. Foraging mixed in with a flock of Long-toed Stints.

I finally managed to photograph a Ryukyu Least Bittern — they're so wary it's usually impossible to get a shot. On Ishigaki they're easy enough, but…

Five Greater White-fronted Geese.

Four Tundra Bean Geese.

Common Redshank.

Common Greenshank.

Long-toed Stint.

Pacific Golden Plover.

Common Snipe.

Small Indian Mongoose. It was once thought to be the Javan Mongoose, but apparently DNA testing identified it as this species.

Grey-faced Buzzard in flight. Starting from the original 5472 pixels wide and cropping all the way down to 1192 pixels, and still this much resolution. Handheld, but the image stabilisation is working well. ^^ A little noisy, but that's APS-C for you.

Same Grey-faced Buzzard as above. This one cropped to 1990 pixels.

Pine woods means Olive-backed Pipit.

A cormorant in harsh backlight from the low western sun. No nasty flare — looks good.

A flock this size is unusual for Okinawa.

They flew off eastward in a beautiful formation.