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

Greater Sand Plover, juvenile. It can't match the vividness of an adult in breeding plumage, but it still has a commanding presence.

From behind. The Greater Sand Plover and Pacific Golden Plover are close in size, with the Pacific Golden Plover slightly larger. The Pacific Golden Plovers seemed to dislike the Greater Sand Plovers and would occasionally chase them away.

A Pacific Golden Plover that has almost completely moulted into breeding plumage.

This one has only just begun to show some black on the breast area.

A beautiful male Bar-tailed Godwit in breeding plumage.

There were also a few Lesser Sand Plovers.

The Pacific Golden Plover was right in front of me.

I get the feeling the numbers of Black-faced Spoonbills have been declining.

The eyes are red, so this is a juvenile.

The Oriental Pratincoles were resting in a grassy area with clover here and there.

Front-on view. The black border extends down to around the throat.

Most of the area is grassland like this. It's grassland in the middle of town, but it seems to be a good resting spot for Oriental Pratincoles and others.

I thought it was a White Wagtail, but it turned out to be a White-faced Wagtail moulting from winter to summer plumage.

A few Oriental Pratincoles in a carrot field.

Pacific Golden Plovers in the carrot field too. After eating a snail, there is mucus stuck to the bill.

Triangular Pond has become very quiet. Only Black-winged Stilts remain.

A Long-toed Stint in summer plumage, with a flag.

Another Long-toed Stint from the same flock. Beautiful summer plumage.

About 10 Long-toed Stints had come into Triangular Pond.

Common Greenshanks also moving into beautiful summer plumage.

Wood Sandpiper in summer plumage too.

A shy snipe.

Just after fledging, the tail feathers are still short — body length perhaps 5–6 cm. Small and frail-looking, but a proper fledgling.

The leaves are about 4 cm long. Warbling White-eye fledglings are small and greenish, so take your eyes off them for a moment and you lose them.

The parent was calling persistently, guiding the chick toward a taller tree.

Okinawa Tit. It looks considerably whiter than the Ishigaki Tit.

It is holding a spider down with its left foot. Afterwards it flew off carrying it to the nest.

It spots a spider at the tip of a branch, but the spider jumps!! The tit dashes after it immediately and successfully catches the spider. ^^

A flustered tit and a spider fleeing for its life.

It was roosting in quite a tall tree.

Looking closely, the base of the bill has been attacked by a blood-sucking mite. ^^;

A male Ryukyu Minivet has caught a caterpillar.

A male Ryukyu Minivet passing a caterpillar to the female.

A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker with its bill crammed full of insects. It appears to be raising chicks.

There was a Okinawa Habu on the forest road. I've heard it has venom five times more potent than the Habu, but its temperament is mild so it rarely causes harm.

An individual believed to be a male Brown Hawk-Owl. I wasn't able to photograph the female.

Nearby, a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was also nesting.