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.
三角池に、クロツラヘラサギが3羽いました。シギチは見当たりません。
Okinawa has been having scorching summer days one after another, yet the Black-faced Spoonbill is still here. ^^;
This Black-faced Spoonbill has a leg ring marked S80. What appears to be a GPS logger is attached to its back.
The Grey Heron had made a clean catch of a mullet.
シロチドリが3ペアほど営巣していました。孵化後数日のヒナも何羽か見られました。途中、海水浴客の飼い犬がシロチドリの営巣エリアに乱入していましたが、偽傷行動する親鳥を追いかけ回すだけでヒナに被害は出ませんでした。
A very small Kentish Plover chick. It appears to be a few days post-hatching. It was also running along the sandy beach.
A two-shot with the parent bird.
These two Kentish Plovers were doing distraction displays to protect their chicks, but are they both females? Don't male Kentish Plovers take part in raising the young?
p.s. Apparently at this time of year feather wear is so heavy that it becomes hard to tell males from females. I was told the individual on the left is a male. The distinguishing point is that the lateral breast band is black. A researcher from Bird Research explained this to me.
If I sit in the shade on the sandy beach, they come within five or six metres.
A Kentish Plover stretching its neck slightly in response to the sound of the camera shutter.
Even when an Osprey flew over the Kentish Plover nesting area, the adults ignored it completely. They know it won't attack them.
This appeared from a hole in the sandy beach. A horn-eyed ghost crab.
先日、巣から顔を覗かせていた2羽のアオバズク のうち、どうも片方は巣立ったようで巣には1羽しか残っていませんでした。明日の昼にでも巣立ちビナを探してみよう。
午後8時に今夜最初の獲物を持ってきました。40分の間に6回という頻度で獲物をヒナへ運び、午後9時ごろには給餌を終了しました。最後の方は、ヒナの食い気がなくなり、なかなか餌を受け取らないような状況でした。なかなか狩り上手なアオバズクのペアです。^^
残っているヒナも今日明日中には巣立ちそうな感じでしたが、今夜は、妻の昆虫採集に付き合わないといけないので午後9時には引き上げました。
They've grown quite a lot.
It brought the first food at 8 p.m. The prey looks like a Japanese drone beetle or something similar.
Next it brought a moth.
Another moth again. The Brown Hawk-Owls here bring a wide variety of prey — moths, grasshoppers, Hierodula mantises, cicadas and more. Never once a cockroach.
From around 9 p.m. it's the usual pattern: the two of them sit watching the nest hole for ages.
This is a Brown Hawk-Owl at a different location, photographed three days ago. I expect this one will be fledging soon as well.