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

A male Citrine Wagtail in beautiful summer plumage.

At the pond, it was hopping from rock to rock, foraging for insects in the water and at the base of the grass.

In the drainage channel, it was catching aquatic insects.

Seen head-on, the Citrine Wagtail is yellow from the top of the crown all the way to the belly.

There are a few dark feathers mixed in around the nape. A young individual?

A Grey Wagtail that was nearby the Citrine Wagtail.

There was also a small flock of Long-toed Stints.

A Dunlin coming into breeding plumage.

This one is still in winter plumage.

A Common Redshank also changing into breeding plumage.

A Long-toed Stint that came right up in front of me as I sat at the water's edge.

A Grey-tailed Tattler bathing.

A Oriental Pratincole that landed right in front of me. Beautiful breeding plumage.

The first Oriental Pratincole confirmed this season.

A male Garganey.

A Eurasian Teal that was associating with the Garganey. It was not a female Garganey.

A male Garganey. A beautiful duck.

A male Garganey. Around this same time last year, one stayed for just a single day at Sankakuike.

A female Bar-tailed Godwit. Perhaps in breeding plumage.

A male Bar-tailed Godwit. Breeding plumage.

The Bar-tailed Godwits were feeding as they walked along the water's edge, recovering from the journey. They will continue north from here.

A flock of about 50 Lesser Sand Plovers was resting on a development site. Among them was a flagged individual, which I didn't notice in the field — I only spotted it while sorting through the photos. The flag was fitted in Jiangsu Province, China.

Lesser Sand Plovers showed a range of plumages, from nearly full breeding plumage to still in full winter plumage.

The temperature was high and the air was shimmering, making it hard to get clean shots. ^^;

A Marsh Sandpiper coming into breeding plumage. A beautiful pattern.

A Temminck's Stint. In flight, the white outer tail feathers on both sides are conspicuous.

A Common Redshank in breeding dress.

Wood Sandpiper.

Some Whimbrels appear to be overwintering.

Pectoral Sandpipers are usually solitary, but there were an unusual six together.

A Pectoral Sandpiper in the process of moulting into its beautiful breeding plumage.

Bridled Tern in breeding plumage. This was my first time seeing the breeding plumage, so I was delighted.

It kept flying around in the distance and never came close….

A male Garganey in breeding plumage. Beautiful. ^^

In Okinawa, Garganey can be seen one or two at a time during the spring and autumn migrations.

Happily, the Great Knots were in a flock of six. They have changed into beautiful breeding plumage.

The flock of six kept close together, following one another up and down the shore. Three Great Knots are visible in the photo.

There were also a few Grey Plovers.

A Far Eastern Curlew I found by its call just as I was leaving. It's a large shorebird, but it blended into the surroundings so well I couldn't spot it with the naked eye.

The Oriental Pratincoles took a rest in a carrot field.

It was a small flock of six in splendid breeding plumage.

There were also a few Grey-tailed Tattlers.

The Great Knot was probing its bill into crevices in the rocks searching for food. It appeared to be catching small shellfish.

Great Knots really are beautiful sandpipers.

A few Ospreys are still around and appear on the shore searching for prey.

On the grass, it was catching a grasshopper or something similar.

Clinging to reeds, it was catching small fish that appeared near the water's surface.

A female Kentish Plover incubating on sand.

A Kentish Plover nesting at the edge of a grassy patch and gravel. When a walker passed nearby, it crouched low and stayed on alert.

Another Kentish Plover nesting on sand. Feral cats are sometimes seen in this area — I hope the chicks make it.

A Kentish Plover incubating at the base of some grass.

The area nearest this Kentish Plover's nest seemed to be the cats' main thoroughfare.

After a cat came and the parent flushed from the nest, three eggs were left behind.

At this nest, a male Kentish Plover was incubating. According to the field guide, males incubate at night — and yet…

Here too, the parent fled when a cat passed by. It looks like two eggs. If it goes up to three, I'll be able to estimate the hatch date, so I'll keep watching.

This spot is a bit further away. No cats passing through, so it should be fine.

This Kentish Plover was an individual that didn't flush even when cats or people passed close by.

The Kentish Plover above stood up. Three eggs could be confirmed.

A feral cat wandering around the Kentish Plover nesting area.

Cats are cute enough in themselves, but once out in the wild they're a threat to wild birds and small animals. Control is necessary.

Marsh Sandpiper in breeding plumage.

It was foraging in a channel, keeping neither too close nor too far from a Common Greenshank.

Large numbers of Black-winged Stilts were resting along the Okukubi River. They appear to be birds moving north.

A Cattle Egret with an injured neck.

Wagtails have become almost absent; this day I spotted only a single Grey Wagtail.

A flock of Pacific Golden Plovers on the field embankments.

There were four snipe in the same paddy field. I have a feeling they're Swinhoe's Snipe.

I don't think this is a Common Snipe.

The chick is in the center, the parent bird to the right.

The Little Whimbrel was catching insects as it walked through the grass.

It was a flock of four, but only two fit in the frame at the same time.

Where the Little Whimbrel landed, the grass was tall, and getting a full view of the bird was quite difficult.

It didn't seem particularly wary — when I kept still it kept coming closer and closer.

There were also many Oriental Pratincoles passing through on migration.

Oriental Pratincoles are basically unafraid of people.

A Curlew Sandpiper observed at close range.

Beautiful breeding plumage. As the white fringing present in early breeding plumage wears away, the red becomes even more vivid.

The wonderfully comical face of a Curlew Sandpiper, seen head-on.

A large flock of Pacific Golden Plovers taking flight all at once when a Peregrine Falcon appeared.

A Kentish Plover chick. Already foraging on its own.

A Kentish Plover chick attempting to climb up onto its mother's back.

A Kentish Plover mother and chick.

This is the father.

Kentish Plover chicks scrambling under their mother's belly, startled by a jet aircraft.

A Kentish Plover chick coming out from under the parent's belly after checking that the coast is clear.

Greater Sand Plover in breeding plumage. As high tide approaches, they come here to rest.

Greater Sand Plover in breeding plumage.

Greater Sand Plover and Lesser Sand Plover.