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

A Sykes's Wagtail? at Kin, in juvenile-to-first-winter plumage. The supercilium looks like Sykes's Wagtail, but it's a juvenile, so… ^^;

Oriental Pratincole in winter plumage. Also at Kin.

A Japanese Sparrowhawk appeared over Manko tidal flat. No wonder the Collared Kingfisher didn't show up. ^^;

Swinhoe's Snipe at Sankakuike.

Red-necked Stint at Sankakuike.

A group of 8 Common Redshanks came to Sankakuike.

The Collared Kingfisher appeared shortly after I arrived at Toyomi Ohashi. It's been a while since our last encounter, but it looked well.

A Collared Kingfisher perched on its favourite branch. It appeared to be catching crabs and the like.

A month after the initial discovery, the crowd of people coming to see the Collared Kingfisher had dropped to zero. ^^;

The spot where the Collared Kingfisher appears, viewed from Toyomi Bridge. The branch it favours is toward the right of the frame. It also likes the area just in front of the observation platform on the left. When the tide rises to around the level shown in the photo, the Collared Kingfisher can no longer forage and disappears into the mangroves.

A Black-tailed Godwit transitioning from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

There was a Greater Painted-snipe resting in the shadow of the rice plants. A female.

In recent years the Greater Painted-snipe seems to be increasing on Ishigaki-jima; on this day I saw three females in the same paddy field.

A Swinhoe's Snipe was also foraging out in the open and showed little wariness.

An adult Black-shouldered Kite came flying toward me. It was good that it flew exactly the course I was hoping for, but after this shot I lost track of it. With my flight time pressing, I gave up the search.

It had been perched in a she-oak at first, but at some point without my noticing it had moved to a Garcinia tree.

True to its name, the Black-shouldered Kite has black shoulders. What is actually black is probably the lesser coverts, median coverts, and part of the greater coverts. The outer tail feathers are whitish, except for the central ones.

Viewed from below, you can see that part of the primaries and secondaries on the underwing are also black.

And those vivid red eyes are striking.

The tips of the primaries are coming in fresh.

Brown Shrikes were also moving through in good numbers.

Starting with the one I'm confident about: Common Snipe. I spotted around four in the same paddy field.

This looks like a Swinhoe's Snipe to me, though I'm not very confident. While I was watching through binoculars, a White-winged Tern flying overhead startled it and it fanned its tail feathers. From what I could see it looked like a Swinhoe's Snipe, but I couldn't get a photo of the tail, so it's not conclusive… (It does seem to be a Swinhoe's Snipe.)

Swinhoe's Snipe.

This one is a Common Snipe.

This one is a Swinhoe's Snipe.

First confirmed record of the season for Garganey. There were two of them.

Garganey. Whether it is a juvenile or in eclipse plumage is unclear.

White-winged Tern. In transition from breeding to non-breeding plumage.

White-winged Tern juvenile. In transition to first-winter plumage.

White-winged Tern in the process of moulting into non-breeding plumage.

Adult White-winged Tern that has almost completed its moult into non-breeding plumage. Only the primaries left to go, perhaps.

White-winged Terns flying around over a sweet-potato field in search of food.

Caught a grasshopper.

They were ranging widely over the rice paddies in search of prey.

Adult Oriental Pratincole in non-breeding plumage. Several were resting together with a flock of White-winged Terns.

Black-winged Stilt with a flag and metal ring.

The inscription read "P.O. BOX 96-216 TAIPEI M01040".

Adult Common Redshank with the flag gone, metal ring only. Behind it, a first-winter Common Redshank.

The inscription read "KANKYOSYO TOKYO JAPAN 6A27456".

Little Stint juvenile.

Because there were black feathers mixed in on the breast, I thought it might be a remnant of breeding plumage and took it for an adult Dunlin in non-breeding plumage — but it appears to be a juvenile. First-winter scapulars and mantle feathers seem to be coming in over the juvenile plumage.

Black feathers mixed into the belly are apparently a characteristic of juvenile Dunlin.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

Adult Long-toed Stint in non-breeding plumage.

Around 8:30 a.m., a flock of Chinese Sparrowhawks appeared from the eastern sky.

With the wind coming from the south, the number of Chinese Sparrowhawks passing through was small. The peak is expected around the autumn equinox. ^^

A view of Katsuu-dake. Following the trail at the back, you can reach the summit in about 40 minutes. The summit offers a magnificent 360-degree panorama.

Female Ruff, juvenile.

Common Greenshank adult winter plumage.

Common Greenshank adult winter plumage. A very small individual, about the same size as a Marsh Sandpiper. The bill also looks shorter than usual.

Marsh Sandpiper adult winter plumage.

Red Turtle-Dove adult male. A beautiful dove.

Startled by a crow, it flew up and perched in a leucaena tree.

After a while it came back down to the ground and was picking up food. The body is small, so it kept getting hidden in the grass and a full view was hard to come by.

The right eye is slightly watery. I wonder if it has conjunctivitis in one eye.

Brown Shrikes were recorded in small numbers across grasslands and farmland. Encounters have been frequent this year.

A male Red Turtle-Dove resting on a branch.

During the day the Red Turtle-Dove rested in a tree near the feeding area alongside Oriental Turtle-Doves.

Ruff juvenile male (right) and juvenile female.

Marsh Sandpiper adult winter plumage.

Common Redshank adult winter plumage.

Red-necked Stint juvenile.

Long-toed Stint juvenile.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

I thought it was a Common Snipe, but on the advice of an expert it turned out to be a Swinhoe's Snipe in first-winter plumage. In the field I did check the tail feathers, but they were in mid-moult, so there was no clinching feature, and I was apparently misled by the overall colouration and the shape of the outer webs of the scapulars.

Common Snipe on the left, Swinhoe's Snipe on the right.

The bird at the far right is a juvenile Whiskered Tern.

A juvenile White-winged Tern. Finally found one among three scattered flocks. Exhausted… but happy. ^^

An adult Oriental Pratincole in winter plumage. Even past the autumn equinox it is still hot in Okinawa, and all the pratincoles were standing with their bills open.

A charming Little Whimbrel.

A bee was hassling the Little Whimbrel. Perhaps there is a nest nearby?

It kept coming closer and closer toward us. Cars passing and people walking didn't seem to bother it at all.

The Little Whimbrel was moving back and forth between the grassland and the paddy fields where the rice had grown tall. Once it stepped into the paddies, the rice stalks were higher than the bird, making it nearly impossible to find. ^^;

It was busy foraging, and its bill was muddy.

An adult male Chinese Sparrowhawk. The wings gleaming in the morning sun looked both beautiful and powerful.

This is an adult female. Male and female Chinese Sparrowhawks can be told apart by eye colour.

A juvenile Chinese Sparrowhawk. It is gripping a Ryukyu large brown cicada in its foot. The crop is bulging, so it seems to have eaten well — but perhaps it is carrying the leftover as provisions for the long journey ahead.

A male Chinese Sparrowhawk that flew directly overhead.

A juvenile Chinese Sparrowhawk.

An adult male Chinese Sparrowhawk.

An adult female Chinese Sparrowhawk.

The largest flock of the day. The sight of more than 200 Chinese Sparrowhawks spiralling upward in a great hawkwatch column was breathtaking.

The flock caught a thermal and climbed steadily, moving south on migration.

Once they had risen to an altitude of several hundred metres, they caught the north wind and headed south all at once.

We were blessed with clear skies, and the wind shifted from westerly to northerly — perfect conditions for watching the raptor migration. ^^

An adult Common Greenshank in winter plumage.

Wood Sandpiper.

Red-necked Stint juvenile → first-winter?

Red-necked Stint juvenile → first-winter?

Ruddy Turnstone juvenile.

Long-toed Stint juvenile.

Hard to tell whether the Kentish Plovers are increasing or not….

Lesser Sand Plover, a few birds.

Pacific Golden Plover, a flock of around 20. By evening they had flown off to the hinterland.

About 10 Eastern Yellow Wagtails were moving eastward along the coast.

A roost flock of White-shouldered Starlings at the Manko tidal flat.

Dunlin juvenile → first-winter. The other day someone told me that streaking on the breast is a key feature of juvenile Dunlin — that tip came in handy. ^^

This one is a Dunlin adult, plumage nearly full winter.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper adult, late summer plumage.

Marsh Sandpiper adult winter plumage.

5 EPT, so probably an Isabelline Shrike. Juvenile.

Another Isabelline Shrike in the same field as the one above. Also a juvenile.

Citrine Wagtail.

Grey Wagtail.

Little Stint juvenile. I think this individual shows the features of Little Stint very well.

Left: Little Stint juvenile; right: Red-necked Stint juvenile.

Little Stint from the front.

Little Stint, juvenile.

Red-necked Stint, winter plumage.

Common Snipe, confident ID.

Another Common Snipe.

Common Snipe again.

Yet another Common Snipe.

It's turned into a complete Common Snipe fest.

Same individual as above.