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

Northern Lapwing, first-winter. There were four in total, but all were juveniles.

Common Redshank, panning shot. ^^ A metal ring is fitted on the right leg.

Little Stint, first-winter?

Common Snipe, first-winter?

Northern Lapwing, first-winter.

Common Greenshank, adult winter. It was smaller than a typical individual.

Black-winged Stilt looking cold. First-winter. Seen in a small flock.

Green Sandpiper.

At this time of year, Long-toed Stint numbers are also down from their peak.

The Eurasian Coot stayed motionless like this. I wonder if it was injured.

Two Pied Avocets have been staying for an extended period. Will they winter here?

About ten Common Snipe were along the edge of the reed bed.

A flock of about 40 Common Greenshanks.

A single Black-headed Gull was out on the Gushi tidal flat. The kingfisher guy was there too. ^^;

Lurking along the riverbank — an adult female Yellow Bittern.

A Common Snipe napping in the warm weather.

There were lots of Common Snipe in the rush fields.

A large Chinese Softshell Turtle basking in the sun.

A Blue Rock Thrush and a mantis in a fierce battle. The Blue Rock Thrush won, of course.

Four Common Shelducks in the paddies. Four Common Shelducks on Ishigaki Island — that's unusual.

A pair of Black-winged Kites. They were far away and the atmosphere was bad, so I churned out shot after shot with nothing in focus. This one is among the better ones. ^^;

A female Crested Serpent Eagle in flight.

A Crested Serpent Eagle that flew straight toward me.

A Grey-faced Buzzard launched itself at a grasshopper. It grabbed it with its feet and carried it off toward the windbreak.

Yellow-throated Buntings occasionally turn up in large flocks on Ishigaki Island too.

This time it was a flock of just four, all adult males.

A male Daurian Redstart was busily pecking at cycas fruits left over by a crow.

While I was watching the Yellow-throated Buntings, a female Daurian Redstart appeared from somewhere.

There was a Buff-bellied Pipit in the paddies. A flock of eight Grey Buntings also turned up, but they disappeared into the pampas grass and I couldn't get a shot…

The snipe were all Common Snipe. Others around included Common Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt, Marsh Sandpiper, and Common Redshank. I couldn't manage to find the Solitary Snipe my mentor pointed me toward — disappointing.

A Crested Serpent Eagle in the pasture.

A Crested Serpent Eagle throwing itself at prey with full force.

Continuing from the photo above. For such a fierce attack, the prey turned out to be just an earthworm… ^^;

A Crested Serpent Eagle returning to its usual perch on the sprinkler.

Spotted prey and heading out again.

The spread wings show the back, so you can see the state of the moult.

It was working hard at hunting despite being buffeted by strong winds.

It seems the Crested Serpent Eagle takes several years to complete a full moult, so the old feathers are ragged. You catch a glimpse of the hardship of life in the wild.

The Ryukyu Minivet appeared to be mid-hunt. A guppy is peeking out from the side of its bill. ^^

A Chinese Pond Heron that caught a mole cricket at the field's edge.

It gave the prey a quick rinse in the water before eating it.

The Chinese Pond Heron is one size smaller than the Little Egret and one size larger than the Yellow Bittern.

Two Northern Lapwings had come into a harvested pasture. Both were juveniles.

This one was a Northern Lapwing in a rice paddy.

The White-breasted Waterhen walked along the farm road, occasionally pecking for food in the grass.

A Chinese Pond Heron still in breeding plumage.

Chinese Pond Heron in flight. When it arrived during my previous visit, it would startle and fly circuits around the pond every time someone walked along the promenade, but by the end of the wintering period it had become quite used to people and would come within a few metres. It will probably settle down again before long this time too.

When startled, it would usually rest here, hidden from the promenade by a screen of reeds.

A juvenile Striated Heron crossed right in front of me. Beautiful patterning.

A Collared Kingfisher that caught a crab on the tidal flat exposed by the receding tide.

It heads back to its favourite branch with the crab still in its bill. The scapulars and wing coverts are subtly different in colour.

This is the Collared Kingfisher's favourite branch. Unfortunately half its body ends up hidden.

Caught a crab again. Manko is teeming with crabs, so food is never a problem for those who eat them.

Possibly a species of emperor bream. It carried the fish into the shade of the mangroves to eat.

This one got a plump mullet. Holding it with one foot.

An Osprey diving into the shallows.

Continuing from the photo above. It seems it came up empty-handed.

This Osprey snatched two mullet in one go!! And holding them both with one foot!!

An Osprey with what appears to be a large emperor bream.

A female Yellow Bittern appeared about 20 metres in front of me.

A Yellow Bittern waiting for prey at the water's edge.

Even in backlight, the Yellow Bittern was clearly distinguishable from the Ryukyu Bittern.

At high tide, Eurasian Curlews, Whimbrels, Common Redshanks, and Pacific Golden Plovers were resting on the tidal flat.

A male Ryukyu Dwarf Bittern. Beautiful.

A female Ryukyu Dwarf Bittern. This individual can be identified by the chipped tip of her bill.

The wing pattern is clearly different from the female Von Schrenck's Bittern the other day. Both are wonderful birds. ^^

This Ryukyu Scops Owl was perched in a pine tree jutting out over the river, apparently waiting for frogs coming to the still water below. Even when it disappeared for a while, it always came back — clearly a favourite hunting spot. That said, this individual is not very accustomed to people, so I only pressed the shutter once. It would be a shame for the owl to abandon such a valuable feeding site, and I'd lose one of my pleasures too. ^^;

There's a large Huntsman Spider on the branch it's perched on — I wonder if the owl has noticed?

This is a Ryukyu Scops Owl living in the park, extremely tame. Even if I accidentally got as close as about two metres, it didn't flinch at all.

This individual treated me to a slightly muffled, descending call: "wok, wok, wok, woh". I wonder if, like the Ryukyu Scops Owl, the Ryukyu subspecies also has different calls between males and females?