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.
近くでジシギが見られる水路でタシギをいくつか。
冬の間、ヒバリシギやセイタカシギが沢山たむろしていた水路でしたが、それらはおらず。アカアシシギとアオアシシギが数羽いた。
Common Snipe in the waterway.
At this time of year, almost all of them are Common Snipe.
Common Snipe foraging.
Common Snipe on alert.
A Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile standing alone in the middle of a rice paddy.
きょうもあちこちでサシバに出会いました。タイワンツチイナゴが主な獲物のようです。タイワンツチイナゴは、日本最大級のバッタだそうなので食い出があることでしょう。
A Grey-faced Buzzard launching toward its prey. It caught a large Melanoplus differentialis afterwards.
Holding prey in its left foot.
After dismembering it a little, the rest was swallowed whole. The Grey-faced Buzzard swallows prey whole, but the Common Kestrel was tearing it apart and eating it piece by piece. Probably a difference in body size.
A Grey-faced Buzzard scanning for prey from its usual perch.
チョウセンチョウゲンボウと思われる個体に遭遇しました。タイワンツチイナゴを主な獲物としていた。途中、サシバがやって来て追い払われてしまいました。^^;
Lesser Kestrel. In the process of transitioning from juvenile plumage to first-summer plumage.
Absorbed in preening. The tail feathers still appear to be juvenile.
A Lesser Kestrel bathed in evening light. I hope it stays long enough to come into full adult plumage….
A Zitting Cisticola nearby. Zitting Cisticolas are probably starting to look for mates ahead of the breeding season — I saw many individuals perched like this at the tops of grasses.