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

A male Japanese Sparrowhawk keeping watch almost directly above the nest.

The Japanese Sparrowhawk nest. This year they built it in an Acalypha tree. The leaves are so dense it looks like observation will be difficult.

It was on alert whenever a crow flew by far in the distance.

By its second breeding year it had come into full adult plumage.

A male Ryukyu Robin holding a small earthworm and an insect. He was carrying them into the thicket, but I couldn't locate the nest.

A female Okinawa Woodpecker carrying a longhorn beetle larva.

The male brought in some kind of beetle, species unknown.

Two Ruddy Kingfishers appeared right in front of me.

Digging head-first into the hole.

The entrance to the nest hole still seems small — it was struggling to get back out.

Female in the foreground, male in the background.

A two-shot of Ruddy Kingfishers is hard to come by on Okinawa Island, so this was a real treat.

With the rain coming down, they were lively and active. I'm looking forward to seeing what prey the Ruddy Kingfishers on Okinawa Island bring to their chicks. ^^

A female Japanese Paradise Flycatcher came to bathe. Japanese White-eyes, Japanese Tits, and Brown-eared Bulbuls followed one after another.

A Great Eggfly nectaring at a Hoya.

A Spot Helen also came to the Hoya.

The Miyako Shimpo (right), Miyako Mainichi (upper left), and Yaeyama Mainichi all featured Bird Week. The Miyako Shimpo really went all out!!

The male Brown Hawk-Owl back again this year.

A male Japanese Sparrowhawk is preparing prey for the female as a courtship feeding gift.

A female Japanese Sparrowhawk receiving the prey gift from the male. A Japanese White-eye chick, perhaps?

After presenting the prey to the female, the male went straight into the nest and worked on nest-building. His red eye peeks out from the far side of the nest.

This Japanese Sparrowhawk had already begun incubating. I expect fledging around the beginning of July.

The male Brown Hawk-Owl, now in his third year nesting here. He bred successfully in year one and year two, so I'm sure this year will be fine too.

A male Japanese Sparrowhawk scrambling in fury at a crow that has intruded into his territory.

It was scattering the crows with sharp banking turns and steep dives. Like a fighter jet attacking a lumbering airliner. ^^;

The only spot where the full body is visible is quite far from the nest tree. At that distance, the Brown Hawk-Owl is relaxed too.

A male Okinawa Woodpecker feeding his chick.

An Okinawa Woodpecker chick peering out of the nest hole. The chick has a red head like the male.

The female brought something — hard to tell what kind of prey it was.

A male Okinawa Woodpecker. A beautiful woodpecker.

An Okinawa Woodpecker that landed on a tree right in front of me. The red on the head and back, and on the belly, is simply beautiful.

A male searching for prey on a dead tree.

A female Okinawa Woodpecker. More subdued coloring compared to the male.

I shot this standing with my feet in the stream. A very pleasant location.

A female Japanese Sparrowhawk preening in the shade to escape the midsummer-like sun.

The incubating male Japanese Sparrowhawk was panting in the heat — the high that day was 31 degrees.

This pair is also used to people, so they don't care at all even when children are running around making noise.

I paid 100 yen to enter Hibiki-nada Biotope and was greeted by two Eastern Marsh Harriers.

One of the Eastern Marsh Harriers was gripping something in its talons — a mouse or similar prey. Could it be courtship feeding?

The Eastern Marsh Harriers flew reasonably close, but 400 mm wasn't quite enough.

Chestnut-eared Buntings were everywhere.

The Eurasian Skylarks looked to be starting the breeding season too. I saw males fighting with each other several times.

At Kuju Highlands, a Eurasian Skylark was walking right in front of my room.

An uncountable number of Oriental Reed Warblers had taken up residence there as well.

The Great Reed Warbler would hide in the reeds when I got close, but after waiting a while it came out and sang loudly.

While I was watching the Little Terns the sky turned threatening and I got caught in a downpour. Shot this Little Tern while holding an umbrella. ^^;

I figured something would be around the compost pile, and sure enough there was a male Bull-headed Shrike.

Is this a juvenile Bull-headed Shrike?

There were quite a few Common Pheasants around as well.

The mountain ridgeline visible in the distance from Kuju Plateau is known as the "Aso Nehan-zō" — the reclining Buddha of Aso. Now that it's pointed out, it does look a bit like Shakyamuni lying on his back.

On the way back from Kuju Plateau I stopped to see the waterfall that became famous from the Sokenbicha tea commercials. Quite an atmosphere.

A female Japanese Sparrowhawk flew down right to my feet and started sunning her wings. There's a limit to how comfortable a bird should be around people… ^^;

The male was incubating, so the female was resting in the shade of a tree.

The male on the nest.

The Brown Hawk-Owl in Naha city is still incubating as well. Last year, heavy rain that continued toward the end of June flooded the nest and the pair abandoned the attempt. I really hope they make it this year.

The Brown Hawk-Owl nesting just a few dozen metres from the Japanese Sparrowhawk's nest tree is also incubating.

The Light-vented Bulbul was carrying food to its chicks. What it has in its bill is an Iwasaki grass cicada.

The Ruff was still there.

I walked right under the nest without noticing and a Brown-eared Bulbul flushed out. Looks like it was incubating. Brown-eared Bulbul nests always seem to be tucked into this kind of messy spot.

When the Okinawa Rail was released from the cardboard box, it made a 90-degree turn right in front of the Ryukyu Shimpo reporter.

It ran past a Okinawa Times photography staff member who was lying on the ground.

And sprinted away like a startled rabbit.

You can see a metal ring on the right leg.

Apparently it had some paralysis in its legs when it was taken into care, but judging by the way it ran, it looks like it's doing just fine.

They also showed me the non-public breeding and rearing facility. This was its first public reveal to the press as well.

This chick hatched four days ago — a Okinawa Rail. The food is apparently a specially formulated mix of pellets made for ibis, combined with nutrients specific to Okinawa Rail.

A Black-naped Tern had come to the nesting site.

Last year no typhoon damage hit, and many chicks fledged. Hoping for many more chicks to fledge this year!!

I also came across a wild boar. The boars you encounter in Yanbaru are always slow and dopey, so you can get quite close.

Among the owlet species that breed in Okinawa, the Ryukyu Scops Owl chicks are by far the cutest. ^^

The parent. No idea at all whether it's female or male. ^^; Somehow it feels like a female to me.

Shooting straight into strong backlight — a struggle both to shoot and to process.

Twenty to thirty metres from the Ryukyu Scops Owl family, a Brown Hawk-Owl was nesting. It has nested here three years running.

Compared to the first year I found them, they seem somewhat more used to people — I could shoot at this distance.

This is a different Brown Hawk-Owl. Here too the nesting spot overlaps with the Ryukyu Scops Owl. The tree hollow it was using back in 2016 when I first found it was taken over by a Ryukyu Scops Owl this year. ^^;

It seems to be keeping watch through the night — every now and then it glanced toward the tree hollow where the female was incubating.

Looking up from below at what appeared to be the nesting tree — a Casuarina — I caught the eye of the female Brown Hawk-Owl. The hollow looks quite shallow.

Visible from the side as well.

This is the pair of the Brown Hawk-Owl above. Keeping guard near the nest.

A Brown Hawk-Owl nesting in another Casuarina about 30 metres away. The entrance to the hollow faces upward, so there's no way to see what's inside.

Three Ryukyu Scops Owl siblings deep inside a tree tangled with climbing plants.

They're on alert toward me, raising their ear tufts.

The parent was nearby as well.

Ryukyu Scops Owl chicks look similar to Eurasian Scops Owl chicks, but when it comes to the balance of head and body size, and the expression in the eyes, the Ryukyu Scops Owl wins for cuteness. Completely different from Brown Hawk-Owl chicks.

The Ryukyu Scops Owl feels like a little forest spirit. ^^

Go up a mountain trail like this and you reach the Ryukyu Scops Owl spot. There were several Japanese Wood Pigeons too — they seem to come for the fruits of Acacia and Macaranga trees.

I also found a Japanese Wood Pigeon feather. ^^