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

A juvenile Brown Shrike actually caught a Lesser Emperor dragonfly!!

The Brown Shrike seemed not to want to eat the dragonfly's legs — it pulled them off one by one and discarded them.

It bit off the upper half of the dragonfly and swallowed it whole.

A Chinese Pond Heron flying far in the distance. I never expected to encounter a Chinese Pond Heron in an industrial area.

White-headed Bulbuls gathering at cluster-fig fruit.

An adult male Chestnut-cheeked Starling. It was mixed in with a flock of White-cheeked Starlings.

The remains of a Japanese Sparrowhawk.

When I looked over at the nearby sandy beach, an Ethiopia had been washed ashore. It was still lively and flopping about, so I picked it up and threw it out to sea, and it swam away. In Okinawa, Ethiopia is eaten as tempura and other dishes. Very tasty.

Asian Brown Flycatcher, first-winter plumage.

Juvenile Grey-streaked Flycatcher.

Also a juvenile.

Adult Grey-streaked Flycatcher.

Juvenile Grey-streaked Flycatcher.

Juvenile Brown Shrike.

A Javan Pond Heron keeping a wary eye on the movements of a farmer.

A shiver in the light drizzle.

When I first spotted it, it appeared to be foraging for food, tucked into the patch of grass visible in the background. Its behaviour is no different from a Chinese Pond Heron. The Chinese Pond Heron I found the other day was extremely wary, but this Javan Pond Heron does not seem to be particularly so.

An adult female Chinese Goshawk. When it appeared from the foot of Nago-dake, it flapped hard in the morning sunlight and soared high up into the sky.

An adult male Chinese Goshawk.

Chinese Sparrowhawk, juvenile. This year's young birds migrate alongside the adults.

Chinese Sparrowhawk, adult female.

Chinese Sparrowhawk, adult male. The upperparts are a beautiful blue-grey.

Chinese Sparrowhawk, adult female.

It launched out to target a dragonfly. The Red-footed Falcon's hunt was over in an instant.

A Red-footed Falcon resting in a banyan tree in the middle of a field. It didn't flee even when the farmer stepped out of the vehicle.

The underwing is monotone. The area around the vent is tinged orange.

The upperparts of an adult male Red-footed Falcon are a beautiful blue-grey.

From the legs to the vent, the same vermillion as the feet. The talons are white.

A Red-footed Falcon that caught a mouse. It was far away. ^^;

The atmospheric shimmer had me churning out blurry shots one after another. ^^;

It spread its tail feathers. Does the tail have the same 12 feathers as the Common Kestrel?

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult male. It was threatening and driving off other Grey-faced Buzzards.

The Grey-faced Buzzard that was driven off by the individual above. There were quite a few Grey-faced Buzzards in the farmland. Passage migrants and wintering birds, perhaps?

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Sleeping Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Common Snipe.

Four Northern Pintails.

There were four Eurasian Teals in total — a group of three and one on its own.

Common Redshank with an injured wing.

Whiskered Terns flying about energetically in the rain. Moulting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilt.

Long-toed Stint, late juvenile plumage.

Grey Wagtail.

The Common Redshank was stealing prey flushed by the Common Snipe. ^^;

Whiskered Tern, winter plumage.

There was a group of four Dunlins.

There were a lot of Scaly-breasted Munias gathered together.

An imm. Red-footed Falcon. After this, it was startled by a truck and flew off.

A male Narcissus Flycatcher. You can see that the tip of the upper bill is slightly chipped.

This is another individual. The bill is not chipped.

My impression was that mainland Narcissus Flycatchers are more orange than Okinawa's Ryukyu Flycatcher, but perhaps this is just how they are.

A Red-footed Falcon launching from its perch after spotting prey.

The small black object in the direction of the Red-footed Falcon's gaze is the prey — a bee.

It successfully caught the bee.

Eating the caught prey while in flight.

A Grey-faced Buzzard headed into the grass, targeting a mouse.

It dived into the grass.

A Grey-faced Buzzard that caught a mouse. It tried repeatedly to swallow it whole, but in the end tore it apart and ate it.

A Grey-faced Buzzard launching from its perch after spotting prey.

Grey-faced Buzzard in flight.

A Brown Shrike was impaling a grasshopper as a larder.

A male Narcissus Flycatcher. It perched on a fukugi right in front of me.

This one was close too.

Sitting quietly on a bench and watching, it came down to the ground repeatedly to forage. The Narcissus Flycatcher was behaving in much the same way as the Grey-streaked Flycatcher.

It was in slight backlighting, but this was the closest shot. It was calling repeatedly — I couldn't quite tell whether it was a contact call or something else.

A few Grey-streaked Flycatchers were in the same park as well. The Grey-streaked Flycatchers and Narcissus Flycatchers paid no attention to each other at all.

Perhaps because of the overcast skies and occasional rain, a Ryukyu Kajika Frog also appeared.

The juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard that came closest to me. The right eye appears to be injured.

The Eurasian Hobby seems to have taken up residence — it attacked every Osprey that passed through.

A juvenile Japanese Sparrowhawk also attacked an Osprey.

An adult Japanese Sparrowhawk. Probably a resident individual rather than a migrant.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard passed directly overhead.

An Osprey in flight carrying a fish. Looks like it might be some kind of snapper?

Plenty of Grey-faced Buzzards were diving down steeply rather than moving on. Will they migrate tomorrow?

A Grey-faced Buzzard migrating while eating some prey.

A dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard. Stunning. Adult male.

The wing is pointing in an odd direction, but it just caught on a branch — no injury.

Like a full-body leotard.

The dark-morph bird was even being chased by juveniles at times.

A pitch-black Grey-faced Buzzard. From a distance it looks like a crow.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard. The upperparts are beautiful too.

A juvenile Chinese Sparrowhawk also appeared.

Grey-faced Buzzards with no intention of migrating were chasing each other around, enjoying the autumn sky.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard drifted leisurely overhead.

Diving sharply into the forest. At this time of year, most of the migrating Grey-faced Buzzards are juveniles.

At a park near a Grey-faced Buzzard migration watchpoint, a female Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker was, for some reason, excavating a hole.

She had already dug down to about this depth.

An adult male Amur Falcon that came to a tree right in front of me.

I thought it had taken off after a bee, but it overtook the bee and went after a grasshopper instead.

Under a clear autumn sky, it flew around the pasture catching prey.

An Amur Falcon banking sharply. Beautiful.

It also hovered several times, apparently targeting a mouse.

The Amur Falcon's hover is almost identical to that of the Common Kestrel.

A friendly Amur Falcon that hovered nearby again and again.

A Common Redshank with a metal ring, which appeared at the same spot last year too.

Ruff, juvenile to first-winter plumage.

A Long-toed Stint I hadn't seen in a while. Just one bird, mixed in with a flock of Long-toed Stints — it was alone among them.

A juvenile Common Redshank with a broken wing.

A few Marsh Sandpipers were in the irrigation channel. Moulting into adult winter plumage.

Long-toed Stints were present in good numbers in the channels and paddies.

Three Common Snipe.

Common Snipe.

A Common Snipe with an abnormal tail.

Also Common Snipe. The paddies were full of them.

There was just one Swinhoe's Snipe.

White Wagtails have been increasing since mid-October.

Adult male Red-footed Falcon. Beautiful.

In the evening, in heavy rain, a female Red-footed Falcon (right) also appeared in the same pasture.

The male's favourite perch. When he lands here it's relatively close, but the branch the female favours is far away. ^^;

A few Oriental Pratincoles in the sugarcane fields. They are presumably heading further south on migration.

Striated Heron at Gushi tidal flat. This is the first time I've seen a Striated Heron here.

Four Eurasian Coots had come to the river mouth. They were busily pecking at leaves.

Adult male (left) and juvenile Red-footed Falcon.

Adult male Red-footed Falcon looking relaxed in the morning sun.

They were hard to see in the heavy rain the other day, but this morning I got a good look at this beautiful bird.

From around 8:30 a.m. it became active, hovering over the pasture in search of prey.

The underwing of the Red-footed Falcon looks as though it has been painted in two halves — black and white. The juvenile, by contrast, had a black-and-white mottled pattern.

While hovering — its specialty — it seems to be scanning the area for prey. Prey includes grasshoppers and mice.

The upperparts of the adult male Red-footed Falcon are entirely blue-grey.

The Red-footed Falcon returning to its favourite perch with a large grasshopper in its grip.

Early morning allows shooting in good light.

A flock of about ten Grey-faced Buzzards arrived and gradually dispersed, landing in the farmland around the area.

Common Kestrel. It hovered right in front of me several times.

Apparently it flew around nearby after I left. This shot was taken from some distance.