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.
越冬ヤマシギの様子を見てきました。 先日の7羽 から数を減らし、今回は3羽のみの確認でした。
田んぼのゴイサギはあんなにたくさんいたのに、見つかったのは幼鳥1羽のみでした。沖縄本島で近年、繁殖する個体も増えていますが、いなくなったのは春の渡り組だったのかもしれません。
ほかにはアオバズク2羽とタゲリ、アオアシシギ、セイタカシギ、カルガモなどを夜の田んぼで観察できました。
A Eurasian Woodcock foraging on the lawn. A group of three was moving together, probing the soil for prey.
Of the several dozen Black-crowned Night Herons that had been there, only this one juvenile remained.
あちこちでリュウキュウツバメが巣作りに励んでいます。
2羽のリュウキュウツバメが田んぼで泥を集めると近くの道の駅ゆいゆい国頭の建物へ運んでいた。
I couldn't tell which was male and which was female, but the two of them were collecting mud together and carrying it to the same spot.
The other individual.
ギンムクドリとツグミを確認しました。ギンムクドリは、カラムクドリやコムクドリに比べると少ないです。
同じゴルフ場に沖縄本島では珍しいツグミもいました。石垣島など八重山地方にはそれなりの数が越冬しますが、沖縄本島でツグミは渡りの季節にごく少数を確認するのみです。
ほかのツグミの仲間も期待したのですが、この1羽だけでした。
Male Silky Starling.
First Dusky Thrush of the season. Quite a rarity for Okinawa. ^^
ヤツガシラ3羽を農耕地で発見しました。遠くを飛び去る個体を入れると4羽。これで沖縄本島でのヤツガシラは今季10羽確認したことになります。
沖縄本島に赴任してきて3年目。1、2年目は全く見つからなかったヤツガシラは、今年は南部から北部まで各地で見つけられました。当たり年なのか今まで探す場所が悪かったのか…。
A Eurasian Hoopoe that struck a pose for me on the lawn.
There were two of them — one blurred in the foreground.
This Eurasian Hoopoe was alone. After feeding, it was relaxing up in a Chinaberry tree.
It was a little wary of the farmer, but didn't fly off — after a short while it was back to searching earnestly for food.
Whether it had just arrived from migration or not, even when a light truck passed right in front of it, this Eurasian Hoopoe sat down and stayed put for some time.
It was rooting out cockroaches from soil that a wild boar had turned over.
It drops prey it had tossed up and tried to swallow. Tired from the long journey, perhaps?
Startled by a motorbike, it flew up into a tree. Its body is sleeked down from the tension. ^^
A Eurasian Hoopoe in a flower field.
The two Eurasian Hoopoes moving together kept their distance from each other and wouldn't line up side by side….
Spotted a Eurasian Hoopoe flying in the distance. Including this individual, I was able to confirm four birds in the same area.