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

A Grey Wagtail that caught a small insect. The yellow on the undertail-coverts is vivid — first-summer plumage, perhaps.

The first Grey Wagtail of the season arrived right after the typhoon.

Waders seem to be turning over day by day. Wood Sandpiper is the most numerous.

A Crested Serpent Eagle that has finished breeding. A juvenile is also showing up nearby.

The flight feathers and other wing feathers still have a lot of growing to do.

When a crow passed over the nest, it struck a threat pose.

The other chick.

It was so hot that it kept its bill slightly open the whole time.

Purple Heron siblings. They were moving along the branches near the nest.

A Purple Heron chick regurgitating a pellet.

A chick receiving food bill-to-bill from a parent. Another chick's bill is jabbed into the back of the feeding chick's head… ^^;

The well-grown chicks beg from the parent with such intensity that the parent is desperately trying to dodge being stabbed by their bills.

A juvenile Ruddy Kingfisher that had caught a spotted cricket. It had plunged into a Chuetsu palm thicket to take it.

An adult Ruddy Kingfisher beginning its moult into winter plumage. The moult is starting around the face.

This individual has a darkened bill. The flight feathers and tail are worn to tatters, right down to the shafts.

It was hunting exclusively in low spots just a few tens of centimetres above the ground.

The claws are also visibly darkened. I wonder what condition it will be in at its wintering grounds.

I went along the forest road looking for Emerald Doves — there were about three, but they were all distant or hidden deep in the scrub with branches and leaves in the way. The usual Crested Serpent Eagle was perched at ease in a Chinaberry tree, waiting for prey.

A Javan Pond Heron in winter plumage — subtle. The vertical streaking from the neck to the breast looks thinner than on Chinese Pond Heron.

It was catching small insects.

A Little Egret foraging nearby. Standing next to the Javan Pond Heron, it looks large.

Black-winged Stilt, first-winter.

Also first-winter. It appeared to be missing its left foot and was stumbling when trying to feed.

Notice of road closure.

An adult Pin-tailed Snipe. First of the season.

An adult male Ryukyu Flycatcher, foraging along the forest road.

A Javan Pond Heron that has been present for about a week now.

Javan Pond Herons lurking at the far end of a rice paddy can be surprisingly hard to find. Take the time to scan carefully with binoculars.

A juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe.

Adult Swinhoe's Snipe. Caught an earthworm.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Another Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Black-winged Stilt in fresh juvenile plumage. Finding one like this feels like a lucky find. ^^

Wood Sandpiper, adult, mostly winter plumage.

Red-necked Stint, adult, late summer plumage.

Purple Heron, adult.

Ruddy Kingfisher on the forest road. Moult and fading are well advanced.

Ruddy Kingfishers don't call as much as they do at the peak of the breeding season, but this individual was singing occasionally.

It caught a grasshopper. A Taiwanese cricket, perhaps?

Ruddy Kingfisher at the pasture. This one never sang — it gave alarm calls from time to time.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, adult, with supercilium.

The supercilium is quite whitish for an adult Eastern Yellow Wagtail. Large numbers of Eastern Yellow Wagtails pass through Okinawa on migration, but I have never seen a bird of this type before.

Wood Sandpiper, juvenile. The gleaming fresh plumage is beautiful.

Common Redshank, moulting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Juvenile Long-toed Stints have been turning up in increasing numbers lately.

Black-winged Stilt, moulting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

White-winged Tern, juvenile.

A juvenile Purple Heron spreading its wings to air them out.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, adult. Moulting into winter plumage. Behind it is a Long-toed Stint.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, late summer plumage. Some winter feathers already coming in.

Grey-tailed Tattler, late summer plumage.

Marsh Sandpiper, adult winter plumage.

An adult Purple Heron that has taken a turtle.

The Javan Pond Herons are staying on. Two individuals are in the same paddy field.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (taivana), adult.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (taivana), juvenile. The upperparts show more brown than in a juvenile Eastern Yellow Wagtail (tschutschensis).

Ruff, juvenile female. It had joined a flock of Wood Sandpipers.

Juvenile Marsh Sandpipers have finally started to arrive.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, adult. Summer plumage transitioning to winter.

Juvenile Long-toed Stints are increasing in number as well.

Red-necked Stint, adult. Summer plumage transitioning to winter.

Swinhoe's Snipe.

Another Swinhoe's Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipes everywhere — all juveniles….

Swinhoe's Snipe, adult. Summer plumage transitioning to winter.