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

How much longer will the Pheasant-tailed Jacana stay?

Black-faced Spoonbill, adult. There are 4 Black-faced Spoonbills at 3 locations on Ishigaki Island.

The first Eurasian Coot confirmed this season. In recent years, summering individuals have also been turning up in Okinawa.

An adult Greater White-fronted Goose that kept flying about every time farming work began.

A flock of Eurasian Teal.

Northern Shoveler numbers have been increasing too.

Eurasian Wigeon are also increasing in channels and rice fields.

A flock of Black-winged Stilts. They can be found at several spots on Ishigaki Island.

First Eurasian Robin of the season — adult female.

White-faced Wagtail, first-winter female.

White-faced Wagtail, first-winter male.

The two White-faced Wagtails were always moving around together.

Eastern Marsh Harrier, juvenile male. What a beautiful bird.

Eastern Marsh Harrier quartering over grassland in search of prey.

A classic Eastern Marsh Harrier pose. Those legs are long.

Perched on grass, taking a rest.

There appeared to be prey here as well.

I hear that Eastern Marsh Harriers are declining in Japan as reedbeds and other habitats are lost — I hope this one winters safely and gets to raise young.

Eastern Marsh Harriers are usually hard to observe at close range, so it was lucky to get these close shots.

A Black-winged Kite holding position in the north wind, extending and retracting its legs to keep its balance.

Two Common Buzzards circling on a thermal.

A Javan Pond Heron that has been staying for some time. Not particularly wary, but it isn't easy to find.

First Brambling of the season — adult female.

Caspian Tern, juvenile. First-winter plumage.

Same individual as above.

Caspian Tern — adult in winter plumage (left) and juvenile.

Caspian Tern, adult winter plumage, found at a different location.

Black-faced Spoonbills: an adult (right) and a juvenile to young individual. The two birds that have been present since last month appear to have moved to a new spot.

Crested Serpent Eagle, adult.

Northern Lapwing, juvenile.

Grey Plover, juvenile. There were two of them.

A Great Cormorant landed in the distance.

First Tufted Duck of the season. Appears to be a male in eclipse plumage.

A Greater White-fronted Goose, adult, staying on its own. Plenty of food available after the rice harvest.

Northern Lapwing in a flock of nine. All were juveniles.

Black-crowned Night Heron, juvenile. An individual with little wariness.

Eastern Cattle Egret and Intermediate Egret roosting in the mangroves. Not visible in the photo, but Little Egret and Great Egret were also present.

Taiwan Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

White Wagtail, male, first-winter plumage.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

Grey Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

Buff-bellied Pipit, first-winter plumage.

Buff-bellied Pipit, adult winter plumage.

Red-throated Pipit, transitioning from summer to winter plumage.

Red-throated Pipit, first-winter plumage.

Brambling, adult female, winter plumage.

Eurasian Skylark, juvenile.

Eurasian Skylark (foreground) and Buff-bellied Pipit.

Two Eurasian Skylarks.

A pale-coloured Eurasian Skylark. Could it be from the continent?

Eurasian Skylark juvenile.

Tail feathers and primaries of a Eurasian Skylark.

Looking at the tail feathers like this, T4 through T6 show white. According to the references I have on hand, T4 has almost no white, so I wonder if this falls within individual variation.

The White Wagtail stood out, being noticeably larger than the Eastern Yellow Wagtail and Grey Wagtail.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail in winter plumage. A female, perhaps?

Eastern Yellow Wagtail moulting into winter plumage.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail first-winter plumage.

Grey Wagtail in winter plumage. The pale area is probably due to the tertials having been shed.

Crested Serpent Eagle and Eastern Yellow Wagtail. A bodyguard, perhaps? ^^

The two Dusky Thrushes I observed for the first time this season were both in first-winter plumage.

Common Kestrel, female juvenile.

Caspian Tern, adult in winter plumage.

Three adult Caspian Terns.

Common Redshank, adult. Moulting from summer to winter plumage.

Common Greenshank moulting into winter plumage.

Red-necked Stint in winter plumage.

Common Snipe juvenile.

Also a Common Snipe juvenile.

Pacific Golden Plover, adult winter.

Ruddy Turnstone, winter plumage.

The Great Cormorant that appeared as a pair the other day had increased to three.

Crimson Sunbird, male (right) and female.

Crimson Sunbird, juvenile. A little more molt and the sex would be distinguishable, but in juvenile plumage it is not.

Five Crimson Sunbirds in the photo, but there was one more.

A Crimson Sunbird male stretching. The white area on the outer half of the tail feathers shows up well in flight.

Crimson Sunbird, female. Molting into winter plumage.

This female is also well into the molt. Four birds are in this shot alone. The individual at the far back is the sixth Crimson Sunbird. ^^

Greater Scaup, juvenile male. A few first-winter feathers are just starting to come in.

Crimson Sunbirds in driving rain. Three birds across two locations.

Tufted Duck, juvenile female.

Crimson Sunbird, adult male.

Crimson Sunbird, adult female.

Three male and four female Crimson Sunbirds — seven in total. One more female is behind the leaf at the upper left of the frame. There was also a juvenile, but on the day it was discovered, a Peregrine Falcon took it right in front of my friend's eyes.

The male in the left-center of the frame was a strangely pale individual.

Ryukyu Crake, juvenile. Molting into first-winter plumage; a few brown feathers are just visible.

The wind spread the crest open, revealing the beautiful pattern of the juvenile plumage.

Crested Serpent Eagle, adult female.

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult male. I was hoping to see a hunting scene, but it was in full lounge mode — no luck….

Purple Heron, adult. My son has lately been obsessed with dinosaur books and made a huge fuss saying, "There's a bird from the age of the dinosaurs." ^^ I haven't yet told him that birds are dinosaurs.

A flock of Grey-tailed Tattlers, Pacific Golden Plovers, and Grey Plovers.

Three adult male Pale-backed Pigeons today, all males.

A young Black-faced Spoonbill. About seven individuals are staying at three different locations combined.

Northern Lapwings are also turning up in good numbers this season. So far I haven't encountered a single adult — they are all juveniles.

Common Snipe: adult (left) and juvenile.

Both of these Common Snipe are juveniles.

Amur Falcon, female, first-winter. Some juvenile feathers are still retained.

It seemed to be chasing a grasshopper or something, but the hunt was unsuccessful.

The Amur Falcon is pale overall, with narrow, small streaks on the breast.

A pair of Black-winged Kites. The male is on the left.

I'm not quite sure what this is. For now I'll call it a White-faced Wagtail, female, first-winter.

The black apron on the breast is almost entirely absent. Whether this falls within individual variation for White-faced Wagtail or represents a colour morph, I'm not sure….

Yellow Bittern, juvenile. An individual with little wariness.

Ryukyu Minivet — wait, Cinnamon Bittern, juvenile. This one was also not particularly wary.

Chinese Pond Heron, first-winter.

A Common Snipe caught off guard for a moment, out in a dry spot.

A dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard that first appeared as a juvenile in autumn 2018, now returning for the third consecutive year.

The dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzards are all quite wary, including the individual from the Okinawa main island.

A Eastern Marsh Harrier being chased by a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.

Siberian Rubythroat, adult male, winter plumage. Last year I found one at the dam lakeside; this time it's by a riverside. Perhaps Siberian Rubythroats prefer to be near water.

A Siberian Rubythroat was moving through the secondary woodland, calling with a low "gug-gug."

I wanted to watch it for longer, but it kept moving through the shrubs and undergrowth.

Brambling, male, winter plumage.

White Wagtail (leucopsis), first-winter.

The same individual as above, from the front.

An individual likely to be Mekong Wagtail. Female, first-winter. Separating first-winter leucopsis, ocularis, and baicalensis White Wagtails is tricky.

Yellow Wagtail (taivana), first-winter.

White Wagtail, first-winter.

Red-throated Pipit, adult. Mid-moult from breeding to winter plumage.

Buff-bellied Pipit, winter plumage.

Eurasian Skylark, first-winter.

A different individual from the one above. Eurasian Skylark, first-winter.

A juvenile Ryukyu Striated Heron appeared right in front of me in the evening.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle. It will remain in full juvenile plumage until next spring.

A juvenile Common Kestrel, moulting into first-winter plumage. This individual showed no inclination to flee.

An adult male Peregrine Falcon. It was distant, in the rain…

An adult winter-plumage Caspian Tern resting in a rice paddy. For some reason this paddy often attracts Caspian Terns.

Black-headed Gull, adult, winter plumage. Beautiful.

Black-headed Gull, first-winter.

Also in first-winter plumage, but with more juvenile feathers retained than the individual above.

Common Redshank — the quintessential bird of Okinawa in winter. First-winter plumage.

Northern Lapwing, juvenile. Beautiful metallic sheen.

Common Snipe. Moulting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

Also a Common Snipe moulting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

Another Common Snipe. The snipe here are almost all Common Snipes.

Common Greenshank, adult winter plumage.

Green Sandpiper, first-winter plumage. The loudest and most conspicuous call of any wader here.

Dunlin, first-winter plumage.

Chinese Pond Heron, juvenile. Moult is progressing.

Malayan Night Heron, juvenile. Around the face and on part of the wing coverts it is beginning to acquire adult plumage.

The crest of this Malayan Night Heron juvenile has a heart-shaped mark. ^^

A family of Bean Geese. The two birds on the left and right are adults; the two in the middle are juveniles.

Bean Geese gleaning fallen grain. The one on the left is an adult; the rest are juveniles.

Eurasian Teal, adult female (foreground) and juvenile.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Taiwanese form), first-winter plumage.

Well, here's a White Wagtail that looks a bit odd. First-winter plumage.

Same individual as above. A type that looks like the Taiwanese form of Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

The white uppertail coverts are intriguing. What could it be?

An ordinary White Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

Red-throated Pipit, first-winter plumage.

Male Crimson Dove moulting into first-winter plumage.

Adult Crimson Dove. Still retaining much of the breeding plumage.

Male Black-winged Kite.

Female Black-winged Kite.

Female juvenile Common Kestrel.

First-winter White Wagtail with a beautiful bluish-grey back and grey rump — the Siberian form.

First-winter East Asian White Wagtail.

First-winter White Wagtail (leucopsis).

Male Crimson Dove. Transitioning from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Same individual as above. From the opposite side.

There was just one mixed in among a dozen or so Oriental Turtle Doves.

Ducks in the waterway: Eurasian Teal, Eurasian Wigeon, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, and Northern Shoveler.