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.
今季、2羽目となるソリハシセイタカシギを仕事に向かう途中に見つけました。^^ 写真を数枚写したのち、友人らに知らせて後にしました。友人によると、翌日は場所を少し変えていたようです。
タシギが数日前から一気に増えました。ある田んぼでは、ほとんどタシギだったりします。
Pied Avocet, first-winter plumage.
It walked through the paddy swinging its bill side to side, picking up prey.
Both Common Snipe. There were four Common Snipe in this paddy.
Common Snipe juvenile (foreground) and Long-toed Stint juvenile.
数日前から滞在しているハジロクロハラアジサシは石垣島内に2カ所で合わせて3羽いました。
ツバメチドリは十数羽だったのが、50羽になり、80羽になりどんどん増えています。
クロハラアジサシは島内各所で数羽の群れが見られます。
White-winged Tern juvenile in flight.
Adult Oriental Pratincole flying low.
A White-cheeked Tern juvenile that had caught a large Lesser Emperor dragonfly.
A White-winged Tern coming toward me.
The White-cheeked Tern's prey was so large it nearly dropped it several times.
A White-winged Tern that came down into the paddy. An individual in mid-moult from juvenile to first-winter plumage. I found another White-winged Tern in the same area.
White-winged Terns and Oriental Pratincoles are resting on the paddy bunds.
I thought it might take a bath, but it flew off just like that.
A juvenile White-winged Tern bathing.
An adult Oriental Pratincole bathing.
White-winged Tern flies differently from Black-bellied Tern, so you can tell them apart somehow even from a distance.
ハシブトアジサシを見つけました。今季初めての飛来となります。車を走らせていると一瞬、アジサシとすれ違い、顔がどう見てもハシブトアジサシに見えたので戻って探すと海岸に降りて水浴びをしていました。
A Bridled Tern in transition from juvenile to first-winter plumage. This is the first time I've managed to photograph a perched bird this close. ^^
A Bridled Tern bathing.
A Bridled Tern in flight. Backlit — a shame.
An adult Black-bellied Tern showed up too, but disappeared somewhere almost immediately.
Greater Sand Plover in flight. Unlike Lesser Sand Plover, when Greater Sand Plover flies the feet extend just slightly beyond the tail tip.