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

Eurasian Bittern eating a swamp eel.

Ryukyu Dwarf Bittern, juvenile.

Yellow Bittern, juvenile.

Painted Bush Dove, first-winter male.

White-faced Wagtail, first winter.

Citrine Wagtail, first winter.

Black-faced Spoonbill, juvenile.

Northern Lapwing, juvenile.

Long-toed Stint without tail feathers.

Dunlin, first winter.

The Bohemian Waxwing was targeting ripe, coloured berries.

It ate a few fruits of the Ryukyu fig, then rested.

The White-shouldered Starling arrived alone.

The Eyebrowed Thrush has been staying since last month.

A female juvenile Purple Heron moving through the grass.

A Yellow Bittern juvenile caught a shrimp. The prey was almost always shrimp.

A Yellow Bittern on alert to a Black-winged Kite flying overhead.

Most of the time it stays in the shadow of the grass, so it's hard to spot.

A long-staying Javan Pond Heron. A very relaxed individual.

A juvenile Eastern Marsh Harrier flying in the distance.

Little Crake, juvenile.

Probing the mud while foraging. I wonder what it's eating?

Usually quite wary and hard to see, but this individual didn't seem particularly bothered.

Moving quickly along the paddy bank, it looked just like a mouse. ^^;

Spotted Redshank is a rare bird on Ishigaki-jima. This was a juvenile.

Two Temminck's Stints were present.

A winter-plumage Rufous-necked Stint was also staying.

The Long-billed Dowitcher is still around.

All the snipe currently being seen are Common Snipe.

A Northern Lapwing eating a large hawk-moth caterpillar.

Kentish Plover, first-winter plumage.

A Lesser Sand Plover in full breeding plumage, for some reason. Perhaps it came from the Southern Hemisphere?

This one is a Lesser Sand Plover in ordinary winter plumage.

Little Ringed Plover, first-winter plumage.

A Siberian Stonechat still present. It would be remarkable if it wintered here.

Red-throated Pipits are everywhere.

White Wagtails are scarce on Ishigaki-jima.

White Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

An adult female Ruddy Shelduck dropped into a paddy field after harvesting.

It showed no wariness at all, picking up fallen grain.

When a Crested Serpent Eagle flew overhead, it became a little alert.

The Baer's Pochard continues its long stay.

A juvenile Bean Goose was resting alone.

Juvenile Eurasian Teal

A juvenile Yellow Bittern tensing up as our eyes met.

A Caspian Tern appeared at the river mouth.

A juvenile White-browed Crake appeared close by. I was surprised at how close it was. ^^;

A White-browed Crake foraging as it walked.

What the White-browed Crake is holding in its bill is a bloodworm.

At the closest it was maybe 10 metres or so.

In the deeper water it seemed to be swimming.

A White-browed Crake arriving at the shallows after swimming over.

A rare banzai pose from a White-browed Crake.

The back view of a White-browed Crake. The white spots are lovely.

Common Snipe, first-winter plumage.

The snipe are now all Common Snipe and it's getting a bit dull. ^^;

Juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle.

Black-winged Kite, probably second-year.

Juvenile Common Kestrel.

Juvenile female Pale-capped Pigeon.

Male Chestnut-cheeked Starling.

Also a male. There were females too, but they didn't come out into the open.

White-shouldered Starlings are scarce this year. They're usually the most numerous species at this time — I wonder what has happened.

A Eurasian Bittern in full view.

This is how it looked when I found it.

A Eurasian Bittern on alert, watching me.

When I stayed quiet, it relaxed and began foraging in the grass.

Adult Purple Heron. Probably a female.

A Long-billed Dowitcher now into its second month here, fully moulted into winter plumage.

Common Snipe, first-winter plumage.

Dunlins feeding as they move through in a flock.

The adult female Ruddy Shelduck back again in the same paddy field.

Ferruginous Duck, juvenile male.

Ferruginous Duck, juvenile female.

I thought it was about to take off, but it just shook its body.

I wonder if the brown will become even stronger once it moults into first breeding plumage.

Female Northern Pintail.

Male Gadwall.

Male Eurasian Wigeon. Moulting into breeding plumage.

Male Northern Shoveler.

Male Common Teal moulting into breeding plumage.

A Little Grebe stretching its legs out onto the water's surface.

A juvenile Yellow Bittern hiding in the grass.

A Yellow Bittern that caught a small fish.

Common Snipe, 1st-winter plumage.

A Siberian Stonechat in wintering mode.

A male Yellow-browed Bunting.

Another individual Yellow-browed Bunting. Also a male.

A male Siberian Greenish Warbler in winter plumage.

Same individual as above.

Same individual as above. On alert for a Common Kestrel that appeared.

The Common Blackbird ducked into the bushes in an instant. ^^; The photo is a blurry mess, but it turned up somewhere unexpected so I'm logging it. This season, Common Blackbirds keep popping up here and there at a leisurely pace.

A female Daurian Redstart. At first I couldn't see the white wing patch and my heart skipped a beat. ^^;

The Dusky Warbler was moving with flocks of Japanese White-eyes and similar birds.

A Crested Serpent Eagle gripping a mouse in its right foot.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle that has been showing reliably lately.

It shows no wariness, but I'm keeping my distance as prolonged observation could interfere with its foraging.

A Ryukyu Scops Owl on my first night search in a while.

Two juvenile female Ferruginous Ducks. There was a juvenile male too, but it stayed deep in the grass and I couldn't get a shot….

A juvenile female Ferruginous Duck.

A Ferruginous Duck on a different day.

Likewise, a different individual Ferruginous Duck on a different day.

Greater Scaup, a rare bird in Okinawa. First-year male.

Greater Scaup, first-year female.

Common Pochard, adult female.

A young Eurasian Spoonbill. Only one spoonbill this season.

Ryukyu Striated Heron, adult male.

Same individual as above. Foraging while moving along a drainage channel.

The Northern Lapwings were all juveniles — around 12 birds.

Black-headed Gulls in the rice fields. Up to about eight birds, all in first-winter plumage.

A good number of Common Snipe are wintering.

Common Sandpiper, first-winter. Wintering singly here and there.

Common Redshank, adult winter plumage. Wintering in a small flock that includes both adults and juveniles.

Red-tailed Tropicbird, juvenile.

Yellow-browed Wagtail, first-winter.

Yellow-browed Wagtail, first-winter.

Buff-bellied Pipit bathing.

Red-throated Pipit numbers are down and Buff-bellied Pipit numbers are up.

Buff-bellied Pipit, first-winter.

White Wagtail (leucopsis), first-winter.

White Wagtail, first-winter.

Blue Rock Thrush, female. Probably first-winter, but I haven't looked closely enough at a bird I see all the time, so I'm not really sure. ^^;

A Crested Serpent Eagle pouncing on prey.

A Crested Serpent Eagle flying low toward its prey.

The pair of the individual above.

The Crested Serpent Eagle breeding season has begun, and activity is picking up. Their calls are audible back and forth all around.

Crested Serpent Eagle, juvenile. The 16th individual this season.

Purple Heron, juvenile. This one was feisty enough to drive off an adult.

Javan Pond Heron, adult. This individual was still a juvenile up until last year, so it is in its second year.

A long-staying Javan Pond Heron. On alert for a Peregrine Falcon.

Also a long-staying Chinese Pond Heron.

Spotted Redshank, first-winter. I'd love for it to stay until it turns black.

Common Redshank, first-winter.

More than ten Common Snipe in the same paddy field.

Dunlin in a flock of eight.

White-shouldered Starling. The top bird is male; the two below are female.

Little Bunting, arriving in good numbers this season.

In the rain, it had come down to the ground and was sitting still.

A Yellow-browed Warbler foraging as it moves busily from branch to branch.

What is the prey? It's too small to tell clearly, but it looked like it was eating some kind of insect, perhaps aphids.

It becomes camouflaged when it moves into the leucaena leaves.

In the undergrowth, a Japanese Bush Warbler. It was having a hard time swallowing a stick insect.

I think several subspecies of Japanese Bush Warbler are visiting, including Sakhalin Bush Warbler and Korean Bush Warbler. Is this one just a plain Japanese Bush Warbler?

Female Daurian Redstart. It seems females are the majority of the Daurian Redstarts remaining on Ishigaki Island.