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

The Glossy Ibis has now been on Ishigaki-jima for one month.

Two Glossy Ibises moving around together. Hoping for breeding.

Ryukyu Kingfishers keep on increasing.

The usual Common Night Heron, well used to people, on the usual lawn.

A beautiful male Brown Shrike.

A male Black-tailed Godwit moving into breeding plumage.

It seemed to get along well with the Marsh Sandpiper and was always moving around with it.

A Common Moorhen fleeing in defeat after losing a territorial dispute.

A female Black-winged Stilt. I thought the count had dropped to zero a few days ago, but numbers are up again.

The heat haze off the ground on this sunny day makes for difficult viewing, but here is a Kentish Plover chick — probably just two or three days since hatching.

When I arrived on site first thing in the morning, there were around 20 cars already there for the Long-billed Dowitcher. They were lined up along a narrow farm track and looked likely to cause problems for the local farmers, so I stayed off the track and took just a few shots from a long distance. As a result, the corrugated-iron wave sheeting along the field bank made a solid appearance in the frame… ^^;

No matter what angle I tried, the corrugated-iron wave sheeting ended up in the background with the Long-billed Dowitcher.

A Spotted Redshank in jet-black breeding plumage. On Ishigaki-jima in autumn it's almost always first-winter birds, so this was something I'd long wanted to see.

I kept off the farm track for this one too and shot from a distance. The corrugated iron stayed out of frame, but it was just so far away… ^^;

This Bar-tailed Godwit turned up while I was searching for Spoon-billed Sandpiper. There were about six in total.

All the snipe were Common Snipe.

Also a Common Snipe. I was hoping to find a Latham's Snipe while I was at it, but no luck….

Grey-headed Lapwing chick.

A Grey-headed Lapwing chick fleeing under its parent's belly after being startled by a crow.

A flock of around 60 Dunlin and Red-necked Stint combined. No Little Stints mixed in.

There were plenty of Greater Scaup in the bay — a species treated as a rarity in Okinawa.

A Curlew Sandpiper that walked right up in front of me. It fell asleep shortly after.

Same individual as above. Moulting from first-winter into summer plumage.

An adult Grey-tailed Tattler running along the water's edge in search of prey.

Grey-tailed Tattler moulting from first-winter into summer plumage. After arriving, it called repeatedly — "pyuee, pyuee".

A Grey-tailed Tattler catching a crab at the water's edge. An individual with a noticeably late moult.

An adult Grey-tailed Tattler catching a crab in a tidal pool.

Adult Terek Sandpiper. Moulting from winter into summer plumage.

A Terek Sandpiper looking worn out.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in summer plumage.

Pacific Reef Heron, white morph.

A Pacific Reef Heron paired with the individual above.

I haven't been able to identify individuals, so I can't say whether it's the same bird as last year, but it entered the same tree hollow again this year.

A Ruddy Kingfisher with little wariness. Appears to be a female. A louse fly is visible around the neck area.

Common Greenshank in summer plumage.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, adult winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilt, adult male summer plumage.

Male Ryukyu Kingfisher in the park.

Also in the park. This one is a female.

Ryukyu Kingfisher along a forest road as well. Probably a female.

Female Ryukyu Scops Owl. She nested in the same tree hollow last year too.

The male paired with the individual above. Both the male and female are the same pair that bred here last year.

Male Ryukyu Boobook on watch.

Remarkably, the inside of the nest is in plain view. This tree hollow was excavated by a Ryukyu Kingfisher back in 2014, seven years ago. It was cut down after last year's typhoon snapped the tree and it was deemed dangerous. This pair nests somewhere fully exposed every year. ^^;

From the back. Thought to be the same individual as the male of the pair that bred here last year.

Male Ryukyu Kingfisher excavating a nest hole several metres above the ground.

A Ryukyu Kingfisher nest at a different location from the one above. It was nearly finished.

The Malayan Night Heron appears to have begun incubating as well.

Female Ryukyu Minivet. Both male and female are a common sight at this time of year. There is likely a nest nearby.

A fledgling Large-billed Crow. It could not fly at all.

Great Crested Tern stopping over on Ishigaki-jima again this year before heading to its breeding grounds on the Senkaku Islands.

Male Ryukyu Flycatcher. It is not particularly wary of people, but it lives deep in the undergrowth, so you often hear it without ever seeing it.

Unlike the Narcissus Flycatcher, the Ryukyu Flycatcher has white markings extending into the tertials.

The throat of the Ryukyu Flycatcher is yellow, whereas that of the Narcissus Flycatcher has an orange tinge.

Ryukyu Flycatcher with summer plumage replacing the winter plumage on all feathers except the primaries.

It came out into a slightly open area for a brief moment.

At this time of year, there is a high chance of encountering Ruddy Kingfishers in parks and along forest roads.

A Crested Serpent Eagle that had caught a Ryukyu Tree Lizard.

Pectoral Sandpiper. Still retaining some winter plumage.

Common Greenshank. Old juvenile feathers remain, so it is in the process of moulting into first-summer plumage.

Little Ringed Plover, male in summer plumage.

Black-winged Stilt, female in summer plumage.

A female Ryukyu Ruddy Kingfisher perched on a nicely positioned branch.

When it turned the other way — well, a slight partial leucism. I had a feeling I'd seen it before, so I went home and dug through my old data.

This individual was photographed in 2013 in the same area as the Ruddy Kingfisher above. The position of the white feathers looks similar.

A close-up of the individual photographed this time. The feathers in roughly the same position are white.

Same individual as above, but facing left it seems to resemble other past individuals as well…

That would be this individual photographed in 2013. This one is a male, but the look of the feathering on the hindneck is distinctive and similar.

A Crested Serpent Eagle sharing a feeding area with a Ruddy Kingfisher. Neither interfered with the other.

Female Emerald Dove. The plumage is quite worn. They nest in places where they have to push through Arenga palm, so I suppose the feathers get damaged easily during the breeding season. The male was not nearly as worn.

Female Emerald Dove. It was feeding on the black seeds of a Macaranga that had fallen to the ground and split open.

Male Ryukyu Scops Owl. It was cleverly hidden in a tangle of climbing plants. I am currently observing Ryukyu Scops Owls at five sites, including one where they appear to be nesting.

A Ryukyu Hawk-Owl at a new site — this is a male. Right in front of this pair's nest, a Ruddy Kingfisher was excavating its own nest hole… If the Ruddy Kingfisher finishes its nest first, it might get attacked by the Hawk-Owl… ^^; Hawk-Owls are nesting at four sites.

Male Ryukyu Narcissus Flycatcher in second-summer plumage. It was moving through its territory while singing.

First Black-naped Tern of the season. It was flying around over the sea at the coast where they breed every year. The terns that come to Ishigaki Island arrive in this order: Little Tern, Great Crested Tern, Black-naped Tern, and Roseate Tern. All except the Great Crested Tern, which breeds on the Senkaku Islands, breed along the coast of Ishigaki Island.

A female Emerald Dove on a dark forest track.

An Emerald Dove holding a Macaranga seed in its bill. At this time of year they are almost always feeding on split-open Macaranga fruit.

A female Ryukyu Kingfisher. A male was close by as well.

A young Crested Serpent Eagle. An unwary individual that uses the park as its territory.

A Black-winged Kite flew out from a woodland where a nest is thought to be. The distance to the bird was about 120 metres. At that range it paid almost no attention to me.

Same individual as above. Believed to be a female.

An almost completed Ruddy Kingfisher nest.

This one is a Ruddy Kingfisher nest still being excavated. The tree is a Ryukyu Pine, so there is a good chance they will abandon it.

A male Ryukyu Kingfisher.

While I was watching the Black-winged Kite, a Whistling Green Pigeon had quietly perched very close by. It kept a wary eye on me but did not fly off, so there is probably a nest nearby.

A supermoon during total eclipse, glowing an eerie coppery red.

A Whiskered Tern quartering the riverbank in search of prey.

Flying back and forth between the upper and lower stretches of this river.

An adult Whiskered Tern resting on a bridge railing.

A Whiskered Tern head-on. The light was against me but I managed to get a shot.

It was dashing back and forth along the riverbank.

There is something long and white visible behind the tail feathers — fishing line, perhaps?

A Whiskered Tern almost fully in breeding plumage. Besides Whiskered Terns, small numbers of White-winged Terns also visit Ishigaki Island. None yet this year.

A Black-winged Kite keeping watch. There appears to be a nest in the foreground.

An extremely close male Ruddy Kingfisher.

The female paired with the individual above. Equally relaxed around people. Mating confirmed during Golden Week.

A Ruddy Kingfisher nest separate from the pair above. It looks complete, but Ruddy Kingfishers often disappear for a while after finishing the nest, and this one hasn't been seen lately either. I can still hear it calling, so it seems to be somewhere nearby.

A female Malayan Night Heron, perhaps? The feeling is that it's raising chicks somewhere, but after it finished foraging and flew off I couldn't follow it.

White-winged Terns flying around.

All eight birds came down onto the sandbar.

A White-winged Tern bathing.

With a tailwind from the shooting position, the White-winged Terns coming toward me were moving at quite a pace, but the AF on the SONY α1 with the FE 200-600mm kept up.

A White-winged Tern that caught a freshwater prawn. The bird behind is coming in to steal it.

One White-winged Tern fleeing, another in pursuit. It managed to escape without losing its catch.

For some reason the freshwater prawns were moving along the riverbed in the middle of the day.

This one is a freshwater prawn missing its right arm.

A Little Grebe chick receiving a dragonfly nymph from its father.

A sixth egg remains in the nest, but it looks like the nest was destroyed by heavy rain two days later.

A Little Grebe chick trying to climb onto its mother's back.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl. On alert for crows.

A male Emerald Dove picking up a Macaranga seed that had fallen to the ground and split open.

Shot the other side of its face as well, just in case. Some children were making noise, so it was very much on guard. ^^;