アカショウビン、カンムリワシ、アカガシラサギ(動画あり)
海岸でシギやチドリを見ていたらヘロヘロになったアカショウビンの幼鳥が防波堤に墜落するように舞い降りました。海上を渡っている最中だったのでしょうか? 疲れた様子のアカショウビンは海岸沿いの遊歩道の欄干で少し休むと海岸林内に消えて行きました。
田んぼでは、カンムリワシを見る機会が増えています。幼鳥は先月、1羽確認していますが本番はこれからですね。
先月のジャワアカガシラサギに続き、今季初のアカガシラサギも到着しました。近年の石垣島はジャワアカガシラサギが入ってからアカガシラサギが入るというのが恒例です。沖縄本島もそのようになってきています。
A tired-looking Ruddy Kingfisher juvenile. The heat radiating off the concrete was causing heavy shimmer — everything came out hazy. ^^;
Bill, feathers, and feet all still so young, and yet it's already heading off on migration.
Crested Serpent Eagle, adult. It was hunting in a paddy field during farm work.
The moult cycle is long, so the feathers are quite ragged.
Prey caught. This style of hunting might be one of the reasons the feathers get so worn.
Okinawa Crow also gathered around the farm work.
Nictitating membrane closed — giving it a white-eye look. ^^;
Chinese Pond Heron arriving. Before 1970 it seems to have been a rare bird, turning up roughly once every twenty-odd years, but it apparently started increasing around the 1980s and breeding has been confirmed. Javan Pond Heron, said to be strongly sedentary, is also on the rise, so it might follow the same path. Maybe Indian Pond Heron will be next to increase. ^^;
