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

A Grey-lag Goose — a first record for me, seen on New Year's Eve. I think it's an adult, but I'm not sure.

All five were moving around together in a tight group. Against the harsh backlight the glare off the water was so intense that to the naked eye they were just silhouettes… I thought my eyes would give out.

An individual believed to be a male Ryukyu Scops Owl. It did sing for me, but when it called it was deep in the forest, so I couldn't get video. I did manage an audio recording. ^^

Same individual as above. No matter how many times I see one, a Ryukyu Scops Owl always gets my pulse up.

An Okinawa Rail roosting in a Ryukyu pine. This was a find in an area where I had never seen one before.

A different individual near the one above. Perhaps they are a pair.

A Eurasian Woodcock foraging in the grass.

A Spot-billed Duck hybrid — probably a Spot-billed Duck × Mallard cross.

First-winter Black-tailed Gull. This is only the second time I've seen a young Black-tailed Gull in Okinawa. A genuine rarity here.

Whenever a Great Cormorant surfaced with a fish in its bill, the Black-tailed Gull would try to steal it.

It landed nearby. It was bathing.

A Black-tailed Gull scattering Northern Pintails and Eurasian Wigeons. I noticed in the photo that an American Wigeon was in the frame right beside the Black-tailed Gull. ^^;

There were lots of Common Snipe in the sweet-potato fields. Same scene as the rice paddies on Ishigaki Island.

This individual was banded S39 in South Korea in 2013. A veteran in its eighth year.

Female juvenile Ferruginous Duck.

Male Eurasian Wigeon in breeding plumage.

Male Gadwall in breeding plumage and female in non-breeding plumage.

Female Northern Shoveler in non-breeding plumage.

Same individual as above. It gave me a nice view of its beautiful wing coverts.

Eurasian Curlew, first-winter plumage.

Four Eurasian Curlews arrived. All were juveniles.

The dark-morph Gray-faced Buzzard, now in its fourth year. No matter how many times I see a dark morph, it looks magnificent.

The Gray-faced Buzzard's front-facing expression is adorable. ^^

Crested Serpent Eagle juvenile. It didn't seem to be catching much prey.

Common Kestrel, male, first-winter plumage.

Peregrine Falcon juvenile. It was at the Black-winged Kite nesting site near my home. The Black-winged Kites that should have been breeding were nowhere to be seen.

A Eurasian Hoopoe resting on a branch. It was completely relaxed and stayed like that for a long time.

This is how it looked at first. Perhaps it had just arrived on migration — it would occasionally close its eyes and doze off. It seemed tired.

A Malayan Night Heron busy foraging at the forest edge. A beautiful individual.

On Ishigaki Island, White-browed Wagtails may actually outnumber White Wagtails. They certainly catch the eye.

More Daurian Redstarts overwintering this season than usual.

Okinawa Rail in winter plumage. It was moving in and out of the grass. At first glance it looks plain, but on a closer look it wears an extraordinarily beautiful plumage.

Same individual as above. When crossing the paddies it was wading chest-deep through the water.

Multiple Common Snipe are also overwintering.

A male Falcated Duck in mid-moult from juvenile to first-breeding plumage. Looking pretty ragged. ^^;

The Greater White-fronted Geese that have been present for two months now total 25 birds — adults and juveniles combined.

A Tundra Bean Goose that joined the flock of Greater White-fronted Geese above. It was occasionally getting told off by the White-fronts.

A lone Tundra Bean Goose at a different location. I hid behind cover to photograph it, but it was already on alert.

A juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron. It shows so little wariness that I worry about feral cat predation.

It passed right by me.

A Common Moorhen and a Slaty-legged Crake. It felt smaller than the moorhen and larger than a Common Snipe.

A Slaty-legged Crake preening. It is quite wary, but if you wait, you can see it.

This season I am seeing Little Buntings everywhere, too many to count.

A Red-throated Pipit is also wintering here.

Among the wagtails, White Wagtail may be the least common. The most numerous is, of course, Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

A good number of Dusky Thrushes seemed to pass through in November, but come January they started appearing again.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle perched on a banana plant. Stunning.

An adult female Peregrine Falcon heading toward the ducks.

It was quite a large individual.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard (left) and an adult female facing each other down.

A physical brawl suddenly broke out. See the video below for details.

The adult female on the left appears to be at a disadvantage.

It looked as though it was gripping the branch itself, and this went on for some time.

The juvenile (foreground) lets out a cry. After this, the two birds fell to the ground locked together, and the adult fled.

An adult female Ruddy Shelduck, now staying for over a month, moving between different spots.

As always, she shows no wariness. This Ruddy Shelduck does not seem to want to join the flocks of other ducks.

A first-winter non-breeding female Common Shelduck, now staying for over two weeks.

This Common Shelduck was associating with flocks of Northern Shovelers and Tufted Ducks.

Tufted Duck, male.

Tufted Duck, juvenile.

A Caspian Tern also on an extended stay.

The Long-eared Owl perched on a branch close enough for a decent look.

This is what it looked like when I first found the Long-eared Owl — it was far off.

A Long-eared Owl that had come down to the ground. I couldn't get a shot, but a Short-eared Owl was also in the same area.

In the rain it was looking around, searching for prey. A mouse, or a frog?

The Long-eared Owl is one of the largest owls found in Okinawa, but this here is the smallest — the Ryukyu Scops Owl.

A Eurasian Hoopoe on the footpath. It appears to have just arrived.

Autumn hoopoes are hit-or-miss depending on the year, but this year looks like a big hit. I'm curious to see how spring goes.

Grey-faced Buzzard, juvenile. I get the feeling juveniles are scarce this season. I wonder if something unusual happened at the breeding grounds.

Eurasian Curlew and Grey Plover. Six juvenile Eurasian Curlews are currently staying.

The only wintering snipe on Ishigaki Island is Common Snipe. I keep looking for wintering Swinhoe's Snipe and Pin-tailed Snipe, but they're hard to find.