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

Within a mixed flock of around 100 White Wagtails, Eastern Yellow Wagtails, and Red-throated Pipits, I found one individual that stood out from the rest.

Aside from being at a different stage of moult compared with the surrounding (Blyth's) Eastern Yellow Wagtails, the bird's bright blue-grey head, broad and long supercilium, white below the eye, and white throat suggest it could be Western Yellow Wagtail ( Motacilla flava beema ) or Russian Yellow Wagtail ( Motacilla flava flava ).

Incidentally, some taxonomic treatments regard Western Yellow Wagtail as a species separate from Eastern Yellow Wagtail, in which case Russian Yellow Wagtail would be a subspecies of Western Yellow Wagtail.

However, since this individual is in first-winter plumage, moult will need to progress a bit further before anything conclusive can be said. Picking out a bird like this from within a huge wagtail flock is its own kind of fun.

Within the White Wagtail flock, alongside the White Wagtails proper, there were also Taiwanese White Wagtails and White-faced White Wagtails.

The Rosy Starling that has been present since November last year . Moult appears to have progressed a little, but there is still a long way to go. It was associating with a flock of White-cheeked Starlings, Red-billed Starlings, and Common Starlings.

Black-winged Kites are seen in numbers on a given day, with many pairs apparently moving into breeding. Crested Serpent Eagles are also in the early stages of breeding, and calling between individuals can be observed. The number of birds visible is high.