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

A juvenile Ruff.

Same individual as above. It was picking off insects on the rice plants.

A juvenile Ruff in a different paddy field.

Marsh Sandpiper in winter plumage.

A juvenile Red-necked Stint. I thought it might be a Little Stint based on its shape, but it wasn't.

Another Red-necked Stint.

I thought this might be a Little Stint, but no….

Dunlin, juvenile.

Marsh Sandpiper, winter plumage.

Common Greenshank, winter plumage.

Common Redshank, first-winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilt, first-winter plumage.

First Pacific Golden Plover juvenile of the season.

Kentish Plover, winter plumage.

Whiskered Tern, first-winter plumage.

The Scaly-breasted Munias were feeding in a flock on Spirogyra algae that had bloomed in the paddies.

A flock of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings. About 50 birds.

Brown Shrike, first-winter plumage.

A Crested Serpent Eagle that is often found just a few dozen metres from my house. The village mascot — it'll perch on your hand. ^^

An individual identifiable as a Swinhoe's Snipe by the face alone.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Another Swinhoe's Snipe juvenile.

Same individual as above.

Same individual as above.

Swinhoe's Snipe (foreground) and Gallinago megala.

Same individual as the Swinhoe's Snipe above.

Pin-tailed Snipe, juvenile.

Same individual as above.

Pin-tailed Snipe (left) and Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juveniles. The bird in the background is the same individual as above.

The foreground individual from the shot above.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Same individual as above.

Same individual as above.

Swinhoe's Snipe, adult winter.

Swinhoe's Snipe, first-winter.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Common Snipe, first-winter.

Also a Common Snipe, first-winter.

From left: Swinhoe's Snipe, Swinhoe's Snipe, Pin-tailed Snipe, Swinhoe's Snipe.

Same individual as the second from the left in the shot above.

Pied Avocet, juvenile.

Pied Avocet and Black-winged Stilt. Both juveniles.

The Spotted Redshank is in first-winter plumage. It was keeping company with a Marsh Sandpiper.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Same individual as above.

Same individual as above.

Megasnipe, juvenile.

Megasnipe, first-winter plumage.

Common Snipe, juvenile.

Common Snipe, adult.

Common Snipe and Common Redshanks had gathered here.

Common Snipe, adult.

Common Snipe, juvenile.

Common Redshank and Wood Sandpiper foraging side by side.

Eurasian Wigeon, male. Eclipse plumage.

Also eclipse plumage.

Eurasian Wigeon, female non-breeding plumage.

Northern Shoveler, male. Moulting from eclipse into breeding plumage.

Japanese Leaf Warbler. I was able to identify it because I could hear its call.

Same individual as above.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher, juvenile, near my home.

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult male.

Grey-faced Buzzard, adult female.

This is a juvenile.

The dark-morph Black Honey Buzzard is visible slightly to the lower left of center in the image.

When a bird you hadn't even considered turns up, you have no idea what you're looking at…. ^^;

It was eating the seeds and roots of grass growing on the paddy berm.

A juvenile Pheasant-tailed Jacana also turned up, but was completely upstaged by the Purple Swamphen.

Same individual as above. A Pheasant-tailed Jacana stretching.

The distinctive ornamental tips of the flight feathers are also visible.

A Javan Pond Heron currently staying at several locations around the island.

The Purple Heron was waiting in its usual spot.

The Pin-tailed Snipe have disappeared entirely, but a few Common Snipe remain.

A first-winter Spotted Redshank also turned up.

Ruff are turning up in rice paddies here and there this season as well.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, juvenile.

A male Mandarin Duck had also turned up. There is apparently a Garganey among them too, but I couldn't find it….

Red-throated Pipit numbers are steadily increasing.

(Yellow-browed) Eastern Yellow Wagtail, winter plumage. Large flocks move around in units of 100 birds.

(Yellow-browed) Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

(Yellow-browed) Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

A female Siberian Stonechat. Two were in the same paddy field and occasionally squabbled.

I went to check the paddy field where a dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard that has been wintering on Ishigaki-jima for five consecutive years as of last year comes to, but it hadn't arrived yet. There was a juvenile in its place.

A Crested Serpent Eagle eating a turtle.

A Western Swamphen photographed at about 30 metres. It has an air of quiet intensity about it.

A Western Swamphen that moved into the paddy field. It was pulling up rice plants and eating the roots.

A Western Swamphen taking flight from the grass.

In an abandoned, unharvested paddy field, it was feeding on the remaining rice.

At a glance the head alone might be mistaken for a Common Moorhen, but the size is completely different. The Western Swamphen is larger than you might expect.

Whenever seeds of grass-family weeds were available, it preferred those.

A Western Swamphen that had gradually been coming closer.

Pecking at rice grains.

A Western Swamphen's feet, enormous in proportion to its body.

The Western Swamphen used these large feet to draw food toward itself before eating.

A Western Swamphen on an overcast day.

When the sun hits it, the colours become even more brilliant.

A Western Swamphen running across the paddy fields. A typical day consists of eating rice here, or moving to another field to drink water and eat plant stems.

While watching the Western Swamphen, an Oriental Reed Warbler appeared.

It wouldn't come out of the thicket…

A Eurasian Tree Sparrow with partial leucism on its face.

Red-throated Pipits have been increasing.

A completely unwariness Hen Harrier juvenile. It was an extremely aggressive hunter, and the upper surface of its flight feathers was stained with mud.

It was stooping and harassing a Common Pheasant.

Every time the Hen Harrier swept low over the paddies, the waders and small birds panicked. The Purple Swamphen scrambled into the undergrowth in a hurry too.

A Hen Harrier hovering with its eye on something.

While the Hen Harrier was quartering the area, a parent and juvenile Black-winged Kite — the ones that hold this paddy as their territory — scrambled into the air. The bird above is the juvenile, the one below the adult.

A juvenile Pheasant-tailed Jacana, currently staying in the area.

A Garganey among a flock of Common Teal.

Two Greater White-fronted Geese arrived — the first of the season.

A Whiskered Tern that caught a large Lesser Emperor dragonfly. Even a master flier seems no match for a bird.

Juvenile Red-rumped Swallow. A flock of around ten birds was flying around the paddies.

Also a juvenile.

A female Siberian Stonechat. Birds have turned up at several sites across the island.

The first White Wagtail of the season was of the subspecies leucopsis. Every year, leucopsis is the first to arrive.

A partially leucistic juvenile Common Moorhen.

Juvenile Ruff. The bird in front is male, the one behind female.

A partially leucistic Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Birds with leucism and other colour variations turn up fairly often among the sparrows in this area.

A Purple Swamphen walking along a farm track toward me.

After it disappeared into the undergrowth for a while, it reappeared at its usual spot to eat rice.

The Javan Pond Heron was feeding on dragonflies and grasshoppers around flocks of Eastern Cattle Egrets and Great Egrets.

Eastern Cattle Egrets now fully in non-breeding plumage. These and Great Egrets are what's in the paddies at the moment.

A flock of a dozen or so Common Redshanks is staying in the area.

Temminck's Stints are scarce, but some are also lingering.

Little Ringed Plover, first-winter. The most common plover in the rice paddies.