GUIDED BIRDWATCHING TOUR
We'll drive you around Ishigaki Island to wherever the birds are showing best that day. Observation is mostly from inside the vehicle, and we keep it to a maximum of 3 guests so everyone can take their time.
撮りそびれていた近所のカンムリワシを撮影。自宅前の畑にもよく現れます。ダムにはマガモが42羽いました。石垣島でこの数はなかなか珍しい。
A Crested Serpent Eagle I often spotted from my living room. It's always being hassled by a Common Kestrel.
Juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle eating prey. No idea what it was eating….
42 Mallards. You don't often see a flock this size in Okinawa or on Ishigaki Island.
2月3日から2月7日の日程で家族4人で道東旅行。そのわずかな隙を突いて、ほんの少しだけ鳥見。お目当てのチシマシギはめちゃくちゃ遠くでしたが、見ることができました。スコープの距離なので写真はなし。いつか再挑戦します。
Adult White-tailed Eagle with Kunashir Island in the background.
Adult Steller's Sea Eagle at the Notsuke Peninsula.
Juvenile White-tailed Eagle on ice that had collected inside the harbour.
Young White-tailed Eagle. 4W perhaps.
Adult White-tailed Eagle.
Adult male Red-breasted Merganser.
It was out at sea, but a Common Merganser. Male, 1st-winter.
Adult male Harlequin Duck.
A female Harlequin Duck floating in the fishing harbour.
There were plenty of Greater Scaup too. They're in the rarity category for Okinawa.
I spotted a cormorant flock and thought I'd see if there were any Pelagic Cormorants among them — but they were all Pelagic Cormorants. They seem to be using it as a roost; there were nearly 200 birds.
A Whooper Swan on an unremarkable stretch of coast. It came right up to me, so it's probably been fed by people. ^^;
There were a few juveniles as well.
Hokkaido Sika Deer were everywhere. The males and females seemed to be in separate groups.
コホオアカは越冬していますが、草むらにもぐってなかなか撮りにくい。地鳴きはあちこちで聞こえます。
ムネアカタヒバリももぐることが多いのですが、この群れは開けた場所にも出てきて観察しやすかったです。換羽のステージもさまざまでいい感じでした。
セキレイはハクセキレイ、タイワンハクセキレイ、ツメナガセキレイ、キセキレイが混在していました。
A fair number of Little Buntings are wintering in the rice paddies on the island, but they're difficult to photograph.
A Red-throated Pipit moulting into summer plumage.
Red-throated Pipit, first-winter plumage.
Preening calmly.
(Yellow-browed) Yellow Wagtail.
(Yellow-browed) Yellow Wagtail, first-winter to summer plumage.
Taiwan White Wagtail, first-winter to summer plumage.
White Wagtails were the most numerous.
A close flock of Red-throated Pipits. They were feeding on grass seeds.
Changing into summer plumage.
Red-throated Pipits offer plenty of variety in their moult — always interesting.
隙間時間に鳥見。カンムリワシは活発で成鳥、幼鳥とも出会いは多いです。チョウゲンボウもあちこちで越冬中。
漁港にはウミネコが2羽いました。釣り人のエサを狙っているようでした。
タゲリの群れがあちこちに入りました。一番大きな群れは十数羽。サトウキビ畑の堆肥には毎日、ギンムクドリやツグミがやってきます。
A Crested Serpent Eagle eating a habu.
The familiar Common Kestrel.
Black-tailed Gulls at the fishing port. First-summer (left) and adult summer plumage. Black-tailed Gulls moult as fast as Kentish Plovers, don't they.
A Common Snipe in the grass. Someone was calling it a Swinhoe's Snipe, but it's a Common Snipe.
Northern Lapwing, male. Moulting into first-summer plumage.
Northern Lapwing, female. Also transitioning into first-summer plumage.
Rosy Starling on cattle dung. It has made this a favourite feeding spot and turns up almost every day.
Dusky Thrush, first-winter plumage.
数日前から滞在中のヤツガシラを見てきました。警戒心の全くない個体でした。
アカツクシガモとツクシガモも長期滞在中。田植えも始まっているのでそろそろ移動でしょうか。
Eurasian Hoopoe. Judging by the arrival numbers so far, I have a feeling this spring will bring a lot of Hoopoes to Ishigaki.
A Eurasian Hoopoe that caught a cockroach. Cockroaches are the main food of Hoopoes on Ishigaki.
A relaxed Eurasian Hoopoe. Distance: a few metres.
A Ruddy Shelduck that has been staying since last year. There are around five individuals on the island.
Common Shelduck, adult male in breeding plumage. An adult male visiting Ishigaki is unusual.
ヘラサギ、ツクシガモは田んぼで滞在中。アカツクシガモたちは猟犬に驚いてぶっ飛んで行ったきり帰ってこない。ダムあたりに避難したのかもしれません。
越冬タシギはあちこちにいますが、越冬チュウジシギが年末以降、見つかりません…。
Two Eurasian Spoonbills, moving back and forth between Anparu wetland and the rice fields.
Common Shelduck, adult male. An adult visiting Ishigaki is unusual.
A mixed flock of around 150 Northern Pintail and Eurasian Wigeon gleaning fallen grain in the rice fields.
A group of a dozen or so Wood Sandpipers — probably the first wave of spring migrants. Year after year, in both spring and autumn, Wood Sandpiper is the earliest to arrive.
Common Snipe, first-winter plumage.
A flock of about 20 Common Snipe. Up until the end of December there was a single Swinhoe's Snipe mixed in, but…
Common Snipe in a nearby rice field. A few birds are wintering here.
農耕地を車で走っているとオレンジ色の鳥が。双眼鏡で見てみると鮮やかなハチジョウツグミでした。庭にはビンズイが8羽飛来。集落で越冬している群れです。一冬で、だいぶ人馴れしてきました。
移動組と思しきハクセキレイやツメナガセキレイも日替わりで観察できます。
石垣島では珍しいカワラヒワは刈り残しの水稲について滞在中。
A strikingly vivid Naumann's Thrush. It was conspicuous enough to catch the eye even at a distance.
A dull-plumaged Naumann's Thrush, first-winter.
Olive-backed Pipit, first-winter, that dropped into my garden.
Adult Olive-backed Pipit moulting into summer plumage.
Same individual as above.
(Yellow-browed) Eastern Yellow Wagtail, transitioning from first-winter to summer plumage.
White-faced Wagtail, male. Transitioning from first-winter to summer plumage.
White-faced Wagtail, male. This one also transitioning from first-winter to summer plumage.
The Japanese Bush Warbler calls loudly but rarely shows itself.
Seven Oriental Greenfinches on a long stay. The plumage is pale — perhaps a continental subspecies.
Brown Shrike, adult female.
間も無く渡去すると思われるので、暗色型サシバを久しぶりに見てきました。2018年に幼鳥として初めて石垣島に飛来。以来、毎年同じ田んぼにやってきて今季で5年目。今後も継続してやってきてほしいものです。
田んぼにはハヤブサが越冬中。オオバンやアマサギが定期的に食われています。
The dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard, returning for the fifth consecutive year since it was a juvenile.
It appears to have caught some prey.
Year by year it has been letting its guard down.
The dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard is really stunning.
This is a regular Grey-faced Buzzard. Adult male.
Peregrine Falcon, adult male. A threat to the birds wintering in the rice fields… ^^;
Osprey in the rain. It looked as though it had just finished a good meal.
Crested Serpent Eagle, adult. The breeding season has begun and it is very active.