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

The rice had grown tall enough that I couldn't see the whole bird, but I found a Swinhoe's Snipe.

Same individual as above. There's a good chance this will be my last Swinhoe's Snipe of the season, so I stuck it out trying to get a shot of the tail feathers… ^^;

A precious view of the flank of a Swinhoe's Snipe!! This individual was last recorded on 7 May.

A different Swinhoe's Snipe. This one was last confirmed on 1 May.

A female Greater Painted-snipe, encountered after a long absence. The male is probably incubating eggs at this time of year.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl. This pair has started breeding at almost the same time as last year. Three Ryukyu Scops Owl nests confirmed.

A male Brown Hawk-Owl. An individual that has bred here several years running.

Two Brown Hawk-Owl nests confirmed.

A male Ryukyu Cinnamon Bittern appeared in a conspicuous spot once the downpour stopped. Nuptial coloration is showing.

A male Ryukyu Cinnamon Bittern singing.

It flew off in response to the calls of another individual.

A different Ryukyu Cinnamon Bittern. The nuptial coloration on this one is not so pronounced.

While watching the Ryukyu Cinnamon Bittern, an Intermediate Egret dropped down right in front of me.

A Black Drongo near home, now on its fourth day of the stay.

Oriental Pratincoles arriving one after another.

Foraging while flying back and forth over the rice fields.

A small flock of six. They will likely move on from here.

A Eurasian Spoonbill that has been making a long stay since early April.

A Black-faced Spoonbill preying on a tadpole. A young individual.

Size comparison: Black-faced Spoonbill (right) and Great Egret.

A Whiskered Tern feeding on small insects.

An unlikely combination — Whiskered Tern and Northern Shoveler.

A Pacific Golden Plover transitioning into breeding plumage.

A Chinese Pond Heron in breeding plumage.

A Squacco Heron at a different location. Too far away to make out clearly.

A Purple Heron getting ready to enter breeding season.

There were around 20 Grey-tailed Tattlers at the river mouth.

A single Common Greenshank at the river mouth.

A Ryukyu Ruddy Kingfisher near my home. It appears to be test-digging trial nest holes in several spots.

A Black-faced Spoonbill in the rice paddies. A young bird.

Squacco Heron in breeding plumage. Some nuptial coloration is showing as well.

These two Squacco Herons were together. They still retained some winter plumage.

A female Ruff. Winter plumage is still prominent.

Four Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. This individual had the most advanced breeding plumage of the group.

The Little Stint is transitioning into breeding plumage but still retains some winter plumage.

Whiskered Terns in breeding plumage. A small flock of several birds.

A singing male Ryukyu Narcissus Flycatcher.

Same individual as above. 2cy, perhaps?

A Ruddy Kingfisher at Banna Park, perched on one of its favourite thick Mucuna vines.

A Red Turtle-Dove looking tired.

A male Ryukyu Sparrowhawk targeting a Eurasian Tree Sparrow that had fled into the bushes.

A young individual that turns up regularly in this rice paddy, completely unafraid of people. It appears often in the mornings and evenings.

The hybrid duck that has been here since February last year. The moult seems to have progressed and there is some change in appearance. Could this be its breeding plumage?

A male Large Hawk-Cuckoo. I was able to observe it at quite close range for an extended period.

A Large Hawk-Cuckoo about 100 metres away. A Brown-eared Bulbul was perched nearby, which made the size of the Large Hawk-Cuckoo stand out all the more. True to its status as the largest of Japan's cuckoos, it was about the same size as a Large-billed Crow.

A Black Drongo that turned up in a rice paddy. An individual retaining a lot of old feathers — perhaps in the middle of a moult into first-summer plumage.

A front view of the same individual as above. Old feathers are also conspicuous around the breast. A second individual was confirmed separately the same day.

A Ryukyu Scops Owl that breeds every year near my home. The nest tree appeared to be the usual Casuarina.

A Tufted Duck resting on floating weeds.

A Tufted Duck drinking water.

When the sun hit, it moved into the shade.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl keeping watch over the nest. This is the third consecutive year breeding at the same site.

A Ruddy Kingfisher in the neighbourhood. It made an aerial catch of a moth that passed right in front of it, but then spat it out and discarded it.

"Mitchan," a rescued female Crested Serpent Eagle, swallowing a Swamp Eel. It has become one of her favourite feeding spots, but fights with the resident territorial individual are a constant occurrence here.

A Common Buzzard passing over my house. It looks like it had just caught prey — the throat is visibly bulging.

A Ryukyu Duck that looks set for a long stay.

A Eastern Spot-billed Duck with chicks in a waterway. The chicks were being stalked by a Crested Serpent Eagle.

A Ryukyu Duck sitting on aquatic vegetation on the far bank.

Wary of a fisherman, by the afternoon it was doing nothing more than poking its head out of the grass.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle beating its wings powerfully. It was released one and a half months after being taken into care.

It was banded around this time last year, so it is now exactly one year old. Still largely covered in juvenile plumage, though showing considerable wear.

A Ryukyu Duck, just its face showing.

A Eurasian Coot (foreground) and a Ryukyu Duck. The Ryukyu Duck was on guard that day and barely showed itself.

A Chinese Pond Heron in nearly full summer plumage. Large numbers have arrived again this season.

A Grey-headed Lapwing — one of very few on Ishigakijima — arrived. It looked a little tired.

The Cotton Pygmy Goose was active on this day.

A Cotton Pygmy Goose burst out of the grass it had been resting in. It took off almost vertically.

It flies toward me. The long legs — a characteristic feature of the Cotton Pygmy Goose — catch the eye. Among duck species on record in Japan, the Cotton Pygmy Goose is the only one whose legs extend beyond the tail feathers in flight.

My α1 has been plagued by AF freezing since I updated the firmware to version 2, but this time it tracked reliably. I was able to produce a good number of valuable flight shots of the Cotton Pygmy Goose. ^^

A Cotton Pygmy Goose coming in to land on the water.

A Cotton Pygmy Goose moving through floating vegetation.

It was feeding on what appeared to be aquatic plants or algae beneath the surface.

Perhaps it's the eye-ring — reminiscent of a Lesser White-fronted Goose — that gives the Cotton Pygmy Goose its charm.

A Common Cuckoo still in juvenile plumage. I was able to observe it at close range.

A Brown Hawk-Owl on watch. It paid no attention even as pedestrians walked past within arm's reach….

A Little Tern colony. I hope they have a successful season this year.

A Kentish Plover chick that had learned to fly a little.

Several chicks appeared to be hiding in the grass.

A White-breasted Waterhen family bathing in a puddle on the road.

A Purple Heron spreading its wings to threaten another individual. The other bird was backing away.

A Purple Heron facing off against the individual above. It was puffing up its feathers and closing the distance.

A Grey Heron that caught a swamp eel. Swamp eels seem to be plentiful; Crested Serpent Eagles, Purple Herons, and Intermediate Egrets were also feeding on them.

A female Japanese Paradise Flycatcher.

The male paired with the individual above. It was a short-tailed type.

Ryukyu Scops Owl, male. Fledglings from this nest are expected to leave sometime around mid-June.

Brown Hawk-Owl, female. Keeping watch near the nest.

The male paired with the individual above. He has taken up his lookout post just across the road — close enough that a passing walker could almost reach out and touch him.

Photographed a juvenile Ryukyu Minivet from my front entrance. I never found the nest, but they breed somewhere in the neighbourhood every year.