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

Buff-bellied Pipit, first-winter.

Same individual as above. The field marks of Buff-bellied Pipit show up well.

Same individual as above. From behind.

A second Buff-bellied Pipit. Also in first-winter plumage. It was associating with the individual above.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

Chinese Sparrowhawk, adult male.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher, adult.

White-cheeked Starlings came in large flocks to parks in town and similar spots.

Common Snipe numbers have been increasing.

The Crested Serpent Eagle has entered its easier-to-observe season.

White-winged Tern, juvenile. The third bird this season.

Whiskered Tern, juvenile.

Whiskered Tern, adult winter plumage.

Ruff, juvenile female.

Among the snipe, Swinhoe's Snipe are being replaced almost entirely by Common Snipe and numbers are down.

A Swinhoe's Snipe in the distance. It may look like a Pin-tailed Snipe, but the moult stage, feather pattern and facial expression identify it as Swinhoe's Snipe.

The snipe in the paddies are almost all Common Snipe. In the paddies of this area, only the two Swinhoe's Snipe above were found among 40 snipe.

Long-toed Stint, adult (left), and Red-necked Stint, juvenile.

Wood Sandpiper, the most numerous species here.

Common Greenshank, winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilt, juvenile. It is retaining a lot of juvenile feathers for this time of year.

Temminck's Stint, juvenile. There were three birds.

Greenshank, Common Redshank, and Grey-tailed Tattler — a traffic light.

Adult Red-necked Stint. Among mostly juveniles, there was just one adult.

Adult Pacific Golden Plover.

First Garganey of the season. Likely a male in eclipse.

A few more Eurasian Teal than before.

A Dusky Warbler in the shrubbery around the fields. I could hear several calling, and while watching I had one appear right in front of me. Too close to focus….

Several Zitting Cisticolas had gathered.

Barn Swallows wheeling above the paddies. Their job is to make the snipe fan their tail feathers. ^^

Adult female Chinese Sparrowhawk. The weather has been poor and many birds unable to cross are staying on the island.

Adult male Chinese Sparrowhawk.

Male Garganey. All in eclipse.

Male Garganey. The one in the middle is a juvenile; the others are in eclipse.

First-winter male White-faced Wagtail.

First-winter Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

Adult Whiskered Tern. Moulting into winter plumage.

A lone juvenile Whiskered Tern.

A flock of Black-winged Stilts, made up of adults and juveniles.

Grey-faced Buzzard photographed from farmland. Miyako-jima has no hills, so kettles of raptors could be watched from farmland and residential areas alike.

A kettle of several tens of birds formed at low altitude. Things seem quite different here from Ishigaki-jima.

View from the survey site on Irabu-jima. No hills.

The tsunami evacuation facility that serves as a base for Grey-faced Buzzard surveys.

First-winter male Blue-and-white Flycatcher.

Adult Grey-streaked Flycatcher. An individual with no wariness — it didn't flee even when vehicles passed close by.

A very close encounter with a Kamchatka Leaf Warbler. An unusually unwary individual.

P10, another useful identification clue, can also be confirmed here.

Since the warblers observable on Ishigaki Island can safely be assumed to be either Japanese Leaf Warbler or Kamchatka Leaf Warbler, it seems we may be able to make a reasonable guess from colouration in addition to call. I'd like to put that to the test going forward.

The all-important P10 of a Kamchatka Leaf Warbler is visible!!

Male Mandarin Duck. It's in eclipse plumage, so it doesn't look very Mandarin-like.

First-winter Common Redshank.

First-winter Wood Sandpiper.

Long-toed Stint.

Red-necked Stint.

First-winter Dunlin.

Little Ringed Plover.

Female White-faced Wagtail. First-winter plumage.

Behold!! The splendid appearance of this adult Pin-tailed Snipe cloaked in winter plumage!!

The Pin-tailed Snipe caught a small earthworm-like creature. Same individual as above.

A Pin-tailed Snipe scratching its head. Displaying an otherworldly level of adorableness. Same individual as above.

Reward time. The primaries are still old feathers; some of the primary coverts appear to have already moulted. Same individual as above.

Ultimate reward time. The tail feathers of Pin-tailed Snipe are rarely seen, but all the staking out paid off. It's showing off those needle-thin tail feathers as if to say, take that. Same individual as above.

A Pin-tailed Snipe in winter plumage — a completely different impression from juvenile plumage or late summer plumage of adults.

Swinhoe's Snipe juvenile. A couple of first-winter feathers have come in. Quite a late moult for Swinhoe's Snipe.

Swinhoe's Snipe juvenile. This individual's moult is more advanced than the one above.

Swinhoe's Snipe first-winter.

Swinhoe's Snipe first-winter and Greater Painted-snipe adult male.

Common Snipe juvenile.

Also a Common Snipe juvenile.

An adult Collared Kingfisher with a beautiful vivid-blue back. It appears to be in late summer plumage, so if it stays for a while I may get to see it in winter plumage.

The Collared Kingfisher's underparts are pure white and the legs are black. The subspecies appears to be T. c. collaris, which is distributed in the Philippines and surrounding areas. The individuals that have wintered annually on Okinawa Island, Miyako Island, and in the past on Iriomote Island all look like the same subspecies.

It came down onto the tidal flat and seemed to be going after crabs. The Collared Kingfisher on Okinawa Island fed exclusively on crabs, but the individual on Ishigaki Island was also eating what appeared to be hermit crabs in addition to crabs.

I visited the usual spot where Ryukyu Scops Owls breed, and sure enough one was there. I was also able to hear the well-known descending call: "Wok, wok, wok, woh."

Shot with a handheld light. LED lights really do throw the colours off. Same individual as above.

A Ryukyu Scops Owl that had come down to the ground. The Ryukyu Scops Owl's calls are more varied than those of the Ryukyu Scops Owl [Elegant Scops Owl] or Brown Hawk-Owl; this one was calling "Mew, mew, mew." It is the same as the call recorded in January 2022.

The right eye appears to be injured. Perhaps it was clipped by a passing vehicle at some point. Shot with a rental car's headlights. Again, the colours aren't accurate. Same individual as above.

A male Grey-faced Buzzard calling as it was chased by two crows.

Oriental Pratincole in winter plumage. Looks lonely on its own.

Far Eastern Curlew adult.

Eurasian Curlew adult.

A Eurasian Curlew flying over the sea surface. Same individual as above.

A Common Sandpiper juvenile is doing its best to swallow a large caterpillar.

A Black-winged Stilt also caught a large caterpillar. It appears to be one found on taro leaves.

I counted nearly 30 snipe, but all were Common Snipe.

A juvenile Gray-tailed Tattler with a crab it had caught.

Adult female Eurasian Wigeon.

Juvenile female Northern Shoveler.

Juvenile male Northern Shoveler.

Adult male Northern Shoveler, moulting from eclipse into breeding plumage.

Female White Wagtail. A male was courting her.