Active Ryukyu Flycatchers, Crested Serpent Eagle, and a Long-Absent Black Kite
Warm days have continued, and I can now hear Ryukyu Flycatchers singing as I drive the forest roads. Common Emerald Doves are calling too. I also confirmed a Ruddy Kingfisher calling from my house — earlier than usual, possibly due to the mild winter.
Crested Serpent Eagles are in the early stages of the breeding season; wherever I go — rice paddies, sugarcane fields, forest roads — I find them in pairs.
Eastern Yellow Wagtails look set to finish the season without ever reaching their peak wintering numbers. Could this also be a mild-winter effect, with fewer flocks moving south from the continent?
Ryukyu Flycatcher heading into second-summer plumage.
Black Kite is a rare bird on Ishigaki Island and Okinawa. It is recorded roughly once every ten years, and always juveniles.
Adult Crested Serpent Eagle. Returning to its usual perch after finishing off its prey.
Crested Serpent Eagle on a forest road.
Crested Serpent Eagle in a rice paddy.
Adult male Malayan Night Heron.
Juvenile Malayan Night Heron hatched last year. Moult has barely progressed.
First-winter (Yellow-browed) Eastern Yellow Wagtail.
Black-tailed Gulls are already in summer plumage. Two individuals confirmed this season.