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

A completely fearless Crested Serpent Eagle, juvenile.

Ryukyu Crake, adult.

Barn Swallows visiting the tidal flat to collect nesting material. Several birds were coming and going looking busy.

Northern Lapwing, male. Transitioning from first-winter to summer plumage.

Northern Lapwing, female. Also in transition from first-winter to summer plumage.

Grey-headed Lapwing — scarce in Okinawa.

Spotted a Pin-tailed Snipe in the distance. About 80 metres away.

Common Snipe bathing.

Common Snipe freezing in alarm.

Distant Common Snipe.

There are overwintering Common Redshanks, but passage birds have been conspicuous lately as well.

Common Greenshank — a flock of four. Also passage birds.

Wood Sandpipers have been increasing too.

Black-tailed Gull, adult summer plumage. The third individual this season.

Eurasian Hoopoe resting on a branch. It ended up settling in and staying put just like that.

Two Eurasian Hoopoes confirmed on this day.

I spotted a male Common Blackbird bathing in a puddle. The moment I pulled out my camera to take a shot, a crow chased it off somewhere — but when I came back about an hour later I found it again in an open lot several dozen metres from the puddle.

Common Blackbird with an earthworm it had caught.

It came in close, but the grass was in the way. ^^;

Also spotted a juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle. Juveniles are scarce this season — I wonder how many are up in the north.

I came across an adult Crested Serpent Eagle on a forest road I don't usually visit. Completely unafraid.

This Crested Serpent Eagle is within walking distance of my home. Several individuals can be seen near the house, but this one is wildly wary — extremely alert.

A Ryukyu Night Heron hatched last year. Still largely covered in juvenile plumage, but when it flew I could make out some adult feathering as well.

Four Spotted Redshanks came in from the direction of the sea and landed in the rice paddies. First of the season.

One bird from a flock of Spotted Redshanks.

A Wood Sandpiper partly moulted into breeding plumage.

A Common Snipe was alone in the distance.

A male Common Redstart that has been at my front door for several days now. After the berries of the Japanese beautyberry?

Around 30 White-faced Wagtails. White Wagtails will be passing through before long.

A Eurasian Hoopoe picks up a cockroach and flicks it straight into its bill. The usual way it eats.

A different individual Eurasian Hoopoe. Spreading the crest really emphasises how striking it is.

This season is a good year for Eurasian Hoopoes. Head to the northern part of Ishigaki Island and you have a good chance of running into one.

Something startled it — the Eurasian Hoopoe flew up into a tree and fanned out its crest.

Black-winged Kite, 2nd calendar year. That said, since the species breeds year-round across Ishigaki Island, the true age is hard to pin down — but it is certainly not an adult.

The wintering numbers of Common Kestrels this season were higher than usual. It was also striking how many individuals showed little wariness.

Dusky Thrushes were a rare sight this season. Pale Thrushes can be heard calling reasonably often, but actual sightings are infrequent, so the wintering population doesn't seem particularly large either.

A male Common Redstart. It appeared to be catching small insects while hopping across the lawn.

A female Common Redstart. Early in the migration period, females are fewer than males.

A Eurasian Hoopoe spotted in the grass. As usual, it was feeding on cockroaches.

A Eurasian Hoopoe resting on a branch.

The voracious Eurasian Hoopoe spends the whole day moving about in search of food.

A Common Blackbird eating the berries of a mock orange.

An adult male White-faced Wagtail.

A male White-faced Wagtail. Moving from first-winter to breeding plumage.

An adult male White Wagtail.

A female White Wagtail. In transition from first-winter to summer plumage.

Lots of Red-throated Pipits in the paddies after weeding work.

A Little Ringed Plover foraging among the Red-throated Pipits. Mostly in summer plumage now.

A Eurasian Hoopoe that has been staying for over a week. It's unusual for one to linger that long on spring passage.

A Eurasian Hoopoe at a farm. There was another one, but it was being chased by crows.

A Eurasian Hoopoe in the park, foraging at the base of a tree. A Common Blackbird was in the same area, but it got chased by crows and hid in the bushes.

I thought it was a Naumann's Thrush, but something felt off. It may be a hybrid between Naumann's Thrush and Redwing.

A male Chestnut-cheeked Starling. A small flock was feeding on fallen Strangler Fig fruit.

While watching the Eurasian Hoopoe, a Lesser Whitethroat appeared. Two birds were chasing each other.

A Eurasian Hoopoe looking tired, apparently just arrived on migration.

Slowly driving past the reliable Eurasian Hoopoe spots, I found one perched on a branch.

Hoopoes were thin on Ishigaki today, but numbers picked up again from the next day.

A male Ryukyu Crake in strong breeding colours.

A female Ryukyu Crake.

Red-throated Pipits in moult. The stages vary from bird to bird, making it a fun time to observe them individually.

The moult progress among the Buff-bellied Pipits looked much the same across individuals.

A flock of around ten swifts overhead.

The first Temminck's Stints of the season arrived as a pair.

The Little Ringed Plovers are fully in summer plumage now and looking lovely.

Common Snipe numbers are increasing as birds cycle through.

In February they came in a sizeable flock, but now they seem to be drifting in in ones and twos.

A Common Snipe transitioning into breeding plumage.

Two male Garganey. Their beautiful breeding plumage gives a real sense of spring.

A small Bean Goose. Tundra Bean Goose, perhaps?

Many Tufted Ducks are wintering at the dam, but for some reason this individual is wintering in a small sedimentation pond.

A single female Northern Pintail mixed in with a flock of Eastern Spot-billed Ducks.

A Common Snipe hunched down on a paddy bund. Looks exhausted.

A Common Snipe on edge.

This is a really outstanding individual. You don't often get a look at this type.

The rice is growing fast, and outside the bunds it's getting hard to find them. This is what makes snipe in spring such a headache.

Not much call for it, but here's a Common Snipe's tail.

A Common Snipe moving along a bund in a crouch. It's watching a Black-winged Kite.