Black Drongo, Oriental Pratincole, Black-faced Spoonbill, Eurasian Spoonbill, Chinese Pond Heron and others
The Black Drongo that appeared near my home has been drifting slowly eastward and is now into its fourth day of stay. It is an unwary individual, always perched on the roadside wires. This season has been a bumper year for Black Drongo on Ishigaki Island — on peak days nearly 20 birds were recorded in a single day.
A small flock of Oriental Pratincoles had moved into the paddies. They were working the same area as the Whiskered Terns, but while the terns drifted low and picked insects off the rice plants, the pratincoles were up high, hawking incoming insects.
Black-faced Spoonbill, Eurasian Spoonbill and Chinese Pond Heron have also been dropping into the paddies one after another.
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.