沖縄県2例目のクビワキンクロ登場!!
沖縄県内2例目となるクビワキンクロをキンクロハジロ600羽の中から探し出してきました。距離も200メートル以上離れており、枝葉で視界も限られるという条件でしたが、1時間ほど探してなんとか見つけることができました。浮かんでいるエリアが分かれば、あとは見失うこともなく1時間以上にわたり、観察することができました。
Ring-necked Duck, male breeding plumage. Following a record on Miyako Island in 2023, this became the second record in the prefecture — a valuable sighting.
It is sleeping, but the Ring-necked Duck is the one in the middle. All the others are Tufted Ducks. Once your eye adjusts, you can spot it straight away.
When it lifts its head, the difference between the Ring-necked Duck and the Tufted Ducks is immediately obvious.
Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.
Long-toed Stint, first-winter plumage. Numbers have been increasing lately. Perhaps the return migration has begun.
A Striated Heron, unusual for Ishigaki Island. I was also able to hear its call.
The two Tundra Swans are still present.
An Osprey came to bathe. It seemed to be wary of me, so I left the area promptly.
A Brown Shrike that has wintered in my workplace car park every year since it was a juvenile. Several years on, it has grown into a fine adult male.