4th Ishigaki Snipe Camp!
We held the 4th Ishigaki Island Snipe Camp again this year. Two participants came down from Hokkaido. That said, snipe numbers were already low during the pre-camp scouting the day before, and I had a bad feeling about it. Sure enough — poor results. It ended up being the worst outing yet: one Pin-tailed Snipe, a few Swinhoe's Snipe, and a few Common Snipe.
On the plus side, we managed to see around 50 species including Collared Kingfisher, Ryukyu Kingfisher, Crested Serpent Eagle, and various resident and migratory birds, which everyone was happy about, so I'll call it good. Years like this happen.
The only Pin-tailed Snipe of the day. A beautiful individual — I knew what it was the moment it came into the binoculars.
A rather wary Swinhoe's Snipe. There were a few more in the distance.
A Common Snipe on full alert….
With Collared Kingfishers it's a quick look, a quick shot, and done.
It was only a brief observation session, but they were feeding actively.
According to the two participants, Crested Kingfishers can be seen along rivers in urban areas of Hokkaido. Here, Collared Kingfishers can be seen at a river mouth in the middle of town. ^^
I also confirmed several Ruddy Kingfishers.
A few Oriental Pratincoles were looking like they were suffering from the heat.
A Marsh Sandpiper in breeding plumage. Beautiful.
The Common Greenshanks are mostly in breeding plumage as well.