Willow Warbler appears!! Chinese Sparrowhawk and autumn migration in full swing
Birding in the gaps between work assignments on Yonaguni Island. As I cruised the forest road with a sense that autumn migration was well and truly getting under way, I spotted a fig tree that birds were gathering in. While watching a flock of Warbling White-eyes, a yellow warbler flew into my field of view. I got it in the binoculars — it was a Willow Warbler!! It was moving from branch to branch, apparently picking off small insects.
I also had first records for the trip of Chinese Sparrowhawk, Oriental Dollarbird, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Garganey, Common Snipe, and White-shouldered Starling. Yonaguni Island delivers, as always. ^^
Arctic Warbler makes an appearance. It stands out clearly — obviously different from the other Japanese leaf warblers.
A Dusky Warbler foraging as it moves along the tips of branches in a Cluster Fig tree.
A juvenile Chinese Sparrowhawk. I confirmed several individuals.
A juvenile Grey-streaked Flycatcher. Among the Muscicapa flycatchers, Grey-streaked appeared to be the most numerous, including both adults and juveniles.
An adult Brown-breasted Flycatcher. Found it on a dim forest road. Numbers were quite low.
A juvenile Dark-sided Flycatcher. This is the first time I've seen such fresh juvenile plumage.
A juvenile Blue-and-white Flycatcher. Rare on Ishigaki-jima, but on Yonaguni-jima I can reliably find them at this time of year.
A juvenile Oriental Dollarbird perched on a power line along the forest road.
Chestnut-cheeked Starlings were present in flocks — the largest had over 100 individuals, and there were several other groups of around 30.
An adult male Brown Shrike. Adult males tend to dominate in the early stages of migration.
An adult female Brown Shrike.
The first duck of the season was a Garganey.
The first Common Snipe of the season was a juvenile.
A Swinhoe's Snipe with tail feathers missing.
A juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe in a waterway. Yonaguni-jima has few rice paddies, leaving the snipe with little suitable habitat.
A Swinhoe's Snipe resting in the shade of a parking lot streetlight.
Several Black-winged Stilts were in the grass.
A Common Sandpiper also foraging in the grass.
Pacific Golden Plovers resting on rocks along the quayside.
There were many Grey Wagtails along the forest road.
Large numbers of Citrine Wagtails have arrived in the pastures and cultivated fields.