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

A White-bellied Drongo was frequently coming out onto the power lines and making flying catches of insects in the air. It's already in wintering mode and looks set to stay a good while.

The first bird I photographed in the new year was a Far Eastern Curlew. It was a notably unwary individual.

A Pied Avocet also lingering since the New Year. Wintering here too, it seems.

The first visit since October 2020. This time there were two adults. The Purple Heron looked no bigger than a Little Egret!!

A Grey-faced Buzzard wintering in the pasture. I feel like the number of wintering individuals has been declining year by year.

A female Crested Serpent Eagle. It was early in the breeding season and she was calling persistently, begging the male for food.

The male paired with the individual above. Could the thin patch of scrubby woodland along the edge of the farmland be their nesting site?

Around ten Northern Lapwings have been present since late last year.

The White-bellied Drongo was in exactly the same spot as a week ago. It was predating something in the order Hymenoptera. I hope it stays until spring.

A Crested Serpent Eagle in a field near town. I'm seeing them here and there.

Lesser Sand Plovers and Kentish Plovers are wintering at the river mouth and along the coast.

Grey Plovers are wintering in higher numbers than usual this season.

There was a Short-eared Owl staring intently at a thicket where mice were lurking. It seemed there was another one in the same area.

A Ryukyu Striated Heron with an injured wing. Its plumage is dirty all over and it looks to be in poor condition.

The Greater White-fronted Goose is still in the same spot.

An Osprey is also wintering here. When it shows up at the rice fields, it takes a bath and heads back.

Purple Herons seem to be in the early stages of breeding — I've been seeing pairs more often.

Two Marsh Sandpipers have arrived. Migration is still a little way off, so perhaps they're moving around within the island.

Common Greenshank and Common Redshank are also staying on.

Common Snipe are wintering in flocks of around ten in the better spots.

This Pin-tailed Snipe left a strong impression, so I've been able to identify it individually. You can tell at a glance. ^^ First-winter plumage.

I was passing through for work and didn't have much time, but it gave me a bath scene.

A Pin-tailed Snipe preening after bathing.

A Pin-tailed Snipe driving off a Common Snipe (right). The smaller-bodied Common Snipe loses out to both Pin-tailed and Swinhoe's Snipe.

The same Common Snipe as above. First-winter plumage. Around five Common Snipe are wintering here.

Common Snipe are wintering all over the island.

Temminck's Stint — many pass through, but almost none winter here.

A Common Greenshank with an injured wing. It may have difficulty migrating when spring comes.

Little Ringed Plovers are wintering in flocks in the rice fields.

A Eurasian Spoonbill on an extended stay. It was fairly wary.

Pin-tailed Snipe in January is something I've never recorded before — a very rare occurrence.

It spends most of its time in the grass.

It showed itself in full view. First-winter plumage.

And then, the moment I'd been waiting for — bath time begins.

It was bathing in exactly the same spot as the other day.

Records of Pin-tailed Snipe at this time of year are rare not just nationally but even for Okinawa and Ishigaki Island, so we need to make sure to check the tail feathers as well, just to be certain.

I intend to observe carefully until it departs.