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

A Glossy Ibis — the first record on Ishigaki-jima in five years. Likely a post-typhoon vagrant.

Size comparison with a Little Egret. The Glossy Ibis is surprisingly small. It appeared to be foraging on small gastropods and similar prey.

A juvenile Ryukyu Scops Owl that apparently fledged last night. Downy feathers still remain.

It was asleep most of the time. This shot was taken with a friend's α1 II on loan. Little difference from the α1, but the image stabilisation was noticeably effective.

A parent bird keeping watch nearby. If a crow or similar approached, it would scramble immediately to defend its chick.

By the fifth day of its stay, wariness had faded. It stopped flushing even when tractors and kei trucks passed by.

The metallic sheen of the feathers catches the light beautifully.

Wood Sandpipers that began arriving a few days ago have increased rapidly. Flocks are showing up in rice paddies here and there. Still all adults.

Little Ringed Plovers are also building in numbers. Again, a flock made up entirely of adults.

A fledgling Little Tern. The juvenile plumage is still very much in evidence, and the tail feathers are short.

An adult Little Tern. Around four family groups had come to a rice paddy to bathe.

The Ruddy Kingfishers appear to have mostly finished raising their young.

The Glossy Ibis seems to have a favourite paddy — it is always in the same spot.

A Javan Pond Heron in breeding plumage — a long-awaited visitor. It has a different kind of beauty from the Chinese Pond Heron.

On Ishigaki-jima the temperature is around 32°C, so it is breathing with its mouth open. It looks hot.

The Javan Pond Heron was catching small creatures in the grass along the paddy bunds and in the rice paddies.

A Common Greenshank — my first confirmed record of the season. More and more will be passing through from here on.

Confirmed a few Long-toed Stints. Late summer plumage — no birds in winter plumage yet.

First Black-winged Stilt of the season as well. Just a single male.

First Purple Heron juvenile of the season. Things should get lively with adults and juveniles from here on.

A Ryukyu Scops Owl that had been locked in a battle with a crow.

An adult Crested Serpent Eagle on the forest road. Let's hope it can finish raising its chicks safely.

Heard that distinctive call and went looking — found two Japanese Wagtails on a distant greenhouse. There are a handful of records for Okinawa Island, but none yet for Ishigaki.

Black Kite records are rare on Ishigaki too; it feels like one turns up maybe once every few years. There are plenty of Black-winged Kites, though… ^^;

A Grey-headed Lapwing turns up on Ishigaki about once a year. They breed in rice paddies all over Aichi Prefecture — must be nice.