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

Second sunny day of the month. Ishigaki Island has had an abnormal amount of rain this year, and clear skies are hard to come by. ^^;

A White-winged Tern unable to retract its right leg. If anyone spots it upstream of Ishigaki Island, please let me know.

About seven Black Terns came to the area in front of my house.

A Black Tern that caught a grasshopper.

Every prey item it caught was a grasshopper.

A colony of Oriental Pratincoles. A couple of pairs looked like they were incubating.

The sun blazed down for the first time in a while, and the heat shimmer made everything hazy. ^^;

A Pygmy Swiftlet diving toward an insect.

This one is a Fork-tailed Swift. Together with the Pygmy Swiftlets it was a mixed flock of about 20 birds.

The Brown Shrike is still present.

Pectoral Sandpiper numbers are increasing.

A Black-winged Stilt with a faint pink blush on the breast. I always wonder — is this nuptial plumage?

A male Ruddy Kingfisher. Digging a hole — there are wood chips on its bill.

This one is a female. She had been tucked deep inside the nest hole, but when an Oriental Turtle Dove landed on the nest tree, she shot out.

A Crested Serpent Eagle in transition from white juvenile plumage to adult plumage.

When it found prey and dropped to the ground, a crow came over to harass it.

A Crested Serpent Eagle fleeing after being harassed by two crows.

A White-winged Tern in breeding plumage. It looks especially striking from the back.

In light rain, three birds were flying around over the rice paddies.

The head, body, and flanks are jet black.

Watching from inside the car, I had them flying busily right in front of me.

The prey they were catching appeared to be spiders and grasshoppers.

A Pied Avocet that arrived on the late side. A reasonable number turn up every year, but last autumn and this spring were particularly busy, with a large number of individuals passing through Ishigaki Island.

Greenshanks in a fallow field. Several birds are staying.

Wood Sandpipers, which along with Long-toed Stints are among the first to arrive in both spring and autumn, were still present this late in the season.

Pectoral Sandpipers confirmed at multiple sites, with a dozen or more birds.

Black-winged Stilts also at multiple sites, a dozen or more. Most individuals are in first-summer plumage.

A male Ruddy Kingfisher. Completely unafraid of people.

Same individual as above. A single white feather on the right side of the head is the distinguishing mark.

The same individual. The characteristics of a male Ruddy Kingfisher come through well here.

A Ruddy Kingfisher in Banna Park. Also a male.

A female Ryukyu Scops Owl. This tree hollow has been used four years in a row. The female is believed to be the same individual.

The male paired with the individual above. No conclusive way to tell whether it is the same bird as in previous years.

A new male Ryukyu Scops Owl. The female was incubating and could not be seen.

A male Brown Hawk-Owl. Nesting at a spot a little distance from where it raised chicks last year. The tree hollow being used is shallow, and the incubating female's head was visible from outside. ^^;

Oriental Pratincoles have returned to breed again this year.

I expect chicks will be visible around July.

Black-crowned Night Herons are in every paddy field on the island. There are a lot this year.

A male Ryukyu Striated Heron. The breeding season is about to begin.

A female Ryukyu Striated Heron. It had the feel of a nest somewhere in the grass along the waterway, but nothing was visible from outside, so I couldn't make out any details….

Greater Sand Plover in winter plumage. Two birds confirmed.

There were a dozen or so Lesser Sand Plovers. All were in winter plumage.

Grey Plover also still in winter plumage.

A Terek Sandpiper showing signs of a healed fracture on its left leg.

Just one Common Redshank.

Many Grey-tailed Tattlers also in winter plumage.

Whimbrel also in winter plumage.

Ruddy Turnstones feel like they're here year-round….

For some reason a Greater White-fronted Goose turned up on Ishigaki Island in May. At the sea, no less.