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

Spotted Redshanks in a drainage channel. Two birds arrived.

Moulting from first-winter to first-summer plumage.

Four Common Snipe. There were more than ten in a single paddy field. They appear to be on passage.

The Wood Sandpiper numbers keep going up and down.

Black-winged Stilt, adult male. A flock of about 20 overwintering along the canal.

Little Ringed Plovers on migration are also active, with numbers on the increase.

Female Siberian Stonechat. Passerine migration has started to pick up, just a little.

An Osprey eating a fish in a field. It was a hot day and heat shimmer was rising.

A Javan Pond Heron in a field. It appears to be changing into breeding plumage.

This Javan Pond Heron was somewhat more wary than usual, so I observed from a distance.

A Ferruginous Duck that wintered here. It will probably depart soon.

Same individual as above. It was quite wary when it first arrived, but now look at it.

Greater Sand Plover, first-winter.

Common Greenshank numbers are increasing along the coast and in the rice paddies.

A Grey Plover that wintered here. A few summer-plumage feathers are visible. They are not very common on Ishigaki-jima, but this year a dozen or so individuals wintered.

Kentish Plover, first-winter.

A small flock of Pacific Golden Plovers in the distance.

Red-necked Stint, winter plumage.

Wintering Common Snipe.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle released after receiving treatment.

It is early in the breeding season and the Crested Serpent Eagles are active. An individual watching for prey from a branch.

This one came down to the roadside to look for prey. I worry about it getting hit by a vehicle.

That day I spotted 6 individual Crested Serpent Eagles after driving just a short distance along the farmland roads.

A male Falcated Duck. Mid-moult from juvenile to first breeding plumage.

A female Gadwall. It was flocking with the Falcated Ducks above.

A wintering Common Snipe. It has become quite accustomed to people during its stay on Ishigaki Island — as you can see, it doesn't budge even when walkers pass by.

A Common Snipe on migration. Quite a distance away, but look at that tension.

A Greater Painted-snipe in the grass. It has been in the same spot for several days.

At the start of the breeding season, the Rwandan Night-Heron — wait, the Malayan Night Heron — is developing its nuptial colours, and the face is beginning to turn blue.

A White Wagtail with a black-eared face pattern. There is a faint eye stripe, so it may be a hybrid.

A male White Wagtail.

A female White Wagtail.

An adult Dusky Thrush. I thought what remains around the central tail feathers might be juvenile plumage, but apparently not.

Dusky Thrush, first-winter plumage.

A flock of Black-winged Stilts.

A flock of about 100 Eastern Cattle Egrets arrived.

A Grey Heron on migration. The bill and legs are showing breeding colour.

A male Ring-necked Duck. I never expected to see a North American duck in Aichi Prefecture. The bird was about 200 metres away, though…

An individual thought to be a hybrid between Falcated Duck and Eurasian Wigeon.

It was associating with a flock of Eurasian Wigeons.

A female Smew.

Great Crested Grebe in winter plumage.

An adult male Gadwall.

Male and female Eurasian Teal.

There were quite a few Dusky Thrushes.