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

Greater Sand Plover, winter plumage.

Eurasian Curlew, first-winter plumage.

Sanderling. On Okinawa's main island they winter and also pass through in reasonable numbers during migration, but on Ishigaki Island they are scarce.

Red-necked Stint, winter plumage. Confirmed a few birds arriving.

Pacific Golden Plover and Lesser Sand Plover. Around 70 Pacific Golden Plovers and 40 Lesser Sand Plovers confirmed.

Kentish Plover and Lesser Sand Plover. Over 50 Kentish Plovers arrived.

Grey Plovers on Ishigaki Island are usually seen in flocks of just a few birds, but this time there were about 20.

Green Sandpiper in winter plumage. The coast is lively, but the waders in the paddies are quiet — just a few Wood Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilts, and Common Snipe besides this one.

Black-tailed Gull, first-winter plumage.

A different individual from the one above. This winter Black-tailed Gulls are being recorded in good numbers. All of them are juveniles.

A Eurasian Hoopoe on the footpath. It appears to have just arrived.

Autumn hoopoes are hit-or-miss depending on the year, but this year looks like a big hit. I'm curious to see how spring goes.

Grey-faced Buzzard, juvenile. I get the feeling juveniles are scarce this season. I wonder if something unusual happened at the breeding grounds.

Eurasian Curlew and Grey Plover. Six juvenile Eurasian Curlews are currently staying.

The only wintering snipe on Ishigaki Island is Common Snipe. I keep looking for wintering Swinhoe's Snipe and Pin-tailed Snipe, but they're hard to find.

The Long-eared Owl perched on a branch close enough for a decent look.

This is what it looked like when I first found the Long-eared Owl — it was far off.

A Long-eared Owl that had come down to the ground. I couldn't get a shot, but a Short-eared Owl was also in the same area.

In the rain it was looking around, searching for prey. A mouse, or a frog?

The Long-eared Owl is one of the largest owls found in Okinawa, but this here is the smallest — the Ryukyu Scops Owl.

An adult female Ruddy Shelduck, now staying for over a month, moving between different spots.

As always, she shows no wariness. This Ruddy Shelduck does not seem to want to join the flocks of other ducks.

A first-winter non-breeding female Common Shelduck, now staying for over two weeks.

This Common Shelduck was associating with flocks of Northern Shovelers and Tufted Ducks.

Tufted Duck, male.

Tufted Duck, juvenile.

A Caspian Tern also on an extended stay.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle perched on a banana plant. Stunning.

An adult female Peregrine Falcon heading toward the ducks.

It was quite a large individual.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard (left) and an adult female facing each other down.

A physical brawl suddenly broke out. See the video below for details.

The adult female on the left appears to be at a disadvantage.

It looked as though it was gripping the branch itself, and this went on for some time.

The juvenile (foreground) lets out a cry. After this, the two birds fell to the ground locked together, and the adult fled.