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

Adult Forest Wagtail. The central tail feathers are old and badly worn.

This individual showed little wariness and came quite close.

It caught a cockroach on the forest floor.

It was moving busily along a dim forest track.

Forest Wagtails are especially charming among the wagtails.

The 'T' mark on the breast is conspicuous.

When a vehicle passed, it would startle and perch on a branch.

Perhaps because the Forest Wagtail is adapted to dark environments, its eyes seem larger than those of other wagtails. That's another reason it looks so endearing.

A textbook juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe. If they were all like this one, there'd be no hesitation in the field.

Same individual as above.

Believe it or not, this is a Pin-tailed Snipe. The facial expression made me think Pin-tailed, but everything else was just too Swinhoe's…. ^^;

Same individual as above.

Juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe.

Juvenile Common Snipe.

Also a juvenile Common Snipe. A pale-type bird, and a beautiful one.

A juvenile Common Snipe sunbathing.

A juvenile Common Snipe bathing.

A juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe.

Male Red Turtle-Dove. Moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Adult female Red Turtle-Dove.

Several Red Turtle-Doves were perched in the shrubs around the rice paddies.

Adult male Garganey in eclipse plumage.

Eurasian Teal numbers are picking up.

The Black-faced Spoonbill has been seen intermittently around the island, so it may be the same individual.

A dispute between Black-winged Stilts. Both birds are juveniles.

Both are Pin-tailed Snipe. Moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage is progressing. It's gradually becoming harder to tell juveniles from adults.

Pin-tailed Snipe, juvenile.

Two Pin-tailed Snipe and a Swinhoe's Snipe (background).

Pin-tailed Snipe, adult.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

Same individual as above. Tail feathers checked.

Two Swinhoe's Snipe. The bird on the left is the same individual as above. The tail feathers are visible on the right bird. At first glance they look like Pin-tailed Snipe tail feathers, but it is only because we are viewing from the side that they appear narrow.

A plump juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe. It must be building up fat reserves ahead of its onward southward migration.

Most Swinhoe's Snipes in Okinawa tend to be on the pale side, but this one is an even more confusing rufous-tinged individual among them. The spots within the lateral crown stripes add another layer of confusion. This is the same individual as the Swinhoe's Snipe visible in the background in the photo 6 images above.

Same individual as above. Swinhoe's Snipe.

Pin-tailed Snipe. Moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

A Common Snipe that won't move…. A juvenile, perhaps?

Common Snipe. Beautiful. ^^

Temminck's Stint, juvenile.

Temminck's Stint, adult. Moulting into winter plumage.

It was catching tiny prey resembling red midge larvae.

Even in the wide paddy fields it seems to have a favourite spot — even when startled by something, it kept foraging in the same place.

Pectoral Sandpiper, juvenile.

Common Greenshank, moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Marsh Sandpiper, moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Long-toed Stint, adult (foreground) and juvenile.

Wood Sandpiper, moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Common Redshank, moulting from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Large numbers of Long-toed Stint juveniles, Common Redshank juveniles, Common Sandpiper juveniles, and others.

Pacific Golden Plover winter plumage birds are starting to appear.