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

A juvenile male Red Turtle Dove in transition from juvenile plumage to first-winter plumage.

A juvenile Broad-billed Sandpiper found in the evening.

A juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe.

Same individual as above.

A juvenile Latham's Snipe.

A single Citrine Wagtail was mixed in among a flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails.

White-winged Tern in winter plumage.

A juvenile White-winged Tern.

Same individual as above. The field marks of the White-winged Tern are clearly visible.

Whiskered Tern, adult. Moulting from summer plumage into winter plumage.

Chinese Pond Heron in first-winter plumage.

Same individual as above. When I found it, it was pouring rain and visibility was poor — I thought it might be a Javan Pond Heron, but it turned out to be a Chinese Pond Heron.

Dunlin juvenile. Transitioning from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Marsh Sandpiper juvenile. Moulting into first-winter plumage.

Long-toed Stint in late summer plumage.

Stint moulting into winter plumage.

Greater Sand Plover juvenile.

Long-toed Stint in winter plumage.

Dunlin adult. Transitioning from summer to winter plumage.

Common Redshank juvenile. I had my first sighting of a Common Redshank juvenile on 27 July, but juveniles are still coming in.

Most of the ones still around are juveniles. A juvenile Ruddy Kingfisher in the process of moulting from juvenile plumage into first-winter plumage.

Oriental Dollarbirds have been appearing in unusually high numbers this season. This one is a juvenile, but close to ten individuals — adults and juveniles combined — have been recorded. The Oriental Dollarbird is often cited as one of the rare wildlife conservation success stories, and that may be one contributing factor.

Crested Serpent Eagle juveniles becoming more frequent as September arrives.

A different individual from the one above. The sixth Crested Serpent Eagle juvenile recorded this season.

The southward movement of Chinese Sparrowhawks. I went out to watch with my child in tow, so I barely managed to take any photos…

Crimson Sunbird — no wait. Red Turtle-Dove, adult male.

Red Turtle-Dove, adult female.

Red Turtle-Dove, juvenile male. Mid-moult from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Red Turtle-Doves perched in a leucaena tree. The second bird from the bottom is also a juvenile male Red Turtle-Dove in moult to first-winter plumage — noticeably further along in the moult than the individual in the photo above.

My wife was buying a drink from a vending machine when five small doves landed on the power line right in front of us. I raised my binoculars and found all five were Red Turtle-Doves.

Javan Pond Heron, first-winter plumage.

This individual showed little wariness.

After a while it flew off somewhere.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle — the fourth individual confirmed on the island this season. It showed little wariness.

A Black-winged Kite perched on a power line. Juvenile feathers remain in the primaries and primary coverts, and the iris shows little red — a young bird.

A juvenile Curlew Sandpiper — first confirmed of the season.

White-winged Tern, juvenile (left) and adult.

White-winged Tern, juvenile.

Black Tern (centre) and White-winged Tern. Even mixed into a flock of Black Terns, the White-winged is easy to pick out by its flight style. Side by side, the body shape is different too.

This bird seems too large for a Little Stint compared to the Dunlin in the foreground… For a time, a Baird's Sandpiper — a species with only a handful of Japanese records — seemed like a real possibility, but it came to nothing.

Red-necked Stint, juvenile.

A juvenile Eurasian Tree Sparrow with strongly reddish-brown coloration. The strikingly reddish-brown sparrow from three months ago was in the same flock, so this could be its offspring. It would be fascinating if some form of natural selection were to produce a reddish-brown population, as has happened with the Ryukyu Stock Dove. If that day comes, I would like to propose the name Ishigaki Sparrow, following the precedent of Ishigaki Tit. ^^

A buff-morph juvenile Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

A juvenile Brown Shrike.

The first Grey-streaked Flycatcher of the season. A juvenile.

Juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe.

Same individual as above.

Close to 20 Swinhoe's Snipe are staying in a single paddy field where numbers are highest.

Red-necked Stint, juvenile plumage.

Long-toed Stint, adult winter plumage.

Yellow Wagtail (leucocephala) juvenile. Arrivals of (Yellow) Wagtails are still very few.

The most richly rufous and beautiful Pin-tailed Snipe juvenile of the season.

Same individual as above. The needle-like tail feathers of the Pin-tailed Snipe are so fine and short that when it stretches you can see them through the gaps between the primaries.

Same individual as above.

A different Pin-tailed Snipe — also a juvenile.

Yet another Pin-tailed Snipe juvenile, a different individual again.

Pin-tailed Snipe transitioning to winter plumage.

Swinhoe's Snipe, juvenile.

A juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe as well.

The largest individual in a flock of a dozen or so. I think it's a Swinhoe's Snipe, but it's so big it doesn't quite feel right… ^^;

Too much information… ^^;

Juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe.

Juvenile Swinhoe's Snipe.

Both juvenile Pin-tailed Snipes.

An unexpected Pin-tailed Snipe. A very confusing individual. ^^;

Juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe. By this time of year, only juveniles are left.

Juvenile Pin-tailed Snipe. A charming individual.

Juvenile Common Snipe. Today's encounters were just two birds.

Common Greenshank moulting from first-summer to second-winter plumage.

Common Greenshank in winter plumage.

Juvenile Wood Sandpiper.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in late breeding plumage.

Pacific Golden Plover moulting from breeding to winter plumage.

Red-necked Stint in late juvenile plumage.

A Whiskered Tern struggling to swallow a swamp eel.