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

A male Ryukyu Kingfisher. It had been digging a nest hole.

The nest hole being dug by the individual above. It has opened several holes in the same tree and it's not yet clear which one it will use.

A Ruddy Kingfisher on the forest road. This one also appears to be a male.

Ruddy Kingfisher in the park. It caught a cicada larva. A scene that plays out every year.

Same individual as above. The female is nowhere to be seen, so she may have started incubating.

Emerald Dove, male. It was picking up seeds of Macaranga.

I found it on the footpath, but it didn't seem to care much even when cars passed by.

It is swallowing small stones needed for digestion.

A friendly individual that could be photographed up close.

Ryukyu Scops Owl at a new spot. I was photographing a Ryukyu Flycatcher when some White-eyes tipped me off to its location.

Ryukyu Flycatcher, male. First-summer plumage. It was singing frequently. I also took video for the first time in a while.

Same individual as above. The old feathers are quite worn.

Same individual as above. It didn't become wary as long as I kept about 10 metres away, so I followed it around its territory for a full circuit. ^^ It moved about catching food in flycatcher sallies and singing from branch tips. It was unexpected when it also went into the bamboo thicket.

A Japanese Sparrowhawk nest found near the Black-winged Kite nest. The female can be seen sitting in the centre of the photo.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl. On alert for crows.

A male Emerald Dove picking up a Macaranga seed that had fallen to the ground and split open.

Shot the other side of its face as well, just in case. Some children were making noise, so it was very much on guard. ^^;

White-winged Terns flying around.

All eight birds came down onto the sandbar.

A White-winged Tern bathing.

With a tailwind from the shooting position, the White-winged Terns coming toward me were moving at quite a pace, but the AF on the SONY α1 with the FE 200-600mm kept up.

A White-winged Tern that caught a freshwater prawn. The bird behind is coming in to steal it.

One White-winged Tern fleeing, another in pursuit. It managed to escape without losing its catch.

For some reason the freshwater prawns were moving along the riverbed in the middle of the day.

This one is a freshwater prawn missing its right arm.

A Little Grebe chick receiving a dragonfly nymph from its father.

A sixth egg remains in the nest, but it looks like the nest was destroyed by heavy rain two days later.

A Little Grebe chick trying to climb onto its mother's back.

An extremely close male Ruddy Kingfisher.

The female paired with the individual above. Equally relaxed around people. Mating confirmed during Golden Week.

A Ruddy Kingfisher nest separate from the pair above. It looks complete, but Ruddy Kingfishers often disappear for a while after finishing the nest, and this one hasn't been seen lately either. I can still hear it calling, so it seems to be somewhere nearby.

A female Malayan Night Heron, perhaps? The feeling is that it's raising chicks somewhere, but after it finished foraging and flew off I couldn't follow it.

A Whiskered Tern quartering the riverbank in search of prey.

Flying back and forth between the upper and lower stretches of this river.

An adult Whiskered Tern resting on a bridge railing.

A Whiskered Tern head-on. The light was against me but I managed to get a shot.

It was dashing back and forth along the riverbank.

There is something long and white visible behind the tail feathers — fishing line, perhaps?

A Whiskered Tern almost fully in breeding plumage. Besides Whiskered Terns, small numbers of White-winged Terns also visit Ishigaki Island. None yet this year.

A Black-winged Kite keeping watch. There appears to be a nest in the foreground.