GUIDED BIRDWATCHING TOUR
We'll drive you around Ishigaki Island to wherever the birds are showing best that day. Observation is mostly from inside the vehicle, and we keep it to a maximum of 3 guests so everyone can take their time.
沖縄本島から友人家族が訪れたので小中学生を連れてアカショウビン観察へ行ってきました。
同じ場所で毎年、繁殖するペアがすでに飛来していました。至近距離で観察、撮影できて子どもたちも大喜びのようでした。^^
A female Ryukyu Kingfisher that caught an earthworm on the ground.
Targeting prey on the ground from a branch.
オバシギ、ハマシギ、コアオアシシギ、セイタカシギ、トウネンが今季初として確認できました。キリアイもいましたが、撮影はかなわず…。明日、再挑戦したいと思います。
石垣島の春の渡りは活発に動いており、同じ田んぼや海岸でも翌日にはごそっとメンバーが変わっています。
海岸は環境の変化がないからか、毎年、安定して渡りが楽しめるいいスポットです。^^
Great Knot. Still carrying a lot of winter plumage.
Two Marsh Sandpipers in summer plumage arrived together.
The Pin-tailed Snipe haven't been consistent, but Common Snipe numbers are up. Now just waiting for the Swinhoe's Snipe to arrive.
First Dunlin of the season. A little summer plumage coming through.
Red-necked Stint also showed up. Heat shimmer rising off the warmed limestone made it impossible to focus… ^^;
There are some wintering birds around, but this male Black-winged Stilt almost certainly came through on spring migration given the location.
There are plenty of wintering Lesser Sand Plovers too, but it looks like northbound birds have joined them — there were large numbers along the shore.
Common Greenshank numbers are growing at the coast and in the paddies.
This is a Greater Painted-snipe, a resident breeder on Ishigaki Island.
There were a few Red-throated Pipits, but they were very wary and not easy to approach.
今年も石垣島の夏のアイドルでバードウオッチャーあこがれのリュウキュウアカショウビンの季節がやってきました。
2月下旬には鳴き声を確認し、3月半ばにはバンナ公園近くで姿も確認されていましたが、3月末ごろから徐々に数を増やし、4月に入ると例年通り、一夜にしてドカンと増えました。
数日前からは、自宅からもアカショウビンの鳴き声は聞こえてきます。^^
石垣島のアカショウビンは、5月ごろのピークをメインに4月から9月ごろまで楽しめます。繁殖が終わってからの7月以降は美しい姿も子育てに疲れてボロボロになるので前半がお勧めですね。
An adult female Ryukyu Kingfisher.
Same individual as above. It was not particularly wary, making observation and photography easy.
This is a male, but it wouldn't come out of the undergrowth, so this is the best I could manage…
Searching for prey while moving through the coastal forest.
There were several moments when the Ruddy Kingfisher caught prey, but the light was too poor to see clearly… ^^;
雨の中、ミヤマホオジロのオスが飛来しました。かなり疲れた様子で車両が横を通過しても逃げず、動きも緩慢でした。
シベリアアオジのオスが牧草地の農道にいましたが、姿はチラチラ見えるものの草むらに入ってばかりで写真には納められず…。
An adult male Yellow-throated Bunting in the process of moulting from winter to summer plumage. The old feathers are quite worn on this individual.
It was eating Bidens seeds on a path inside the park.
昨日、石垣島に現れたブロンズトキ19羽の大群 は引き続き滞在中。これまでブロンズトキは籠抜けとか言われたり、そう記載した図鑑もあったりしますが、今回の飛来で修正されることを願います。
A flock of Glossy Ibis in flight.
They were foraging by walking through rice paddies where the plants had grown quite tall.
A Glossy Ibis probing deep into the mud with its bill, searching for prey.
The individual on the far left looks less vivid than the others, so it is probably a young bird.
Here, the third bird from the left is the young individual.
Glossy Ibis are beautiful in flight too.
A Purple Heron that has caught a swamp eel.