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

An individual on a forest road, believed to be a male Crested Serpent Eagle.

A pair with the individual above. Presumed to be a female.

Two Crested Serpent Eagles flying over farmland. The individual on the left is a female known as "Point." The one on the right is a male with dark eyes. They were actively engaged in display flight.

A Malayan Night Heron with its face turned blue in breeding plumage.

A Common Shelduck on a long stay. A Pied Avocet also on a long stay at the same location.

A male Common Kingfisher nearby.

A rather wary Eurasian Hoopoe. It was reluctant to come down from the branch.

An individual with weaker-than-usual wariness for a dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard.

The star of Ishigaki Island, a male Pine Bunting. Buntings other than Chestnut-eared Bunting are rarely encountered in Okinawa.

As its stay lengthened, the Pine Bunting relaxed its guard a little and became somewhat easier to photograph.

Adult male Ryukyu Pygmy Falcon. Astonishingly small when seen up close. And beautiful. ^^

A Ryukyu Night Heron hatched last year. It is frequently seen foraging along the prefectural road. Worried about traffic accidents.

Female Brown Shrike. It was catching insects appearing in the lawn.

Male Dusky Thrush in first-winter plumage. It will soon depart for its breeding grounds and be gone.

Adult male Pine Bunting. A beautiful individual. ^^

From the other side. The Pine Bunting was eating something that had fallen on the farm track or the ridge between paddies.

A Pine Bunting showing some wariness at my presence. This individual was quite alert, and getting this close took considerable effort. ^^;

The back of the Pine Bunting. In flight, the white outer tail feathers and the rufous-chestnut on the wings are very conspicuous. The bird in flight looked every bit an Emberiza. ^^

It poked its head out from the grass along the paddy ridge. It spent a lot of time tucked into the vegetation, and once lost it was quite a struggle to find again.

It landed on a distant paddy ridge.

The Pine Bunting was eating what appeared to be the dried stems of a grass plant visible in the photo.

On the farm track it was also eating dried grass stems.

How many years before I see one again? Could easily be ten or more years down the line… ^^;

Adult winter-plumage Long-toed Stint. A small number winter here, but this flock of eight was on migration.

First-winter Long-toed Stint.

An Izu Thrush that wintered in the rice paddies this season. It will probably disappear before long.

Adult male White Wagtail (leucopsis) in summer plumage.

Adult male White Wagtail (leucopsis). Moulting from winter into summer plumage.

Mallard, a relatively uncommon bird on Ishigaki Island.

Adult female Eurasian Teal.

Female Northern Shoveler in non-breeding plumage.

Spot-billed Duck is resident on Ishigaki year-round, but numbers temporarily surge during the spring and autumn migration seasons as birds passing through are added to the mix.

A Eurasian Hoopoe foraging as it walks around a lawn with small flowers in bloom.

A particularly unwary Hoopoe came within a few metres of me.

Startled by a crow, it fanned out its crest.

It was using a rock on a steep slope as a perch.

Tossed a cockroach into the air and snapped it up.

A spring-like Eurasian Hoopoe surrounded by purple Ryukyu violets and yellow flowers.

A Tundra Swan that has been staying since January. Its face has grown to look much like an adult's.

An adult male Brown Shrike that has caught a locust. A wintering bird that has been holding the same paddy field as its territory since late last year.

The male Common Redstarts have nearly disappeared — perhaps they have already moved on to their breeding grounds — leaving only females behind.