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

Five Bar-headed Geese are still present.

A juvenile Tundra Swan enjoying life in the tropics. The flock of Bar-headed Geese is now 3.5 km away — closer than before. It feels uneasy having the juvenile on its own, so I do hope they join up.

I received a photo of an individual that had been staying on the Okinawa mainland at the end of last year and compared them, but they appear to be different individuals.

A Common Pochard in breeding plumage, male. They are everywhere in Kyushu but rarely turn up in Okinawa.

A striking dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard — commonly known as "Black Buzzard." This is its third consecutive year visiting. It has been coming since it was a juvenile, so it is now three years old.

Compared to when it was a juvenile, its body seems to have filled out and become more solid.

This is an ordinary Grey-faced Buzzard — a juvenile. It was far away and the heat was making the air shimmer, so the photo came out hazy and soft… ^^;

It had caught a large beetle at the compost heap.

A close Common Kestrel, female, first-winter plumage.

A Crested Serpent Eagle drying its wings, drawn out by the warm weather.

A female Osprey after bathing.

A juvenile Malayan Night Heron. It is around the time they should be moulting into adult plumage, but this individual has not yet shown any adult feathers.

A Buff-bellied Pipit in wintering mode. The bird was far away, the temperature had risen and heat shimmer had set in, leaving the photos hopelessly blurry.

Just when I thought this one might be a bit better, the Buff-bellied Pipit itself is looking the other way… ^^;

Six Eurasian Skylarks were present. Three are visible in the photo. All six are first-winter birds.

Northern Lapwing, first-winter plumage. Three were resting in a paddy field.

Grey-headed Lapwing — an infrequent visitor to Okinawa. First-winter plumage.

Brown-eared Bulbul — wait, this is a male Isabelline Shrike, first-winter plumage. Isabelline Shrikes overwinter here in a wide variety of plumages, from adults to juveniles.

Naumann's Thrush — no, this is a Red-bellied Thrush, first-winter plumage. Three were in the paddy field.

Female Dusky Thrush, first-winter plumage. Together with the Red-bellied Thrush above, five birds were foraging in the paddy field.

Mallard, adult male breeding plumage.

The Tundra Swan was floating in a rush paddy, feeding on weeds. A ladybird was riding on its back.

A flock of ducks. Around 100 were resting in a waterway.

A juvenile hatched this year. Under normal circumstances it would spend the time with its family until the spring migration next year, but it must have become separated for some reason.

Five immature Black-faced Spoonbills.