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

The 5 Swan Geese that appeared on December 2 are still staying in the paddies, as unwary as ever. They seem to be moving between paddies around the island.

The Malayan Night Herons born this year have all started to moult.

Several Black-faced Spoonbills are staying at multiple places on the island. Right next to a Black-faced Spoonbill were a Purple Heron and a Crested Serpent Eagle. Purple Herons and Crested Serpent Eagles are in every paddy at this time of year.

Of several dozen White Wagtails, about a third were Chinese White Wagtails (ホオジロハクセキレイ). Among them were 2 Taiwan White Wagtails (タイワンハクセキレイ). Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Red-throated Pipit, Eurasian Skylark and others also join in, forming a flock of considerable size. The numbers rise and fall from day to day, so there seems to be turnover.

Two Oriental Greenfinches of the subspecies Oo-Kawarahiwa (オオカワラヒワ) have been here since November. They move with the flock of White Wagtails and Red-throated Pipits, but were often bullied by the White Wagtails.

These greenfinches are extremely wary and hard to photograph; when I photographed them about a week ago they were more than 60 metres away. Today the wind and rain were strong, and the birds sheltering from the wind gathered at a particular spot, so I waited there for a while and they came relatively close.

The first Common Hoopoe of the season has arrived. I was told by Spotter, Ishigaki Island's number one bird guide.

At work, just as I was thinking of going for lunch, an email came in: "There's a hoopoe." I rushed over and managed to see the Common Hoopoe.

I have seen so many Common Hoopoes I've lost count, but the first of the season is still a pleasure. ^^

The dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard, nicknamed the Black Sashiba (ブラックサシバ), that has wintered on Ishigaki Island since it was a juvenile is doing well in its third winter. Every year it arrives in late November, winters in the same place, and stays until around March, giving us a lot of pleasure.

In the on-and-off rain I met Crested Serpent Eagles, both juvenile and adult.

Last month, just after it arrived, I got close shots, but today it was far away.

Dusky Thrush, Naumann's Thrush, Pale Thrush and Brown-headed Thrush are increasing too, but they are wary and all were distant.

Wintering Brown Shrikes (シマアカモズ) can be seen all over the farmland. There are adult males, but juveniles are overwhelmingly more numerous.

There are many wintering Great Cormorants at the dam, but all were distant. Then I found a group resting at a settling pond, relaxing with their wings spread to dry.