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

I heard from Ishigaki Island BIRD Kansatsu-san and the number one bird guide on Ishigaki, Spotter-san, that there were as many as three juvenile Crested Serpent Eagles in the same area, including the eleventh juvenile of this year, so I went to see.

This year many juvenile Crested Serpent Eagles have been identified, but I haven't had many encounters. With three juveniles here, I should be able to enjoy them for a while. ^^

Common Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eastern Marsh Harrier and others are also wintering.

Flocks of wagtails and a flock of larks have been wintering in the paddies since the other day, and it is lively.

Among the wagtails (genus Motacilla) there are Siberian White Wagtail, Black-backed Wagtail and White Wagtail, and Eastern Yellow Wagtail; of the pipits (genus Anthus), Red-throated Pipit and Siberian Pipit are staying, about 50 birds in total.

The Eurasian Skylarks have been here for 10 days, but their numbers were a little lower on this day. The subspecies Oo-hibari and Karafuto-chuhibari might also arrive, but there seems to be no established way to tell them apart by form. The call (flight call) is in the earlier article.

They move together as a flock, but the species do not mix completely; they gathered to some extent by species while feeding.

In the evening a Cinnamon Bittern came out right in front of me.

Last year I photographed the Siberian Rubythroat in early December, but this year I managed it a month earlier. And it was a beautiful adult male, in the valuable winter plumage.

I could hear the Siberian Rubythroat's call note from a shallow thicket between the farm road and the river. After watching for a while I could make out a small shape moving.

When I looked through the binoculars, a bright red round patch leapt into view. Last year it was a female, so I wanted to get this male, and after holding out for about 20 minutes it finally appeared in a spot where I could take photos.

Bramblings were in a paddy where the harvest was finished. Among many Oriental Turtle Doves, they fed and rested rather timidly.

The dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard (known as the Black Grey-faced Buzzard), which has wintered on Ishigaki since it was a juvenile, has arrived for the third year in a row. Last year it came back as an adult and stayed until March. I hope it keeps coming back to Ishigaki healthy every year from here on.

Along the river an Eastern Marsh Harrier was being chased by a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Eurasian Sparrowhawks have been seen in paddies here and there since last month, but they are wary everywhere.

Since last month Ishigaki Island BIRD Kansatsu-san had told me about the Yellow Bittern many times, but the timing never worked and I hadn't been able to photograph it. At last I got it. It seems a small number come to winter on Ishigaki every year. I am so used to Cinnamon Bitterns that the Yellow Bittern looks quite odd to me.

A Cinnamon Bittern also appeared near the Yellow Bittern. I'm told the Cinnamon Bittern is larger than the Yellow Bittern, but I can't tell the difference in the field... ^^;

On farmland a Chinese Pond Heron was feeding in a sugarcane field that had been turned over. Many wintering Common Snipe are staying in the paddies.