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

I confirmed this season's first Daurian Redstart at the usual spot.

Among the White Wagtails, many of the subspecies leucopsis (Hojiro-hakusekirei) have arrived this season. A flock of seven, all of them leucopsis, was also recorded the other day.

The Pheasant-tailed Jacana has been staying since October 26. It is not very wary.

Black-faced Spoonbills also arrive sporadically.

I confirmed three Eurasian Coots, the first of the season. They are increasing nationwide, and recently some even spend the summer in Okinawa.

A Greater White-fronted Goose different from the one with the injured eye the other day came into the paddies. It is somewhat wary.

Among the ducks, Mallard, Northern Shoveler and Eurasian Wigeon are increasing.

The rice harvest has begun, and Red Collared Doves on Ishigaki are becoming easier to observe. They start appearing from late August, but the tall rice makes them hard to see; from late October the harvest of the second rice crop begins and they become much easier to see. The Yaeyama watchword is: where there is a flock of Oriental Turtle Doves, there is a Red Collared Dove. ^^

A Cinnamon Bittern was in a flooded paddy. A friendly bird, it hunted right in front of me.

The White Wagtail migration is only beginning, but both White Wagtail and the subspecies leucopsis have been confirmed. Their numbers will keep increasing.

A Grey-headed Lapwing has been staying for a few days, but I couldn't get a shot as it kept being flushed by an Eastern Marsh Harrier. I finally managed to photograph it.

Red-throated Pipits turn over rapidly, increasing and decreasing, but on this day I saw many in the paddies.

The migration of Eastern Yellow Wagtails and Grey Wagtails ended long ago and they have already settled in for winter, but White Wagtails finally started showing up the other day. The subspecies leucopsis (Hojiro-hakusekirei) was a first for the season.

While driving through the paddies I spotted an unfamiliar bird. Through binoculars it was something in the lark genus. I took a photo and enlarged it, and it was a Eurasian Skylark. Skylarks rarely come to Okinawa, an encounter only about once every few years. It may be a continental subspecies, with a different feel from the Skylarks of the mainland.

On Ishigaki the harvest of the second rice crop has begun, and Crested Serpent Eagles gather at the paddies being harvested, making them easy to observe.

I made the rounds of the nearby coast and paddies.

In the paddies I got good shots of a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Wood Sandpipers were in a flock of a dozen or so, mixed juveniles and adults; Common Greenshanks likewise numbered a dozen or so; a flock of eight Northern Lapwings, all juveniles has been staying since the other day; Long-toed Stints have decreased; and Common Snipe and Black-winged Stilts are the wintering group.

On the coast the Greater Sand Plovers have gone, while Siberian Sand Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and Red-necked Stints are staying in small numbers. There was also a juvenile Terek Sandpiper, but unfortunately I missed the shot...