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

I went to the Black-winged Kite's feeding spot for the first time in a while. In the evening it comes looking for rats to eat. It made several hunting attempts, but I never saw it catch anything.

The Grey-faced Buzzard migration started a little while ago, and about 30 birds flew past on this day. The peak is still to come. I'm hoping for good weather.

While watching the Grey-faced Buzzard migration, a Eurasian Hobby appeared. Every year a few of them come with the Grey-faced Buzzards and continue south.

At this time of year various herons come to Ishigaki Island. A Javan Pond Heron and a Chinese Pond Heron were sharing the same paddy. The Chinese Pond Heron seemed to be the stronger one and drove off the Javan Pond Heron whenever it came close. This is the fourth Javan Pond Heron of the season. The Chinese Pond Heron is the second. Chinese Pond Herons will increase from here.

Purple Herons, both juveniles and adults, are often seen in autumn.

Black-crowned Night Herons have also increased. You meet many of them if you go to the paddies at night, but this day one was walking on the grass of a pasture.

A Gull-billed Tern had arrived. Following the juvenile the other day, this is the second of the season.

The plovers on the coast are also decreasing in number, but there are Greater Sand Plovers, Siberian Sand Plovers, Pacific Golden Plovers, Kentish Plovers and others. For sandpipers there are a few Ruddy Turnstones, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Eurasian Whimbrels and others. The numbers are small, but it is still enjoyable.

I confirmed three species for the first time this season: Forest Wagtail, Red-throated Pipit and (Kimayu) Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

Forest Wagtails on Ishigaki Island usually arrive mostly around mid-September, when the Chinese Sparrowhawks migrate through, but this year it showed up a little late. It's my first Forest Wagtail in a while. It is a bit small and subdued in colour, and for some reason it slowly swings its tail from side to side, which makes it a rather quirky, likeable bird. ^^ It was with a Grey Wagtail, but next to the 20 cm Grey Wagtail, the 15 cm Forest Wagtail is clearly smaller.

Red-throated Pipits will keep increasing in number through winter, and before long Siberian Pipits and Richard's Pipits will join them, making the small birds of Ishigaki's paddies fun to watch.

In a normal year the (Kimayu) Eastern Yellow Wagtail should arrive at about the same time as the Mamijiro Eastern Yellow Wagtail, but this year I waited and waited without finding one. Only in October did I finally come across a flock of (Kimayu) Eastern Yellow Wagtails.

Grey Wagtails live in all sorts of habitats, from forest roads to lawns and paddies, in ones and small groups.

The Oriental Reed Warbler I photographed last November. On the mainland you see them singing noisily in the reed beds, but wintering and migrating birds on Okinawa Island and in Yaeyama move quietly through the undergrowth, so there are few chances to see them.

Today, after a squall, two came out at the edge of a sugarcane field, perhaps to dry their feathers, and I was able to photograph them.

Oriental Reed Warblers also breed on the continent in summer, but I wonder where the ones that come to Ishigaki Island come from.