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

I cranked the ISO up to 204800 to coax the sun out from behind the clouds, and just managed to get the shot at 17:16:33 — ten seconds after the maximum eclipse at 17:16:23. Not something you can do without a mirrorless camera. ^^

There were plenty of people from other outlets there too, but the thick cloud had everyone giving up on shooting.

A Barringtonia flower fully open after sunset. A heavy sweet scent hung in the air around it.

A breeding Ruddy Kingfisher on the forest road. It caught a large Joro spider, beat it against a branch to kill it, then carried it off to the nest. The female was nowhere to be seen.

A Ruddy Kingfisher breeding in the park perched on a branch in front of the nest. It had brought in a large grasshopper, so the chicks seem to be developing well. ^^ For a bird that actually breeds inside the park, this individual is remarkably wary.

The male Ruddy Kingfisher I found on the other night's nocturnal walk. It was borderline in the dark, but it was indeed a male. ^^

A male Ruddy Kingfisher coming to bathe in a small stream. The light was poor, so the ruffled feathers have gone a bit soft in the image… ^^;

Same individual as above. No sign of a paired female here either.

Preening after a bath.

Tending the feathers all the way to the tips of the primaries.

It worked through them carefully, again and again.

Tending the other wing as well. This individual has partial leucism around the ear coverts.

After finishing its bath, the Ruddy Kingfisher went off to look for food.

A male Oriental Scops Owl — a breeding individual here. The female was nowhere to be found; not sure whether she is incubating or not.

The pattern of feather loss on the crown is similar to the male Oriental Scops Owl I photographed in exactly the same spot last year, so this may be the same bird.

An Oriental Scops Owl on the forest road. Also a male.

A Ruddy Kingfisher on the forest road. Judged to be male from its morphology.

A Ruddy Kingfisher resting on a slender branch. Sex unknown.

Also a female Ruddy Kingfisher on the same forest road.

The male paired with the individual above. The fact that both male and female are resting outside the nest suggests either that the chicks have grown to some extent, or that egg-laying has not yet taken place.

A Okinawa Rail resting in a Ryukyu pine.

A male Okinawa Robin in the grounds of a lodging facility.

A male Brown Hawk-Owl keeping watch.

The female paired with the individual above, incubating in a tree hollow. The hole is shallow, so she is fully visible from outside. ^^

Chinese bayberry laden with fruit.

Kouri Bridge and the rocky reef where terns nest. Black-naped Terns and Roseate Terns were flocking near Kouri Bridge, catching small fish. A scene that feels distinctly like Okinawa in summer.