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

Oriental Pratincoles wheeling over the rice paddies.

Oriental Pratincoles resting in a harvested rice paddy. In full breeding plumage, of course.

I looked up and saw one had soared high into the sky — and it had caught a grasshopper. I was surprised enough that a grasshopper was flying at that height, but the eyesight of the Oriental Pratincole that spotted and caught it was equally astonishing.

A female Oriental Scops Owl incubating eggs. Perhaps she poked her head out of the nest hole because she sensed someone nearby?

A male Brown Hawk-Owl keeping watch over the nest. This pair has been using the same nesting tree for a long time.

On the forest road, a female Crested Serpent Eagle was perched on a tree fern.

A Slaty-legged Crake appearing in the park car park almost every day.

A male Ruddy Kingfisher found on a forest road.

Same individual as above. The red of the Ruddy Kingfisher stands out beautifully against the lush green.

A female paired with the individual above. She is the least wary of all the Ruddy Kingfishers I have been watching.

A male Ruddy Kingfisher at the park.

The female paired with the individual above. She is also relatively unwary.

A Ruddy Kingfisher, apparently a male. This is my first time observing this individual.

This Ruddy Kingfisher was in the coastal woodland. Also apparently a male.

White-winged Tern in summer plumage.

White-winged Tern perched on a power line.

The Black-bellied Terns were skimming back and forth over the water surface, hunting for prey.

A Caspian Tern flew by against a patch of blue sky showing through a gap in the clouds.

The upperparts of the Caspian Tern are a mid-tone grey. You can also see the moult pattern quite clearly.

A Black-bellied Tern flying over the sea alongside the Caspian Terns.

A White-winged Tern dropped a bomb!!

The back of the White-winged Tern is quite dark, sooty grey.

White-winged Tern (right) and Black-bellied Tern flying in tandem. You can see the difference in back colour. And the flanks and belly of the White-winged Tern are jet black.

It's just an ordinary sedimentation pond they're flying around, but when the wire fence stays out of frame it has quite a nice feel to it.

First-summer Black-bellied Terns, a few of which were mixed in with the group.

One Black-bellied Tern looking straight at the camera.

A Ruddy Kingfisher in a dim woodland. It appears to have come to bathe in a puddle on the path.

This individual is relaxed enough that it doesn't flush even when a car passes underneath.

There were about three Pectoral Sandpipers in summer plumage. Haven't seen them in a while. ^^

Just one Red-necked Stint, tagging along after the Pectoral Sandpipers.

Black-winged Stilts numbered in the teens.

A Marsh Sandpiper in summer plumage, distant.

The Common Greenshank is distant too. The rain that had fallen until yesterday cleared as if it had never happened, and heat rising from the warmed ground caused the air to shimmer — I couldn't get a decent focus… ^^;