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

The lively rice paddies of last month have grown lonely, with fewer shorebirds. The rice has grown tall, so apart from Black-winged Stilts they are hard to find. Even so, Black-winged Stilts, Common Greenshanks, Common Redshanks and others were gathered in the farmland irrigation channels.

On the shore at low tide, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Ruddy Turnstones, Kentish Plovers, Little Terns and others were bathing or walking around looking for food, but this was lonely too.

I went around three Ruddy Kingfisher spots and met about 20 birds.

Because of the coronavirus there are fewer people around, and the Ruddy Kingfishers seem to have let their guard down. There was a pair that looked ready for courtship feeding, but I was birdwatching with my child so I couldn't wait it out... ^^;

The Ryukyu Japanese Sparrowhawks also seem to be getting ready to breed, and I can hear the loud calls of courtship feeding at three places on Ishigaki Island.

In the afternoon I was playing with my son in an open field when I heard the sharp "kit, kit, kit, kit" call of a female Japanese Sparrowhawk from a nearby wood. It is the call I hear during courtship feeding, so I looked for her and found a female Japanese Sparrowhawk perched on a branch of a Macaranga tree, gripping a small bird in her feet.

The male was nearby too, and he chased off crows and others fiercely when they came close, so this is almost certainly the nesting area.

In the rice paddies, a young Black-faced Spoonbill had joined the adult Black-faced Spoonbill from the other day in the same paddy. It is a rather long stay for spring.

I went around three Ryukyu Ruddy Kingfisher spots on Ishigaki Island and confirmed 8 birds. Pairs seem to have formed already, and there were three dug nests.

In Banna Park, neighboring pairs hold adjacent territories and sometimes chase each other fiercely. The breeding season proper begins next month, and the earliest pairs will have chicks fledging in late June.

Ryukyu Flycatchers and Ryukyu Paradise Flycatchers were also moving about in pairs, but they were deep in the thickets, so photos are difficult.

A Crested Serpent Eagle was eating a large snake, probably a Sakishima Kukri Snake, up in a tree. It was a male with a green leg band engraved "M" on its right leg, so this is Yuyu, a bird rescued in a weakened state in 2017.

While Yuyu was eating the snake, I heard a female calling from somewhere. I looked around but couldn't tell where it was coming from, then after a while a female Crested Serpent Eagle flew out from low down in the tree where Yuyu was perched.

The feathers on the female's belly were ruffled, so I thought she might be incubating, but apparently females do not leave the nest while incubating, so it seems the breeding may have failed. Behavior like courtship feeding is apparently shown by pairs that have bred.

Also present were an out-of-season Tufted Duck, and an Eastern Yellow Wagtail, an Oriental Pratincole and Pacific Golden Plovers, all already in full summer plumage.

Added June 8

It turns out this pair of Crested Serpent Eagles was nesting here!! The nest was in a sparse patch of woodland quite close to a farm road, and even the person who surveys Crested Serpent Eagles was surprised.