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

Following yesterday's Common Hoopoe, this White's Thrush was also shown to me by the spotter, a bird guide. It too is a long-staying winter resident on Ishigaki Island. I see White's Thrush fairly often in winter, but they are often wary and hard to observe consistently, so this individual is an excellent one. ^^

It spends its time with Dusky Thrushes, Naumann's Thrushes, Pale Thrushes and Brown-headed Thrushes, but White's Thrush is a size larger than all of them and stands out quite a lot.

When an Osprey or crows passed overhead it reacted sensitively and became alert, and sometimes fled into the thicket, but it was not so wary of people.

After a month in Fukuoka and Nagoya, my first shoot back on Ishigaki Island was a Common Hoopoe. The spotter, Ishigaki's number one bird guide, told me about it.

The spotter found this Common Hoopoe on January 1, so it has now stayed about a month. Common Hoopoes that arrive on the island around the end of the year often overwinter, so this one may stay until spring. ^^

By the way, the spring migration of the Common Hoopoe peaks from around mid-March.

Brown-headed Thrushes, Pale Thrushes, Dusky Thrushes and Daurian Redstarts are also wintering nearby.

While I was staying in Fukuoka Prefecture, a friend on Ishigaki Island contacted me: "There's a Verditer Flycatcher." There have been about two records on Ishigaki too, but I had never seen one, so I borrowed my mother-in-law's car and went. The news had not yet spread, so only a few people were there. Five minutes after I arrived, the Verditer Flycatcher appeared in front of me, and it was a bluer bird than the rumors, which surprised me.

The Verditer Flycatcher was catching red berries of the spindle tree and small insects. It was hardly wary at all, and at its closest it was only a few metres away. There were two Daurian Redstarts in the same area, but they went about their business without bothering each other. I wanted to hear its call too, but that did not happen...

I let my child play at Kayocho Park, not far from my wife's parents' home, and did some birdwatching out of the corner of my eye. ^^;

This park felt relatively free: the pond had no fence and there were people lure fishing.

As for the birds, the harvest was an Oriental Magpie, which I had not expected. Others were Naumann's Thrush, Dusky Thrush, Pale Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Cinereous Tit, Kyushu Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe and so on.

Since the pond had no fence, it was birding where I could never take my eyes off my child. With some effort I might be able to find a few more.

On January 14 I went to Fukuoka again from Nagoya. Since I was there, I decided to see Isahaya's famous Black Stork, borrowed my mother-in-law's car and drove the expressway non-stop. It took about two and a half hours. It was far... ^^;

The Isahaya reclaimed land is vast and I had visited with no prior information, so I searched and searched but could not find the Black Stork. Just as I was about to give up, a blackish, strange big bird was flying high overhead. I looked through binoculars and it was the Black Stork I had hoped for. I took a few photos, checked where it came down and rushed to the spot, but could not find it... It is a big, conspicuous bird, but once it drops into a waterway it is surprisingly hard to find.

On the reclaimed land there were White-naped Crane, Merlin, Hen Harrier, Common Reed Bunting and Rook, as well as Siberian Pipit, Northern Lapwing, Common Snipe, Eurasian Spoonbill and Black-faced Spoonbill, familiar from Ishigaki Island too.