GUIDED BIRDWATCHING TOUR
We'll drive you around Ishigaki Island to wherever the birds are showing best that day. Observation is mostly from inside the vehicle, and we keep it to a maximum of 3 guests so everyone can take their time.
On Ishigaki Island, where the rain keeps falling, the Ryukyu Tsuchitorimochi has started to flower. It will be at its best until January next year.
About 100 had poked their heads out of the ground. Numbers will keep climbing towards year-end.
A Pied Avocet turned up on Okinawa's main island a week ago, so I figured it would be Ishigaki's turn soon, and when I went looking, there it was. ^^
In the paddies there were Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Dunlin, Long-toed Stint and others.
A few days ago I also saw my first Common Pochard of the season. It was a single bird.
Of three Black-headed Gulls, one was oiled.
Pied Avocet, adult female.
When I contacted a birding friend, they said it hadn't been there in the morning, so the timing worked out perfectly.
Common Redshank, adult, winter plumage.
Northern Lapwing, first-winter plumage.
First Common Pochard of the season. Female, first-winter plumage. On the right, a male Tufted Duck in breeding plumage.
Adult Black-headed Gull in winter plumage, covered in oil. It was preening, trying to work the oil out.
The Chinese Pond Heron is on its fifth day here. It seems to like this paddy, and in the rain it was catching insects alongside Little Egrets and Eastern Cattle Egrets.
I also saw plenty of Crested Serpent Eagles. They were hunting for prey, soaked through and battered by the rain.
Chinese Pond Heron in winter plumage. The strong wind and rain had lowered its guard.
Chinese Pond Heron locking onto prey.
A soaking-wet adult Crested Serpent Eagle.
This one appeared to have caught some small prey.
Several Dusky Thrushes have come into the park, and Pale Thrushes and Brown-headed Thrushes are increasing in the paddies and fields. Several White's Thrushes have also come in, and I found one on a forest road too, but it was far too wary to photograph. ^^;
White Wagtails are fewer. Eastern Yellow Wagtails and pipits seem to be moving around the island in flocks, so their numbers go up and down. I'd like to look for an odd one among the Eastern Yellow Wagtail flocks, but the rain is heavy and my patience isn't holding out...
Eurasian Tree Sparrow flocks keep swelling bigger as it gets colder.
First Dusky Thrush of the season. Adult male. Several in the park.
Pale Thrush, female, first-winter plumage.
Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.
White Wagtail, male, first-winter plumage.
A large flock of Eurasian Tree Sparrows was feeding on fallen grain.
Almost all the wintering snipe are Common Snipe, with only the occasional Swinhoe's Snipe turning up. I haven't found any Pin-tailed Snipe wintering. ^^;
Because it has been rainy these past few days I've been meeting plenty of Common Snipe, but every one is a juvenile. Where have the adults gone? ^^;
Around the time birds are transitioning into first-winter plumage, telling adults from juveniles gets difficult. The worn wing-coverts suggest first-winter plumage, perhaps.
This Common Snipe is also in first-winter plumage.
A Common Snipe that appeared at the paddy bank in the evening.
First-winter plumage.
This one also moulting into first-winter plumage.
Both birds in first-winter plumage.
This individual also in first-winter plumage.