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

A flock of several dozen of everyone's favourite wagtail and pipit family was feeding together. From the calls I could tell Richard's Pipit was among them, so, not wanting to flush the wary pipits, I looked through binoculars, and there it was. That posture, that face of the Richard's Pipit. And that call, so easy to recognise among the pipits.

I searched for anything else mixed in, but only a few Red-throated Pipits turned up, and the rest were all Eastern Yellow Wagtails. The calls matched too, so the result was just as I expected.

Two Garganeys were floating in the settling pond with Eurasian Teal and Eastern Spot-billed Ducks. They are the first Garganeys of the season.

Both Garganeys are males, in non-breeding plumage. Among the Eurasian Teal, the earliest birds are far enough along in moult to breeding plumage that green shows on the face, but the birds at this pond had only just a little breeding plumage showing.

Yesterday's Pheasant-tailed Jacana, today's Black-headed Bunting and Rosy Starling: I keep finding them in the little free time between jobs. It's so efficient it's eerie. ^^; The Bull-headed Shrike five days ago also made my hands shake. The Bull-headed Shrike is a really rare bird in Okinawa. ^^

The juvenile Black-headed Bunting had arrived in a paddy. Juvenile Black-headed Buntings are hard to tell from Red-headed Bunting, but this one is probably a Black-headed Bunting.

I also photographed a juvenile Rosy Starling. It was several kilometres in a straight line from the place where it had been reported for the past few days, so it's hard to say whether it is the same bird or a different one. This morning a friend also saw and photographed one on other farmland, and the moult condition is completely different, so there seem to be at least two Rosy Starlings. Rosy Starlings have also turned up this season at the Manko Wetland Centre on the main island of Okinawa.

I photographed White-shouldered Starling, Common Starling, Chestnut-cheeked Starling and White-cheeked Starling all in one day. If I could also get a Red-billed Starling I'd have completed the Ishigaki starlings... Daurian Starling is a separate category.

I also found the roost and feeding site of the Rosy Starling and Common Starling, so on a fine day I'll aim for photos of them perched somewhere other than a wire. ^^

Many Brown Shrikes are also in wintering mode, and I looked for an unusual shrike, but they were all Brown Shrikes.

Exploring the paddies briefly between jobs, I found two juvenile Pheasant-tailed Jacanas had arrived. I had missed the jacana that turned up nearby the other day, so this time I found them myself. ^^ They came into one of two paddies I'd had my eye on for a while. These jacanas were rather wary, but when I waited quietly in the car they came close. Almost all the Pheasant-tailed Jacanas on Ishigaki and the main island of Okinawa in the autumn migration are juveniles.

The three Red Collared Doves were in a flock of several dozen Oriental Turtle Doves. In this paddy where they have settled, whether it's the performance of the harvester or not, the cut stalks are ragged, as if cut with a dull knife. On top of that, the remaining stubble is tall and hides the Red Collared Doves.

In the river running through the rice-growing area, the first Northern Pintail of the season was in a flock of Eastern Spot-billed Ducks.

On the river where jacanas often appear, there was one Purple Heron. I'd like the jacanas to come here rather than the paddies, but it doesn't go that smoothly.

This morning, while going around the farmland, I found a Black-winged Kite hovering. It was quite far off, so I watched through binoculars and saw a Common Kestrel attacking it.

Black-winged Kites on Ishigaki are steadily increasing in number, so I run into them more often in the rice paddies and sugarcane fields in the morning and evening.