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

Quite a few Grey-streaked Flycatchers are still around Banna Park and in parks in town. I first recorded the Common Kestrel in mid-September, and I finally got a decent photo of it. Crested Serpent Eagles, both adults and juveniles, have become fairly easy to see.

The Javan Pond Heron that has been here since mid-August was still there. It had been out of sight for a while, so it was a reunion after some time. It will soon have been here for two months.

Two Eurasian Teal, my first of the season, were in the rice fields, mixed in with a flock of Eastern Spot-billed Ducks. Other birds in the fields included Purple Heron, Whiskered Tern, Bull-headed Shrike, Scaly-breasted Munia, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Black-winged Stilt, Common Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper.

The shorebirds all left at once at the end of September, and both numbers and variety have dropped.

A friend who only started birding about two months ago came from Naha to Ishigaki, so we went out together on a night walk.

In about an hour and a half we saw Slaty-legged Crake, Oriental Scops Owl, Northern Boobook and Ruddy Kingfisher. In the rice fields I checked briefly before setting out, we also saw a Black-winged Kite. ^^ We even saw a juvenile Oriental Scops Owl.

I took the role of helping to find birds and support the shooting, so I only have photos of the Slaty-legged Crake, but my friend got every one of them perfectly. I wondered whether seeing such good birds on a first night walk would raise the bar for the future, but the conditions were good and it was a very enjoyable night. ^^

The first juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle of the season appeared in late August, and about a month later a ninth juvenile has been recorded.

This bird is only the second one I have seen myself. I get tips, but either I don't have time to go or the timing is bad...

From here toward winter, encounters with Crested Serpent Eagles, both adults and juveniles, will increase.

Back-to-back work trips to Iriomote and Yonaguni. I did some light birdwatching in my spare time.

Perhaps because of the long rains and typhoons across the country this year, the autumn migration is late and it seemed to be slightly before the peak. Even so, on Iriomote a huge flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails had a few Richard's Pipits among them, and there was an Oriental Dollarbird on the wires over the farmland. It was a one-night stay, but the next day the north wind grew strong and the Uehara route was cancelled. I had to return from Ohara.

On Yonaguni, three species came in large numbers: Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Bull-headed Shrike and Eastern Yellow Wagtail. Several Grey-streaked Flycatchers were clustered on a farm road, the shrikes were everywhere at intervals of 10 to 20 meters, and several subspecies of wagtail were flocking in pastures, fields and cattle sheds.

On the first and second days the only shorebird was Black-winged Stilt, but by the fourth day Common Snipe, Dunlin, Ruff and others began to arrive.

As the typhoon's north wind strengthened, the birds seemed to have taken shelter on the lee side. On the south side of Mt. Urabu, Chinese Sparrowhawk, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Bull-headed Shrike and Eastern Yellow Wagtail gathered on the forest road in high density. Among them I noticed a single blue bird, and it turned out to be a juvenile Blue-and-white Flycatcher.

Other encounters were Whiskered Tern at the rice fields and a settling pond, Asian Brown Flycatcher on the forest road, and at a ranch a juvenile thought to be either a Green-headed or a Siberian Yellow Wagtail.

I had planned four nights on Yonaguni, but from the 19th, my scheduled day to leave, the north wind grew even stronger and the flights were cancelled. Typhoon No. 17 then formed as well, and I was stuck on Yonaguni for a whole week. With the strong wind and nothing to do, I ended up in the worst pattern, working at the inn... Getting food was hard too, and by the time I got back to Ishigaki I had lost about a kilo... ^^;