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

Seven Large Sand Plovers arrived early in the morning at the go-to spot on Yonaguni Island. I got the message while I was at work, so I was fidgeting.

I enjoyed close-range views of a Large Sand Plover. A male coming into summer plumage.

Scratching its head.

Is this one a female?

There were seven Large Sand Plovers in total, but getting five into a single frame was the best I could manage.

A Daurian Redstart — recorded on Ishigaki Island only about twice in the past.

Same individual as above. It was moving between a ranch and the hedges of a private house. This female was at Hikawa, but apparently a male was also present at Sonai. I was given directions but couldn't find it….

There were four Citrine Wagtails on the island. A good spring migration here is heaven, but a bad one is hell. The old hands stay about a month every year, so they seem to have experienced both. ^^;

Four Eurasian Hoopoes confirmed. Nobody gave them a second glance….

A suspicious-looking pipit in the distance. The image quality is poor due to atmospheric shimmer, but I believe it is a Australasian Pipit.

I heard a call and went looking — found one Olive-backed Pipit.

The Eastern Yellow Wagtail seemed to be on bad terms with the Citrine Wagtail.

A Sykes's Wagtail with a noticeably narrow supercilium. The breeding plumage is beautiful.

The Grey Wagtail was also in breeding plumage and was singing from time to time.

There was a Black-faced Bunting and a Siberian Bunting, but the Citrine Wagtail kept chasing them around, so I only managed to photograph the Black-faced Bunting.

Yellow-breasted Buntings arrived in a small flock.

A Swinhoe's Snipe in the rice paddies.

Here, a Swinhoe's Snipe on the footpath. There's a real sense of migration about it — nice.

A Pin-tailed Snipe on the lawn.

A few Red-necked Stints arrived together.

The Eastern Cattle Egret is also beautiful in breeding plumage.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle hatched last year. It has been holding territory in this area since around the end of the year. Sometimes chased off by adults, but it always comes back — a bold individual. ^^

A Crested Serpent Eagle on a forest road. A female with no wariness of people.

A Hen Harrier that overwintered. I forgot to raise the camera's ISO and ended up with something that looks like a panned shot… ^^;

A Grey-faced Buzzard that successfully overwintered in front of my house. It arrived as a juvenile this time, so if nothing untoward happens, it should return to the same spot as an adult this autumn.

This Grey-faced Buzzard overwintered in a sugarcane field near my house. Also a juvenile.

A flock of Whistling Green Pigeons photographed from my living room. About ten birds come every day to eat mulberries.

A Whistling Green Pigeon that flew toward me. They hit the living-room window glass roughly once a year. I wonder if they strike it even with the blind down because the outside scenery is reflected in it?

Two Curlew Sandpipers confirmed.

A single Pied Avocet flew in.

A Bar-tailed Godwit — a species that tends to pass straight through Ishigaki on fine days thanks to its strong flight — was also resting among a flock of Black-winged Stilts in the rice paddies.

Black-winged Stilts in impressive numbers: over 400. The sight of them in flight was breathtaking.

Over 200 Wood Sandpipers arrived as well.

A group of ten-odd Pectoral Sandpipers.

Common Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper (left) also came down on the island.

A few Swinhoe's Snipe — first of the season — confirmed.

Perhaps out of exhaustion, nearly every individual I found was sitting still.

Around ten Pacific Golden Plovers confirmed.

The Oriental Pratincoles looked utterly exhausted.

A small group of a few Temminck's Stints arrived.

Barn Swallows were wheeling in flocks at low altitude.

Two male Garganeys arrived. Several more appeared to have come in at another site as well.

The Striated Heron that has been staying since last autumn has finally started to moult.

A few Grey Plovers were on the sandy beach.

There were no Lesser Sand Plovers that day — nothing but Greater Sand Plovers.

A Greater Sand Plover in active moult.

A dark-morph Pacific Reef Heron. It was being chased around by a white-morph individual.

It was perching on a branch looking tired, but after a while it came down to the ground and started searching for food. It caught a cockroach.

It rested and fed on large numbers of insects and arthropods.

A Eurasian Hoopoe on the lawn is a staple sight on Ishigaki Island. This individual was fairly wary.

The Collared Kingfisher, which had not been seen for over a month, has returned to Ishigaki Island.

It dived from its perch toward a crab — and missed.

A Collared Kingfisher flying around right in front of me.

A large driftwood branch that had washed ashore a few days earlier had become a perch for the Collared Kingfisher.

The first Pied Avocet of the season. This individual has zero wariness — almost too close to deal with.

The first Broad-billed Sandpiper of the season.

The first Curlew Sandpiper of the season.

The Sharp-tailed Sandpipers had increased in number.

A flock of eight Pacific Golden Plovers arrived. I've seen lone birds at odd times of year, but as a spring migrant this counts as my first record of the season.

Little Stints arrived too. First of the season.