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

A Collared Kingfisher that caught a centipede. Ruddy Kingfishers, Crested Serpent Eagles, and Blue Rock Thrushes all seem to be very fond of centipedes.

After the centipede, it caught a Mudskipper. The prey's expression was one of despair….

It has been three months since the Collared Kingfisher arrived on Ishigaki. The moult on the head and back seems to have progressed a little.

When observed from the car it shows no wariness at all, fluffing up its feathers and looking relaxed.

A Collared Kingfisher flushed by a birder approaching on foot. T1 and T2 of the tail feathers appear to be in moult.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (beema), first-winter plumage.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (taivana), first-winter plumage.

First-winter (Yellow) Citrine Wagtail.

First-winter Sykes's Wagtail.

A few Buff-bellied Pipits were mixed in.

On Ishigaki and Okinawa, Red-throated Pipits are overwhelmingly more common than Buff-bellied Pipits.

While I was watching the shorebirds, a Peregrine Falcon showed up at its usual spot. It had its eye on a Eurasian Coot, but a light truck passed by and it flew off somewhere.

First-winter Common Snipe.

A juvenile Malayan Night Heron. Born last year, it is in the process of molting into adult plumage.

An adult Malayan Night Heron. It is still too early for nest-building, but it was picking up twigs.

A Chinese Pond Heron at a drainage channel, targeting small fish.

A Chinese Pond Heron in a rice paddy, catching small insects and the like as it walked along the field bank.

Crested Serpent Eagle "Hayate" — an individual that was rescued after a traffic accident and released back to the wild on 23 November last year. A green ring engraved with "8" is visible on the left leg.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, first-winter plumage.

A flock of around 30 Red-throated Pipits wintering here.

A Grey Wagtail attacking its reflection in the mirror of an abandoned car. Judging by the droppings, this has apparently been going on for quite some time. Feeling sorry for it, I folded the mirror in.

An Upland Buzzard perched on a branch beside a channel, targeting a Eurasian Coot. It dive-bombed into the channel shortly afterwards but failed to make a catch.

A different Upland Buzzard. Whenever it circled over the paddies, the Eurasian Coots huddled tightly together on alert.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle foraging along a paddy field bund.

This juvenile was also lying in wait for prey near the paddy fields.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle in a roadside tree along the prefectural highway. It has been spotted here often lately — I worry about traffic accidents.

When an adult Crested Serpent Eagle appears, the juveniles flee at full speed.

This adult was looking down into a small channel. Wondering if there was a crab or frog down there.

The Pied Avocets that arrived in a group of eleven in November have dwindled one by one, down to a single bird now.

A flock of Northern Lapwings arrived — all juveniles.

Grey-headed Lapwing is scarce in Okinawa and on Ishigaki Island, but two birds are present this season.

A flock of about forty Northern Lapwings was still around as well.

A Common Snipe that stays close to the large flock yet never joins it for some reason — always keeping a little apart.

A Tundra Swan has also been here since November. There is plenty of unharvested rice left in the paddies, so food doesn't seem to be a problem.