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

As the tide began to come in toward high water, a Ryukyu Least Bittern appeared before I even noticed it.

Whimbrels and other waders that visit the Manko mudflat feed heavily on crabs.

Common Greenshanks — a few birds came in. They were strikingly white individuals, having almost completely moulted into winter plumage.

Even at the closest point, the Collared Kingfisher was several tens of metres away.

Today it seemed to favour this particular tree, returning to it several times.

The Collared Kingfisher would drop to the mudflat and catch crabs. It was not the lightning-fast strike I expected — instead it would land on the ground and wait for a crab to emerge before grabbing it.

A Collared Kingfisher looking up at the sky. An Eurasian Sparrowhawk occasionally flies over Manko, which seems to make the bird nervous.

A Collared Kingfisher zeroing in on a crab.

The bird was far away and the light was poor, so I could not get the shutter speed up — but here is the Collared Kingfisher in flight.

This was the closest it got. I quickly removed the 2× extender and shot handheld at 600mm from the bridge, worrying the whole time about dropping my camera onto the mudflat below.

A Collared Kingfisher with a strikingly beautiful blue back.

A Collared Kingfisher perched on a mangrove branch. It seemed to be a favourite perch — the bird returned to it again and again.

The feet are muddy, probably from dropping down to the mudflat to catch crabs. I would love to see a feeding sequence someday.

The beautiful back of the Collared Kingfisher. I was shooting from the bridge, and every time a large vehicle passed the bridge shuddered up and down, making it extremely difficult to get a sharp shot. This image is blurred as well.

A Collared Kingfisher scratching its head.

I would have liked a better view of the back, but I am grateful to have seen the Collared Kingfisher at all — a first record for Okinawa Island.

Ruddy Turnstone.

A Red-necked Stint bathing.

Grey-tailed Tattler.

Long-toed Stint.

Wood Sandpiper.

Common Sandpiper.

Kentish Plover.

Little Ringed Plover.

A squabble between a Black-crowned Night Heron and a white-morph Pacific Reef Heron over fishing territory.

The white-morph Pacific Reef Heron making its escape.

A Little Tern chick begging food from a parent.

An adult Little Tern brought back what looked like a juvenile mullet.

I thought it was going to feed the chick, but it ate the fish itself. ^^;

Offshore, a Black-naped Tern parent and chick were flying together.

A juvenile Black-naped Tern. It was having a go at hunting.

An adult Black-naped Tern.

Adult Little Tern.

A Little Tern family.