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

A Temminck's Stint. So close!

It didn't all fit in the frame, but the Temminck's Stints were a flock of 5.

The majority were Long-toed Stints. The 3 snipe in the frame are all Common Snipe.

A White-breasted Waterhen also appeared.

5 Greater White-fronted Geese.

4 Tundra Bean Geese.

Nearby, a Common Kestrel searching for prey.

A flock of Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets.

5 Whimbrels on the shore. The blurry shape in the foreground is a Common Kingfisher.

A Medium Egret locking onto prey in a pond.

The photo shows 17 Black-faced Spoonbills, but there was one more nearby that didn't fit in the frame, making it a flock of 18.

A Black-faced Spoonbill with flag ring J10. This individual has been recorded on the Okinawa mainland since around 24 December last year. According to a blog by someone in Kyushu, it was recorded on 19 December last year at the mouth of the Mannose River in the central part of the Satsuma Peninsula in southern Kyushu.

A Black-faced Spoonbill with flag ring J15. This individual was first recorded at Sankaku Pond on 8 November last year, and I contacted an acquaintance photographer at the Okinawa Times, and it was also published in that paper. This is its tenth consecutive year of arrival since 2007.

A female Emerald Dove perched in a Ryukyu Pine. Light coming from the side bathed the leaves behind her in a beautiful green, almost like fresh spring foliage.

A male Emerald Dove foraging on the ground. He was picking up food in the same spot as the female above.

A male Black-winged Kite. My mentor also taught me how to tell the sexes apart.

A flock glinting in the evening sun. The photo shows 3 Common Starlings, 10 White-shouldered Starlings, 11 White-cheeked Starlings, and 6 White-cheeked Starlings — wait: 3 Rosy Starlings, 10 Daurian Starlings, 11 White-cheeked Starlings, and 6 Common Starlings.

After watching for a while, the starling flock kept growing larger and larger. It was probably a pre-roost gathering, but my flight time was pressing so I couldn't stay to the end….

It was catching moths at the streetlights one after another. It seems to eat its prey in the dark.

Heavy crop. The perfectly round eyes of the Oriental Scops Owl are always charming, no matter when you see them.

A Crested Serpent Eagle launching toward prey.

Shooting with the EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM and 7D Mark II, I captured the full sequence from launch to landing, and the focus held solid throughout.

Wings beating wide, the beautiful flight feathers cutting through the wind.

It strikes with sharp talons. Decelerating hard, but the camera is tracking the subject solidly.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle found on a forest road. The traditional folk song "Basu nuTuri Bushi (鷲ぬ鳥節)" — sung at auspicious occasions as the opening dance — tells of a juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle taking flight toward the New Year's sunrise. Auspicious indeed. ^^

Normally unassuming, but when excited the crest that gives the Crested Serpent Eagle its name fans open.

A Tundra Swan in the rice fields. Why on earth had it come this far south?