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

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard circling over the rice paddies.

An adult Grey-faced Buzzard. It was preying on frogs and similar prey.

Juvenile Grey-faced Buzzards were being chased off whenever an adult spotted them. This juvenile was driven away by an adult and came directly overhead. It's keeping a wary eye on the adult in its line of sight. Handheld shooting was tough… ^^;

A kettle of Grey-faced Buzzards. When they're migrating, they fly together without squabbling.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard.

Ospreys are passing through on migration too.

The island visible on the horizon in the middle is Yoron-jima. The weather was fine and it was a day of pleasant breezes.

A White-winged Tern flying low over the water searching for prey.

When it spots prey, it wheels sharply and dives.

The bare 600mm f/4 is something else. The White-winged Tern looks so lively. ^^

A juvenile White-winged Tern.

This is also a juvenile White-winged Tern.

Another juvenile White-winged Tern. In the end, there didn't seem to be any Whiskered Terns after all. ^^;

Not an unusual bird by any means, but the light was wrapping around it beautifully — the Black-winged Stilt was glowing. ^^

An adult Grey-faced Buzzard passes directly overhead, but at considerable altitude.

A juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard. Juveniles hatched in Japan in spring set out in autumn on the long journey to their wintering grounds far to the south.

A female Chinese Sparrowhawk passing through as well. The Chinese Sparrowhawk migration peaked last month.

A flock too large to fit in the frame. It was a kettling column of around 60 raptors.

This one was high too. It flew off to the south in no time.

A Grey-faced Buzzard rendezvous.

When a flock of Grey-faced Buzzards appears, the individuals that had been resting in the Yanbaru forest climb frantically to catch up.

Two separate flocks merging into a single kettle.

Adult and juvenile Grey-faced Buzzards.

A Grey-faced Buzzard being attacked by a Japanese Sparrowhawk. The sparrowhawk has bitten onto the buzzard's tail feathers.

A Japanese Sparrowhawk getting behind a Grey-faced Buzzard and kicking it.

A Grey-faced Buzzard hunting for prey in the rice paddies of Kin Town. Both feet are caked in mud.

This Grey-faced Buzzard also hunting in the paddies. Some Grey-faced Buzzards winter on Okinawa Island and elsewhere in the Nansei Islands.

A Grey-faced Buzzard — natural predator of the Barred Buttonquail. Three Grey-faced Buzzards were spotted on Ikei Island that day.

Rental cars passed back and forth beneath this Grey-faced Buzzard, but it didn't seem to mind.

This one may already have been full — when a large grasshopper flew up in the field right in front of it, the bird just watched.

Grey-faced Buzzard and Brown-eared Bulbul.

The Barred Buttonquails were foraging in the shade of trees to stay out of the Grey-faced Buzzard's sight. The male is in the foreground; the female can be seen faintly in the background.

An Oriental Pratincole with eyes half closed, looking tired.

Bill half open — presumably from the heat.

This one is worn out too. The pratincole facing away on the left also has its head feathers raised, in full tired mode.

I wonder whether these Oriental Pratincoles will push on even further south from here.

This Oriental Pratincole was dozing off from time to time.