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

It suddenly stretched up and I scrambled to keep up. A Hoopoe really has to do this. I was shooting handheld but got the shot without blur. ^^ The little yellow flowers in the frame were a nice touch. Bird no. 1.

Here I tried composing the Hoopoe with two Ryukyu violets. Another bird visible in the background. Bird no. 2.

And here, one bird alongside the road at its wintering site. Bird no. 3.

Another one close by. Bird no. 4.

Birds 3 and 4 are wintering birds that had always been together as a pair, but I had a hunch and searched the same grounds — and found one more. Three Hoopoes on the same property. ^^; Bird no. 5.

This one was in the garden of a friend's house at Tamatorizaki. ^^; Bird no. 6.

The seventh Hoopoe of the day at Kabiraisaki. If there had been one more it would have been a nice round eight — but no such luck. ^^;

It circled round and round, then drifted away toward Sokohara Dam.

A Little Ringed Plover with a flag and leg ring. According to records from the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, the flag was attached at Lake Komuke in Hokkaido. Lake Komuke to Ishigaki Island is 2,800 kilometres. Remarkable that a bird barely 16 centimetres long makes that crossing!!

Yamashina Institute for Ornithology (migratory birds and rings)

Overcast skies wrap the Eurasian Hoopoe in softer, more even light — I like that. ^^ For raptors, though, bright sun gives the shots a sharper, more intense look.

Every Hoopoe I see catches the same cockroaches — just how many cockroaches are there on this island…? ^^;

Pale Thrushes and Dusky Thrushes are starting to move north to their breeding grounds, but I wonder how long the Brown Shrikes will stay. You do see Brown Shrikes in beautiful summer plumage on Ishigaki during the breeding season, but only in small numbers. I wonder if any are actually breeding here?

A Crested Serpent Eagle targeting prey from above a small marsh.

It flew in quite close.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle bathed in evening light.

A Crested Serpent Eagle caught off guard by a crow attack while it was dismembering and eating a crab.