GUIDED BIRDWATCHING TOUR
We'll drive you around Ishigaki Island to wherever the birds are showing best that day. Observation is mostly from inside the vehicle, and we keep it to a maximum of 3 guests so everyone can take their time.
This is a male Brown Shrike (Shima-akamozu) that comes to the same place every year. It isn't very afraid of people, so it's an easy one to photograph.
Catching grasshoppers on a favourite branch at the pasture.
Perhaps because of the typhoon, the Grey-faced Buzzard migration had stopped completely for several days, but it finally resumed and I observed about 700 birds. ^^
Gray-faced Buzzard, juvenile.
Gray-faced Buzzard, adult.
A flock of just under 200 passed overhead, but I noticed them too late and they had already climbed quite high.
The Grey-faced Buzzards did not migrate again today. Is it because of Typhoons No. 18 and 19? Peregrine Falcons, Eurasian Hobbies, Eurasian Sparrowhawks and others were passing through.
On the way home I thought I'd look for a Northern Boobook, but I was low on gas and gave up... ^^;
This Eurasian Hobby was hanging around nearby.
A Peregrine Falcon going back and forth as well.
Black-faced Spoonbills have arrived as a group. A birdwatcher visiting from Nara told me about them. ^^ He said that two days ago a flock of 43 had continued south from Ishigaki Island. Amazing!!
By the way, zero Grey-faced Buzzards. I recorded my first Daurian Redstart of the season.
Eighteen Black-faced Spoonbills, though they seem tired and just keep sleeping. ^^;
Shorebirds for a change. The three big species that don't flee. ^^
Red-necked Phalaropes never seem to flush, regardless of the individual. They were feeding in the paddies, bobbing along on the surface.
A flock of Long-toed Stints and Little Ringed Plovers in a nearby paddy field as well.
Little Ringed Plovers are so charming the way they run and stop, run and stop, like clockwork toys. ^^