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.
Following on from yesterday, I watched the Chinese Sparrowhawk migration again this morning. There was hardly any wind and it was hot, but I also saw kettles of several hundred raptors.
A juvenile Chinese Sparrowhawk.
Also a juvenile. At the moment, juveniles make up a large proportion of the flock.
The only kettling of the day. It was an exceptionally dense, impressive kettle.
Amazingly, I saw a Ruddy Kingfisher again today, following on from yesterday. ^^
The bill colour is just enough to tell it's a first-year bird. When I found it, it was eating what appeared to be a stick insect.
It was startled by a Brown-eared Bulbul.
This one was extremely tame. It has a handsome face, and its legs and feathers are hardly dirty at all. ^^
A beautiful juvenile.
I also tried shooting at 200mm. I left my lens cap behind in the sugarcane field… ^^;
Whiskered Terns increased all at once after the typhoon. Today they were hunting grasshoppers and other prey in a pasture.
A White-winged Tern that caught a large grasshopper.
This one caught a grasshopper too. There are far more grasshoppers hiding in the pasture than I'd expected.
Autumn migration has begun, but I saw two Ruddy Kingfishers today. ^^
It's out of season, but they were even singing quietly!!
It caught a large Sakishima flat stag beetle.