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.
I haven't seen any juvenile Crested Serpent Eagles yet, but I'm seeing adult Crested Serpent Eagles at the rice paddies more often.
Poor Sakishima frog.
This is the "Aggai" that was rescued on 17 February 2014 and released on 8 March 2014. Its white juvenile plumage had been replaced by immature feathers.
There was a Black-crowned Night Heron in the dredged waterway.
The Crested Serpent Eagles have finished raising their young and are showing up in conspicuous places like rice paddies and pastures. Confirmed 4 today. Only one Ruddy Kingfisher...
A Crested Serpent Eagle came close. It's used to being around people working in the fields, so it shows no fear. ^^;
This individual was being pushed out by a younger bird. It was the original territory holder, though. ^^;
A juvenile Purple Heron.
It fledged the day before the typhoon. It could have just sat out the typhoon in the nest, you know. ^^;
Just like `the fledging I photographed after Typhoon No. 8 the day before`_, the blind is cool and comfortable before and after a typhoon. ^^
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Unknown target name: "the fledging i photographed after typhoon no. 8 the day before".
It brought a grasshopper. The adult and chick are quite different in both colour and size.
Another grasshopper. The chick already seemed full and didn't eat this one.
As with people, when there are fewer siblings there's plenty of food to go around, so they grow up at a leisurely pace.
Most of the pods have dropped, leaving just the heads.
The one Oriental Scops Owl chick that survived out of three will fledge soon. There were also several other Oriental Scops Owl chicks nearby that had already fledged elsewhere. With a moderate amount of human upkeep, it's a good environment with plenty of insects.
So cute! Compared to when the other two were taken and it was tumbling from the nest, it looks strikingly bigger and stronger now. ^^
The father of the chick above.
The black-eyed one was in almost the same spot as the other day. I wonder if it's nesting here? I can't get in any further, so that's as much as I know. ^^;
The Crested Serpent Eagles' breeding season is slowly nearing its end. They've started appearing at rice paddies and the like. ^^
Still so cool.
After eating a Cane Toad there is blood around the base of its bill.
Diving after spotting prey.
It caught a large Cane Toad. Even with both eyes gouged out the toad held on stubbornly, and after more than an hour of struggling the owl flipped it over and tore into its belly. It seems to avoid the poison glands. Partway through, a juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle showed up but was completely ignored and eventually wandered off. The video also captures the juvenile calling in a rather pitiful voice.
In the middle of all that drama, a White-breasted Waterhen crossed the scene… ^^; Just woken up?