Upland Buzzard, Saker Falcon, Short-eared Owl and other wintering raptors (video)
The raptors that winter on Ishigaki Island are now all showing up: Upland Buzzard, Saker Falcon, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Grey-faced Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Short-eared Owl, and more.
The ducks, Eurasian Coots, and small birds that serve as prey are on edge whenever a raptor appears.
Juvenile Upland Buzzard. One appears every year, but this individual is not very wary and is easy to observe and photograph.
The brown leggings characteristic of the Upland Buzzard are conspicuous.
An Upland Buzzard in flight against a backdrop of Yaeyama palms. A sight you can only see on Ishigaki Island. ^^
An Upland Buzzard stooping.
The white patch on the primaries is clearly visible too.
Flying low over the rice paddies.
An Upland Buzzard returning to the leftover Cattle Egret it had not finished eating.
Male adult Peregrine Falcon (Siberian).
The female paired with the individual above.
A Short-eared Owl that turns up every year. Last year there were three in the same paddy field, but this year just one. You can't see it in the photo, but it's in the middle of eating a mouse.
A Brown Hawk-Owl that was right beside the Short-eared Owl above. The two took no notice of each other.
A Hen Harrier that had landed in the paddy field.
A Common Kestrel targeting a small bird.
A female Siberian Stonechat on alert for the Common Kestrel.
The flock of Buff-bellied Pipits panicked when the kestrel came in. Because the kestrel kept shuffling them around, I couldn't get a shot of the Red-throated Pipit that had been in among them… ^^;
A wintering juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard. This is the area where a dark-morph Grey-faced Buzzard had been wintering for five consecutive years up until last year.
The north wind was strong, and this Crested Serpent Eagle, raised in the tropics, looked cold.
A first-winter Isabelline Shrike.
