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

Male Tufted Duck.

First-year female Tufted Duck.

A sleeping male Mallard.

A few Northern Pintails flew in.

Northern Shoveler, male.

Northern Shoveler, juvenile male.

Eurasian Wigeon.

A Eurasian Hoopoe in the distance.

First Dusky Thrush of the season. A White's Thrush was calling nearby too.

I had my first female Daurian Redstart of the season about a week ago, but this is my first photo this season. A fine-looking male.

A female Siberian Stonechat in a pineapple field.

A flock of Common Starlings and Rosy Starlings. Foraging at a farm.

A first-year male Common Kestrel. Moult has begun.

A Lesser White-fronted Goose photographed at close range. Small and charming.

A Lesser White-fronted Goose in flight.

Lesser White-fronted Goose (foreground) and Tundra Bean Goose. Both adults. Quite a difference in size.

Pale-capped Pigeon male juvenile. Spooked by raptors and not coming down into the paddies.

First Lesser White-fronted Goose of the season. An adult. Moving around with Greater White-fronted Geese.

Found one Buff-bellied Pipit among a flock of Red-throated Pipits. Distant, but a first for the season.

Red-throated Pipits are present in good numbers.

A Crested Serpent Eagle that has caught a Black Rat. The rat's ears are visible between its feet.

First Eurasian Sparrowhawk of the season. It was chasing a flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails around.

Common Kestrel adult male. In the same paddy as the Eurasian Sparrowhawk, but this one was targeting grasshoppers.

First Northern Lapwings of the season. All juveniles, as usual.

Common Snipe, first-winter plumage. A flock of about ten. I searched for Swinhoe's Snipe but they are all Common Snipe.

Dunlin in winter plumage.

Green Sandpipers are everywhere, alone or in twos and threes.

Juvenile (right) and adult Black-winged Stilt.

Juvenile Purple Heron.

Shovelers are increasing too.

A Caspian Tern diving for small fish.

The hunt appears to have failed.

The Caspian Tern is impressive, flying right in front of you with that large body.

First confirmed juvenile Cream-coloured Dove.

Male Cream-coloured Dove. At this time of year they are usually mixed in with flocks of Oriental Turtle Doves, so it's worth having a look.

Cream-coloured Dove in flight. The white tips to the tail feathers are conspicuous.

Lesser Whitethroat can be heard calling here and there. Arctic Warbler is scarcer. Kamchatka Leaf Warbler not yet confirmed.

The other side of the same individual as above.

Two Lesser Whitethroats are currently staying in this spot.

Yellow Bittern juvenile. Three birds appeared simultaneously. A Ryukyu Yellow Bittern also confirmed in the distance.

Chestnut-cheeked Starling male and White-cheeked Starling.

Chestnut-cheeked Starling juvenile.

About 20 Common Starlings.

A single White-winged Tern juvenile is still lingering.

Two Garganey. The temperature is high and the atmospheric haze is terrible.

Plenty of Eurasian Teal. Some individuals show little wariness.

Long-toed Stint, first-winter plumage.

Long-toed Stint, winter plumage.

A small flock of Eurasian Coots as well. Numbers will keep growing from here.

Migrant Little Grebes have been increasing.

A rare experience — encountering a White-browed Wagtail in a sugarcane field. It appears to roost together with other wagtails.

It roosted in the same spot two days running, so I'm hopeful it will overwinter.

The two male Cream-coloured Doves have joined a flock of Oriental Turtle Doves.

A Bull-headed Shrike associating with Cream-coloured Doves and Oriental Turtle Doves. The other small birds are on edge too, with so many raptors around.

In the end, the snipe have come down to Common Snipe only.