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

The first Broad-billed Sandpiper of the season, found by my daughter. In autumn it's always a juvenile.

Same individual as above. The fresh juvenile plumage, with moult not yet started, is beautiful.

Temminck's Stint, juvenile. It was at the far end of the paddy and quite distant….

Pin-tailed Snipe, juvenile. The moult on this individual seems to be progressing awfully fast….

Pin-tailed Snipe, juvenile. Pin-tailed Snipe numbers have really dropped. The second wave is due around now.

Common Snipe numbers are also declining.

Another Common Snipe. I photographed it in a different paddy in the same area, but it turned out to be the same individual as above. Did it flush over when startled by a passing walker?

Red-necked Stint, juvenile. A group of around ten to a few more were staying.

Marsh Sandpiper, winter plumage. A few birds were staying.

Black-bellied Tern moulting from summer to winter plumage.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle in flight. Always a stunning bird no matter when you see it.

It was too far away, so I shot with a 1200 mm lens plus in-camera crop. With additional photo cropping, the effective focal length is around 2700 mm.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle stretching. Its crop is bulging, so it looks like it had a good meal.

The Ruddy Kingfisher in my neighbourhood. I say hello to this individual every morning before heading to the office. ^^ The head looked quite tatty a few days ago, but the moult there seems to be done now.

The primaries still appear to be old feathers. Will it suspend moult here before continuing its migration?

Crested Serpent Eagle, adult. It was hunting from a windbreak with a clear view over the paddies.

Same individual as above.

This one was hunting from a sprinkler.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, adult female, winter plumage. (leucopsis)

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, adult male, winter plumage. (leucopsis)

I thought it was a Siberian Yellow Wagtail, but it turned out to be a leucopsis Eastern Yellow Wagtail… The supercilium had simply disappeared because the bird was soaked in rain….

First Grey-tailed Tattler juveniles of the season. All five birds in the flock were juveniles.

Both birds are Greater Painted-snipe, first-winter females.

Also a Greater Painted-snipe, first-winter female.

Swinhoe's Snipe juvenile.

Also a Swinhoe's Snipe juvenile.

Same individual as above.

Swinhoe's Snipe adult, moulting into non-breeding plumage.

Swinhoe's Snipe, adult. The scapulars have moulted into winter plumage. Some of the tertials have been shed.

Red-necked Stint, adult. Moulting into winter plumage.

Common Sandpiper, juvenile.

While I was watching a Eastern Yellow Wagtail, an adult Purple Heron flew in.

A flock of around 200 Eastern Cattle Egrets arrived.

A Javan Pond-Heron that stayed for several days.

This is the fourth Javan Pond-Heron of the season.

The first Common Greenshank juvenile of the season.

Common Greenshank moulting from breeding to non-breeding plumage.

The first Green Sandpiper juvenile of the season.

The first Red-necked Stint juveniles of the season, a flock of ten including adults.

The first Sharp-tailed Sandpiper of the season. About two non-breeding scapulars are coming in.

A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper that was with the individual above. A few non-breeding feathers are also showing on this one.

A Greater Painted-snipe parent and chicks. There were two chicks, but they were on alert and tucked themselves under the parent, out of sight.

Black-winged Stilt moulting into first-winter plumage.

Black-winged Stilt, adult female in non-breeding plumage.

Marsh Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage.

Common Redshank in first-winter plumage.