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

An adult Black-winged Kite in flight, bathed in evening light.

The primary moult is clearly visible.

There aren't many spots on Ishigaki Island where Black-winged Kites fly this close and at this height.

It crossed right in front of me, completely unhurried.

A Black-winged Kite at the moment it changed direction. What a stunning bird.

It was hovering, searching for prey.

A Ruddy Kingfisher with absolutely no wariness at all.

This individual also seemed to have very little wariness.

A male Ryukyu Scops Owl standing guard over the nest.

A Brown Hawk-Owl that has been breeding here every year for several years now. The nest seems shallow, so it always ends up incubating like this.

A single Eurasian Coot has stayed behind. Will it spend the summer on Ishigaki-jima like this?

A Common Greenshank with what appears to be a deformed bill. It also looked lethargic. Its feathers were ragged too — it may not be in good condition.

A White-winged Tern was flying over the rice paddies in strong winds left by the tail of a typhoon, catching dragonflies.

Same individual as above. In mid-moult into breeding plumage — the most advanced moult in the flock.

Same individual as above. My daughter was thrilled to have a White-winged Tern flying around so close to us. ^^

A different White-winged Tern. Almost fully in non-breeding plumage, though a little breeding plumage is still showing.

Black Tern, non-breeding plumage.

White-winged Tern (right) and Black Tern.

A Little Tern incubating. Two eggs are visible beneath its belly.

The Little Tern nest was most likely crushed by vehicles deployed for the PAC-3 installation. Kentish Plovers and others had also been present, but all flew off somewhere.

Little Terns flying over a vehicle parked on top of their nest site.

A Greater Crested Tern in breeding plumage carrying a fiddler crab in its bill.

A Greater Crested Tern carrying only a crab claw.

It made repeated dives at the crab again and again.

A single Black-headed Gull at the river mouth. An adult moulting from non-breeding into breeding plumage.

An out-of-season Pin-tailed Snipe. Almost fully in summer plumage.

When I found it, it looked like this — a bit tense. It had that Pin-tailed Snipe feel about it even before I got the binoculars on it. ^^

Common Greenshank, first-summer plumage.

A male Black-winged Stilt, adult summer plumage. This individual has what looks like a healed fracture around the base of the left leg.

A female Black-winged Stilt, adult summer plumage.

A female Black-winged Stilt, first-summer plumage.

A male Black-winged Stilt, first-summer plumage.

A Common Moorhen incubating eggs. It had built its nest beside a farm road with heavy foot traffic from walkers and others.

A male Brown Hawk-Owl (left) and female in the background. This pair's nest changes location every year — the nesting tree has been cut down and so on.

A Brown Hawk-Owl that has used the same nesting tree for several consecutive years. This is the male. This year a Ruddy Kingfisher ended up building a nest right next door… ^^;

A Ryukyu Scops Owl that has also bred successfully for several years running. Practically perches on your hand. ^^;

A female Japanese Paradise Flycatcher. The male was in the thicket. The two were moving around calling back and forth to each other. Perhaps they were looking for a place to build a nest.

A Ruddy Kingfisher that was near the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher.

The pair whose nest was destroyed by a typhoon two years ago and were rescued. I never found where they nested last year. Where will they build this year?