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

Two female Ruddy Shelducks. Both are adults.

Adult Lesser White-fronted Goose.

The Common Crane has become less wary than at first and is now easier to observe.

There were 22 Greater White-fronted Geese in total.

A Tundra Swan is also staying. It shows little wariness and does not flee even when walkers pass by.

I thought the area around the throat might be partway through changing to adult male plumage, but it looks as though feathers have been lost, exposing the black area beneath. Even so, the whitish feathering from above the eye toward the cheek area looks like a male's.

That said, when Daurian Redstarts transition from juvenile to first-winter plumage, male individuals apparently develop vivid orange feathers. This individual shows some orange in places, but is otherwise brown.

The hindcrown and hindneck are a pale brownish buff, more like a female. A genuinely puzzling and intriguing individual.

A Pale-legged Leaf Warbler — I could hear several calling. One came up into view.

A female Black-faced Bunting. I could hear many calls coming from the sugarcane field, and after waiting a short while it came in very close.

The small birds fell silent when the rain started, but were active again once it stopped.

A Black Baza wintering on Ishigaki Island. This marks its fifth year visiting. It typically stays until around March.

A Black-winged Kite in a mown grassland. An extremely unwary individual.

A Black-winged Kite hovering right in front of me.

It was completely unfazed even when cars passed beneath the wire it was perched on.

A Black-winged Kite at a different location.

In the evenings, I often see Black-winged Kites hunting over rice paddies, sugarcane fields, and pastures.

White Wagtails have been increasing too.

A Grey Wagtail with a deformed bill. Whether from injury or congenital, I'm not sure.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in late juvenile plumage.

The snipe in the rice paddies are all Common Snipe. All juveniles.

The lunar eclipse reached maximum at 7:59 p.m. The tiny point of light at lower left is Uranus.

Tundra Swan for the first time in two years. It doesn't seem particularly wary.

A Crested Serpent Eagle perched beside a waterway, hunting for prey.

The number of Chinese Pond Herons goes up and down. There were 2 that day, but 5 were recorded the following day.

Chinese Pond Herons flushed by a raptor.

Common Coots suddenly increased to several dozen.

Common Greenshank moving from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Common Greenshank moving from juvenile to first-winter plumage.

Common Snipe in wintering mode.

First Eurasian Wigeon of the season. All males in eclipse. The individual on the right is mid-transition into breeding plumage.

A Great Cormorant came running toward me along the waterway. ^^