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

Slaty-breasted Rail, male. I placed a cardboard box on the ground with the flap slightly open, and after a while it came out, looking around warily.

The Slaty-breasted Rail was quite sensitive to the presence of crows, but this individual seemed little bothered by humans.

When I crouched down and watched quietly, it kept walking closer and closer to me. In the end it passed right between my legs and went back into the forest. What on earth was that about?

Black Stork, juvenile. My wife saw one last year but I missed it. This individual was not especially wary for a Black Stork, and we were able to photograph and observe it at close range.

It was startled into flight by a farm vehicle, but it was at close range. Birds of this size cover a lot of ground in a single flight. Last year's Black Stork was also moving back and forth between Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island.

It relaxed and showed us some preening as well.

Tufted Duck, male. Molting from eclipse into breeding plumage.

Grey Plover, winter plumage.

Sanderling, winter plumage. They are less common on Ishigaki Island than on the Okinawa mainland.

Red-necked Stint in winter plumage. A few birds were on the shore.

Kentish Plover, male in winter plumage.

Rosy Starling, juvenile. Molting from juvenile into first-winter plumage.

Size comparison with White-cheeked Starling. The Rosy Starling looks slightly smaller.

A Rosy Starling that caught some kind of larva.

By around the new year, the molt should have progressed and the bird will likely have taken on the colors typical of a Rosy Starling.

Grey-tailed Tattler, first-winter plumage.

Ruddy Turnstone, winter plumage.

The third Ruddy Shelduck of the season was a juvenile — in the process of moulting from juvenile plumage into first breeding plumage.

Feeding in a dry, unflooded rice paddy. I wonder what it's eating.

The Greylag Goose, completely unafraid, is in the middle of a long stay. Does it intend to winter here?

The bird always accompanying the Greylag Goose is a Tundra Bean Goose. For some reason these two never join the flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese and Lesser White-fronted Geese.

Lesser Sand Plover in breeding plumage. At this season almost all individuals are in winter plumage, but every now and then one turns up that still hasn't shaken off its summer mood. Where do they come from?

Lesser Sand Plover in winter plumage. This is what the vast majority look like.

Lesser Sand Plover, juvenile. Molting into first-winter plumage.

Spotted Redshank, adult. Molting into winter plumage.

Common Greenshank, juvenile.

Kentish Plover, juvenile.

Dunlin, winter plumage.

Dunlin resting on the coast and in rice fields.

White-winged Tern, juvenile.

Rosy Starling, adult male. Most of this year's flocks have been on the small side.

I had already seen a flock of five Greylag Geese at the end of last year on Okinawa Island, but this was my first encounter with the species on Ishigaki Island.

A juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle that plunged into a rice paddy. Did the hunt fail?

Scanning for prey from a good vantage point.

An individual with no fear of people — it came and perched on the wire right in front of me.

An adult female Crested Serpent Eagle. This is 'Kikki,' an individual rescued in 2009, with a red band on the right leg.

A Caspian Tern resting on a sandy beach.

It took off, but flew off somewhere without hunting.

Lesser Sand Plover in winter plumage. Numbers have dropped from their peak but birds are still present along various stretches of coastline.

Kentish Plover in winter plumage. Numbers are well down compared to the peak here too.

Little Ringed Plover in winter plumage. Still present on beaches and in rice paddies.