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

Birding in the gaps between work assignments on Yonaguni Island. As I cruised the forest road with a sense that autumn migration was well and truly getting under way, I spotted a fig tree that birds were gathering in. While watching a flock of Warbling White-eyes, a yellow warbler flew into my field of view. I got it in the binoculars — it was a Willow Warbler!! It was moving from branch to branch, apparently picking off small insects.

I also had first records for the trip of Chinese Sparrowhawk, Oriental Dollarbird, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Garganey, Common Snipe, and White-shouldered Starling. Yonaguni Island delivers, as always. ^^

Arctic Warbler makes an appearance. It stands out clearly — obviously different from the other Japanese leaf warblers.

I couldn't get away for summer vacation because work was too busy, so we made a last-minute family trip to Miyako-jima. We visited the Grey-faced Buzzard migration survey site on Irabu-jima. The terrain is very flat, and the tsunami evacuation shelter at the survey point is only three stories tall — quite different from the mountaintop surveys on Ishigaki-jima. Birds that had headed out over the sea but given up heading south were coming back and dropping down onto Shimoji-jima one after another.

One of the surveyors told me that back when Grey-faced Buzzards were still hunted, crowds of people would show up at night with torches in the Casuarina forest along the channel between Irabu-jima and Shimoji-jima — from a distance it looked like some kind of festival. Of course, nobody hunts Grey-faced Buzzards anymore.

A small patch of scrubby woodland held plenty of Grey-streaked Flycatchers on migration. I also picked up two Blue-and-white Flycatchers. I heard Black Wood Pigeons calling and got fairly easy views by following the sound, but I was out walking with the kids so I never got to the point of raising the camera…

Grey-faced Buzzard photographed from farmland. Miyako-jima has no hills, so kettles of raptors could be watched from farmland and residential areas alike.

I searched for birds in an area where Black-naped Oriole has been appearing repeatedly over the past few days. I couldn't find the Black-naped Oriole itself, but Arctic Warbler, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Dark-sided Flycatcher, and Grey-streaked Flycatcher turned up in good numbers.

Grey-streaked Flycatchers moving through in numbers during the Chinese Sparrowhawk season.

西表島と与那国島の連続出張。空いた時間で軽くバードウオッチングしてきました。

今年は全国的に長雨や台風の影響のなのか秋の渡りが遅れており、ピークにはわずかに早かったようですが、西表島では大量のマミジロツメナガセキレイの群れに数羽のマミジロタヒバリが入っていたり、農耕地の電線にはブッポウソウがいたりしました。1泊でしたが、翌日には北風が強くなり上原航路は欠航。大原から帰る羽目になりました。

与那国島では、エゾビタキ、シマアカモズ、ツメナガセキレイの3種が大量に入っていました。エゾビタキは農道に数羽が固まって降りてたり、シマアカモズは10メートルから20メートル間隔であちこちに、ツメナガセキレイは数種の亜種が牧草地や畑、牛舎に群れていました。

初日と2日目はシギはセイタカシギぐらいしかいなかったのですが、4日目には、タシギやハマシギ、エリマキシギなどが入りだしました。

台風の北風が強まると鳥たちは風裏に避難してきたのか、宇良部岳の南側では高密度でアカハラダカとエゾビタキ、シマアカモズ、ツメナガセキレイが林道に集まっていた。その中で、1羽の青い鳥がいると思ったらなんとオオルリの幼鳥でした。

ほかには、田んぼや沈砂池でクロハラアジサシ、林道ではコサメビタキ、牧場ではキタツメナガセキレイかシベリアツメナガセキレイと思われる幼鳥などに出会えました。

与那国島では4泊の予定でしがた、帰る予定の19日から北風がさらに強まり飛行機が欠航。結局、台風17号も発生し、1週間もの間、与那国島に閉じ込められました。風も強く、やることもないので、宿で仕事をして過ごすという最悪のパターンに…。食材確保も大変で石垣島に帰ってくる頃には1キロほど体重が減っていました…。^^;

First-winter male Blue-and-white Flycatcher near Urabudake, Yonaguni Island. Encounters like this are extremely rare in the Yaeyamas and Okinawa.