Little Ringed Plover – Charadrius dubius

This morning’s weather was terrible, but I thought I would go to Isahaya and try to see the immature Steller’s Sea Eagle that arrived last Thursday.

I’d seen heaps of these raptors in Hokkaido so it wasn’t a big deal for me personally (hence waiting this long to go and try spotting it!), but it would have been interesting to watch one in an area where they haven’t been recorded in almost 30 years.

However I wasn’t able to locate it and it probably headed north yesterday afternoon before the bad weather moved in.

So after patrolling the river between 06:00 and 08:00, I spent the mid-morning touring the reclaimed land areas and observing a nice male Merlin along with the remainder of the wintering ducks such as Falcated Teal, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, etc.. Summer breeders are already starting to arrive, such as this adorable Little Ringed Plover.

John Wright

John Wright is an Australian wildlife photographer and bird guide based in Kyushu, Japan. John became seriously engaged in nature photography while living in Japan and then Thailand. He returned to Japan in 2008 and has since concentrated on wildlife photography, especially birds. John visits Southeast Asia and Australia regularly, but usually travels within the Japanese archipelago, where he also guides visiting birders and wildlife photography enthusiasts.

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