Golly, I have now been in Okinawa for 3 years. it has been, er put in positive adjective of your choice. Thanks Okinawans for being so nice to me. We all, like western folks, have a lot to learn from them about milk of human kindness.

First weekend back from California and I go on a ramble to seek out feathered friends, which is what I like to do.

Japanese White Eye on my deck early this morning.

Sorry dear readers for all this bird stuff.

Little Egret catches fish

Whoa ! You can really see the Little Egret’s yellow feet.
Intense joy.

Intermediate Egret strutting its stuff

Greenshanks. The one in the foreground only has one leg. I thought this was a style of standing but when it moved, it hopped with clumsiness. What is the story behind a wild bird losing its leg?

So, this is a young Chinese Pond Heron, which is a rarity.

I think this is a Common Snipe, but there are 3 others that look exactly the same so perhaps not.

I drive home, not yet sated I decide to check out a sinuous rill close to my house. Here something strange happens. There are five guys all with very expensive camera equipment pointing their mega lenses at something. I stumble up and see that the object of their desire is a Kingfisher. With my pathetic small equipment I take some pictures.

Keith the Kingfisher.

How come they were all there at the same time? Probably members of some kind of bird photography club who just happened to be prowling the river. I will never know for despite the fact that they grin and wave, they do not speak English and my Japanese is still limited to saying how much I like gas stations. Maybe in another 3 years I will be able to comprehend? Probably not, one of the aspects of the Okinawan experience that I enjoy is that a great deal of life is unexplained, a mystery.