![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/EgretNahaonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a>\nWhile pretty, this Egret was not what I was hoping to see at Manko.<\/em><\/p>\n
So when we arrived, despite the lure of Mudskippers and Fiddler Crabs, I barely slowed down till I reached the furthest end of the boardwalk. From the end, I could see 4 large white wading birds resting. The sun was reflecting off the mudflats and their white feathers and my camera was resisting focussing. I took a bunch of photos but frankly felt a bit disappointed as I thought these were just Great Egrets, the same ones I can see at the Rattray Marsh in Mississauga.<\/p>\n
Then one decided to preen. Wow! Two of the birds were actually Black-faced Spoonbills! I took lots of badly focussed photos and then with a happy sigh when the birds went back to sleep, went to look more closely at the crabs and mudskippers.<\/p>\n I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau and John and Janet Foster and other shows exploring the wild places. I remember seeing photos of Mudskippers, small fish that can survive being out of water and even ‘walk’ around using their fins. So when I read I could see them in Naha, a short walk from our hotel, they became a “must try to see!”<\/p>\n When we arrived, the tide was much further out than I expected and had left hundreds of yards of exposed mudflats. Along the board walk, near the spot where the river would meet the mangroves at high tide, I first spotted Barred Mudskippers. And there were dozens of them of all sizes. Some were scooting around on the mud. Others were peeking out of tubes of mud they had built. Some were bullying others. All of them had the bulgy bulbous eyes and tiny fin ‘legs.’ The way they half jump half scoot across the mud makes them fun to watch. They reminded me a bit of tadpoles half changed into frogs.<\/p>\n I have not yet decided what this bird is. There were two rapidly feeding in the mud while the Spoonbills slept. I’m pretty sure it is a Common Redshank.<\/p>\n I knew from the Wetland Center website that there were many types of crabs along the Manko Waterbird board walk. I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to see any or not, though. Luckily, I was!<\/p>\n This is one of the Banzai Crabs I hoped to see! Well 4 of them actually. There were 1000s of them.<\/p>\n While trying from the boardwalk to get sharp photos of bright red crabs under a mangrove, I was startled when a robin-sized bird suddenly flew in. It perched briefly on top of a mangrove near me, but hastily zipped off again when it realized I was there. My camera was set for closeups, but fortunately a random click caught the bird. This is a Light-vented Bulbul, another first for me. There were also Brown-eared Bulbuls around but they were skulking.<\/p>\n The signage and website for Manko says there are three types of mangroves growing in the wetland. This type did not have the ‘octopus’ roots nor the ‘knee-step’ roots but rather a thick main trunk. It is what the Center calls a Mehirgi, also called Ryukyukougai in Okinawan. Kougai means hairpin which the seed pod resembles.<\/span><\/p>\n Just as I was leaving the board walk to visit the Center and head for the coral beach at Senaga, more new butterflies chased their way into my life. Orange ones buzzed off after brown ones; Little Blues chased anything that moved; Irridescent blue patched ones shimmered under the noon-day sun. I had seen black ‘swallowtail’ type butterflies and one yellow one patrolling the edges of the mangroves along the boardwalk but alas none of them slowed down. These butterflies perched. So I stopped, entranced.<\/p>\n This is a Blue Pansy. No it’s not a flower! It is on more of the Beggarticks.<\/p>\n This butterfly is some type of Fritillary. It may be a Tropical Fritillary.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nMudskippers Make Merry in the Manko Mudflats<\/h2>\n
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\nYou may be able to see that this guy is so propped up on its fins that the middle of its body is off the mud.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nBarred Mudskipper doing a Sphinx impersonation?<\/em><\/p>\nMystery Wading Bird at the Manko Mudflats in Naha Okinawa<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nSo Many Crabs in the Tidal Mudflats and Mangroves at the Manko Waterbird and Wetland Center in Naha<\/h2>\n
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\nThese brightly-coloured crabs were along the drier part of the boardwalk at Manko.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nA Bulbul But Not Another Brown-Eared Bulbul Pops Up at the Boardwalk<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMangroves and Manko Waterbird and Wetland Center<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBeautiful Butterflies Distract Me from My Plans for Beach Combing at Senaga<\/h2>\n
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