Amami Thrush

Amami Thrush (Zoothera major) is a large dark forest thrush with heavily patterned brown upperparts and pale underparts marked by bold black scaling. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is endemic to Amami Oshima and Kakeroma in Japan's northern Nansei Islands, where it searches humid forest floors for earthworms and other invertebrates and also takes fruit. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).