Amami Woodcock

Amami Woodcock (Scolopax mira) is a large, long-legged woodland woodcock with cryptic brown barring and a long sensitive bill. 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 restricted to forested islands in the central Ryukyus and probes damp soil and leaf litter for invertebrates. 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).