Asian Stubtail

Asian Stubtail (Urosphena squameiceps) is a tiny brown forest warbler with a very short tail, pale eyebrow and relatively long pinkish legs. 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 breeds in temperate forests of north-eastern Asia and Japan, remaining close to the shaded ground while searching leaf litter and low vegetation for insects and migrating south for winter. 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).