Black-faced Bunting

Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala) is a small bunting whose breeding male has an ash-grey head and dark face contrasting with olive upperparts and yellowish underparts. 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 from southern Siberia to northern China in dense streamside undergrowth, feeds on seeds and insects and migrates to north-eastern India, southern China and northern Southeast Asia. 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).