Black Redstart

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) is a small dark chat with a constantly quivering orange-red tail; adult males have a black face and breast with a pale wing panel. 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 rocky habitats and buildings across Eurasia and North Africa, drops from perches to catch insects and also eats berries; northern and eastern populations migrate. 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).