Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a striking black-and-white wader carried on extremely long pink legs, with a fine straight black 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 comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It wades through shallow wetlands and salt pans, picking aquatic insects and crustaceans and nesting on low open mounds. 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).