Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) is a starling-sized crested bird with silky buff-grey plumage, a black mask, patterned wings and red wax-like tips on some flight feathers. 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 northern Eurasian and North American forests and wanders south in variable winter flocks, feeding heavily on berries and fruit while taking insects during the warmer breeding season. 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).