Bryan's Shearwater

Bryan's Shearwater (Puffinus bryani) is an extremely small black-and-white shearwater with bluish legs and feet and a slender bluish-grey 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 field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its biology remains poorly known, although a breeding population was discovered on Higashijima in the Ogasawara Islands; like other records, this information identifies it as a marine bird using island nesting habitat. 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).