Chestnut-cheeked Starling

Chestnut-cheeked Starling (Agropsar philippensis) is a small starling whose male has a pale head, chestnut cheek and shoulder and glossy dark back, while females are browner. 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 Japan, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, feeds on insects and fruit in wooded open country and migrates to Taiwan, the Philippines and northern Borneo for winter. 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).