Chestnut-flanked White-eye

Chestnut-flanked White-eye (Zosterops erythropleurus) is a small olive-green white-eye with a bold white eye-ring, pale underparts and a chestnut patch along each flank. 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 inhabits relatively deep mixed and coniferous forest in East Asia, moving actively through foliage in small groups to take insects, fruit and nectar and migrating between northern breeding and southern wintering areas. 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).