Chinese Sparrowhawk

Chinese Sparrowhawk (Accipiter soloensis) is a small compact hawk with short rounded wings, a dark-tipped bill and, in adults, pale underparts with subtle barring. 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 eastern Asia and migrates south in flocks, hunting frogs, large insects and small vertebrates around woodland edges, rice fields and other wet ground. 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).