Cinereous Tit

Cinereous Tit (Parus cinereus) is an Asian tit with a grey back, white underparts, black head and bib and bold white cheek patches. 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 searches trees and shrubs for insects and seeds, visits gardens and nests in cavities; it includes populations formerly called the Japanese tit and lacks the yellow belly of the great tit. 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).