Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) is a slender wagtail whose breeding male has a brilliant yellow head and underparts contrasting with a dark back. 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 uses wet meadows, marshes and watersides across Eurasia, walking and tail-pumping while collecting insects from the ground and shallow water; northern populations migrate south 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).