Greater Painted-snipe

Greater Painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is a wetland wader in which the larger female is more colourful, with chestnut neck and bold eye stripe. 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 probes mud for invertebrates and seeds; females may mate with several males, which incubate and rear the chicks. 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).