Grey Bunting

Grey Bunting (Emberiza variabilis) is a dark, secretive bunting; males are largely slate-grey while females are brown-grey with subdued streaking. 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 boreal and temperate forest in southern Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Kurils and northern Japan, feeds on seeds and insects in dense cover and migrates to southern Japan and the Nansei Islands. 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).