Japanese Murrelet

Japanese Murrelet (Synthliboramphus wumizusume) is a small Japanese auk with black head, white underparts, grey back and narrow white crest plumes. 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 dives for small fish and nests in crevices on remote rocky islands, with chicks departing for sea shortly after hatching. 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).