Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus kizuki) is a tiny brown-and-white woodpecker with finely barred wings and back, streaked pale underparts and a short pointed bill. 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 moves through coniferous and deciduous woodland in Japan and neighbouring East Asia, gleaning insects and larvae from branches and bark and excavating a small nesting cavity in dead wood. 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).