Japanese Wagtail

Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis) is a bold black-and-white wagtail with a black back and throat, white forehead and underparts and a long constantly moving tail. 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 is native chiefly to Japan and Korea, where it frequents rivers, streams and built-up watersides, walking and running after aquatic and terrestrial insects and nesting in sheltered crevices. 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).