Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small pale plover with dark side-breast patches, white hindneck collar and slender black 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 comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It runs and pauses across open beaches, salt flats and mudflats, picking insects and crustaceans from the surface. 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).