Long-billed Plover

Long-billed Plover (Charadrius placidus) is a medium plover with long dark bill, yellowish legs, white forehead and single black breast band. 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 uses gravelly riverbanks in East Asia, running and pausing to pick aquatic insects and other small prey. 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).