Masked Laughingthrush

Masked Laughingthrush (Pterorhinus perspicillatus) is a medium grey-brown laughingthrush with a broad black facial mask, pale forehead and stout slightly curved 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 inhabits scrub, gardens and woodland edges in China and northern Vietnam, commonly travelling in noisy small flocks that search the ground and low vegetation for insects and fruit. 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).