Olive-backed Pipit

Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) is a small pipit with an olive-toned, lightly streaked back, strongly marked pale eyebrow and streaked breast. 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 breeds across northern and eastern Asian forests, often using trees more than other pipits, and migrates to southern Asia and Indonesia, feeding on insects and seeds on the ground. 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).