Oriental Plover

Oriental Plover (Charadrius veredus) is a long-legged plover whose breeding male has white face, chestnut breast and black belly 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 breeds in dry Asian steppe and migrates to open grasslands and mudflats, taking insects from bare 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).