Owston's Tit

Owston's Tit (Sittiparus owstoni) is a small island tit with a dark head, pale face, chestnut-toned body and a short stout 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 is endemic to Miyakejima, Mikurajima and Hachijojima in the southern Izu Islands, where it searches wooded habitats for insects and seeds and nests in tree cavities. 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).