Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) is a slim plover with gold-spangled upperparts and black face and belly bordered white in breeding plumage. 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 comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on Arctic tundra and migrates across the Pacific to grasslands, fields, beaches and mudflats. 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).