Pallas's Reed Bunting

Pallas's Reed Bunting (Emberiza pallasi) is a small pale reed bunting whose breeding male has a black head and bib, white collar and lightly streaked grey-brown back. 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 northern and central Asian wetlands and tundra scrub, feeds on seeds and insects and migrates south to East Asian reedbeds and damp grassland for winter. 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).