Pied Harrier

Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucos) is a slender Asian harrier whose adult male has striking black-and-white plumage, while females and young are mostly brown. 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 hunts small mammals and birds by quartering low over marshes, grasslands and cultivated fields, and migrates between northern Asian breeding grounds and southern wintering areas. 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).