Pin-tailed Snipe

Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura) is a cryptic Asian snipe with long bill, striped back and narrow pin-like outer tail feathers. 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 marshes and migrates to rice fields and wetlands, probing mud for worms and insects. 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).