Pine Bunting

Pine Bunting (Emberiza leucocephalos) is a medium bunting whose male has a chestnut body, white crown and cheeks and dark facial borders, while females are duller. 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 open conifer forest and scrub east of the Urals, feeds on seeds and insects and migrates south across central and eastern Asia, sometimes mixing and hybridising with yellowhammers. 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).