Red-billed Leiothrix

Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) is a small olive-green babbler with a bright red bill, yellow-orange throat, pale eye-ring and colourful wing markings. 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 is native to southern China and the Himalayas but has established escaped populations in Japan, moving through dense undergrowth in groups while feeding on insects, fruit and seeds. 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).