Red-throated Pipit

Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus) is a small heavily streaked pipit whose breeding adults develop a rusty-red throat, face and upper breast. 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 on far northern tundra in Eurasia and Alaska and makes long migrations to Africa and Southeast Asia, feeding on insects and seeds while walking through short wet vegetation. 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).