Richard's Pipit

Richard's Pipit (Anthus richardi) is a large, long-legged brown pipit with an upright stance, strongly streaked back and powerful direct flight. 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 East Palearctic grasslands and migrates to lowland fields in South and Southeast Asia, walking through short vegetation to take insects and some 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).