Scaly Thrush

Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma) is a large ground thrush with buff plumage covered by bold black crescent-shaped markings that create a strongly scaled pattern. 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 inhabits forest, where its pattern conceals it among leaf litter while it searches for earthworms, insects and other invertebrates; some northern Asian populations migrate south outside breeding. 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).