Siberian Accentor

Siberian Accentor (Prunella montanella) is a small accentor with a brown streaked back, grey neck, black face and a broad buff-yellow eyebrow and 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 from the Urals across Siberia in subarctic woodland near water, feeds on insects and seeds low in vegetation and migrates mainly to Korea and eastern China. 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).