Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) is a sturdy Arctic songbird with extensive white in its wings and body; breeding males have black backs while winter plumage is warmer and buff-edged. 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 around the circumpolar Arctic in rocky tundra, feeds on seeds and insects on the ground and migrates south to exposed coasts and fields, often forming mobile winter flocks. 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).