Taiga Flycatcher

Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) is a small flycatcher with a black tail bordered white; breeding males have a compact orange-red throat patch and blue-grey sides to the head. 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 northern Asian forest, catches insects from low perches and migrates to South and Southeast Asia; females differ from red-breasted flycatchers in their strongly contrasting tail pattern. 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).