Willow Tit

Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) is a small grey-brown tit with pale cheeks, a dull black cap and a relatively broad black bib. 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 favours coniferous and damp northern woodland, feeds on insects and seeds and commonly excavates its own nest hole in soft decaying wood; most populations remain resident year-round. 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).