Places and times seen in Munakata city

In Munakata it is a traveling bird, it can be seen in the spring and autumn migration period (April - May, August - October), but the number is small and there are few opportunities to observe.

Characteristic

It is about 24 cm in length and is the same color as male and female. The beak and leg are slender and smart.
Summer wings are pale blue gray from the head and dense black spots. The upper side is grayish brown with black spots and white feathers. The underside of the body is white. The beak is black and straight and thin. The legs are yellow green and thin. The tail is white from the back, and the tail has a brown horizontal belt. There is no wing zone when flying, long legs protrude a little from the end of the tail.
The winter feathers are gray on the top, with white feathers on thin brown wing shafts.

Habit

It lives in paddy fields, wetlands, lotus, rivers, lakes, ponds and so on. There are many living in the freshwater area, and it is rare to enter the seawater area. Go around in shallow waters and eat larvae of insects, shellfish, crayfish, etc.

distribution

As a traveling bird, it flew in the fall and winter time of migration. Some winter over in the south of Honshu.
It breeds in the central part of the Eurasian continent and part of the Amur River basin, and overcomes in the southern part of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, the Philippines and others.