Japanese Grosbeak Eophona personata Scientific name definitions

18–23 cm; male 65–99 g. Large and large-billed grosbeak with long forked tail. Male nominate race has forehead to upper nape, side of crown, cheek and chin black, narrowly bordered by whitish-grey, forehead and crown glossed blue in fresh plumage; lower nape, side of neck and upperparts pale grey, sometimes tinged buffish, duller grey on uppertail-coverts, longest coverts tipped bluish-black; tail glossy bluish-black, outermost feathers black; upper­wing black or bluish-black, inner greater coverts same colour as upperparts or sometimes with buff-brown wash, secondaries edged glossy blue-black, primaries with broad white band half-way along (triangular white patch on closed wing), tertials warm buff-brown, narrowly fringed paler or greyer; underparts pale grey, flanks pale tawny or light rufous-buff, belly to undertail-coverts white; iris dark brown or black; bill bright yellow, sometimes pale brown base; legs straw-yellow to brown or reddish-brown. Female is very like male, but has duller wings, with glossy blue edges of secondaries less extensive. Juvenile is like adult, but duller grey on upperparts and underparts, black on head restricted to lower forehead, lores and base of bill, rest of head and upperparts buff-brown, tinged greyish, thinly or indistinctly streaked blackish on scapulars, upperwing as adult, but tips of median and greater coverts broadly pale yellowish-buff, small whitish patch distally on outer primaries, tertials as on adult or warmer buff-brown. Race <em>magnirostris</em> is larger than nominate, slightly larger-billed , paler in general plumage, and white patch in primaries generally smaller.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Variety of seeds and fruit, including those of cedar, pine (Pinus) and birch, also berries ; also insects, including beetles (Coleoptera) and caterpillars, mainly in summer. Seeds of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) important in autumn and winter in parts of range, e.g. Amur basin. Forages in trees, occasionally lower in bushes, where it stays within foliage of canopy and often detected only by contact calls. In pairs and small flocks.

Song , from mid-Mar to end Jul/early Aug, a series of 4–5 short fluty rising and falling whistles, "tsuki-hi-hoshi", last note usually protracted. Call a short, hard "tak, tak" and a high-pitched "kik" or "kick", given by foraging birds in treetops and in flight.