Pine Bunting to Japanese Yellow Bunting

Birding the off-shore islands is wonderful for buntings, some species that would otherwise be considered rare in Japan are reasonably common, others that are scarce to rare out there have to be considered megas on the mainland. Island birding is essential to even get close to all the species on the Japan list, nevertheless Kansai does quite well. And they're such great looking birds, how could they not be one of my favourite families here.

Pine Bunting is one of the island specialities, it's fairly common on Hegura in October, not just singles but parties of up to 10 wouldn't raise an eyebrow. While most species which are reasonably common on Hegura also make it through to Kyoto in small numbers, buntings seem to buck the trend. Though I can easily imagine them making landfall unnoticed on the Japan Sea coast of Kansai, I've never even heard of one in the Kyoto area. Perhaps they just aren't rare enough to hit the local headlines.
Meadow Bunting on the other hand is something which is hard to miss around Kyoto! Anyone  talking a walk along the Uji/Yodo or Katsura rivers is guaranteed to see them. Not only are they common but they typically feed in the open adjacent to cover, such as on the short grass of levee banks, and perch in exposed positions before dropping into cover when flushed.
Tristram's and Yellow-browed are often talked of as migrants in the same breath but in my experience Tristram's are relatively far more common. I see them at a rough ratio of about 20:1 on the islands. As yet I haven't seen either around Kyoto, or even in Kansai for that matter, and though they tend to be island specialities I see Tristram's along the Ishikawa coast in both spring and autumn. By contrast I've only ever seen Yellow-browed in spring. The Tristram's I find on Mishima (Yamaguchi) in spring (mid-April to early May) are often in forests on the hills whereas Yellow-browed are usually in gardens or more open scrubby areas.
Chestnut-eared Bunting is resident in Kansai but more numerous, or at least more easily found, in winter but is a low density bird and easily missed. It is rather unsociable by bunting standards but it is widespread in its suitable habitat of overgrown fields or areas of rank grass along rivers. Ogura is the number one site around Kyoto, there will be odd ones on fallow overgrown fields and sometimes along the Uji River. A reliable spot for them is at Lake Biwa on the north bank of the Aichi River immediately east of route 25, just before it empties into the lake.
Little Bunting is a common off-shore island migrant, it's even possible to see small flocks in spring though singles are more the norm in autumn. They are a rare winter visitor and scarce migrant in Kansai, the last I saw here was a fly-over along the Yodo River in October 2012 when I was looking for a Pechora Pipit that turned up and made waves locally.
Rustic is a far more common winter visitor and can be found along rivers, reedbed fringes, overgrown fallow fields and even small ditches across arable land. They can be in twos or threes or quite large flocks and small numbers linger well into April when males can be in breeding plumage.
I occasionally come across Elegant Bunting in woodland or exceptionally city parks in Kyoto in winter, however they aren't common here. Further north in the region they are frequent and I'll usually see them in woodland around Lake Biwa, in the hills at woody pal, snow permitting, or along quiet roadsides skirting the lake.
Yellow-breasted Bunting is so rare now I hardly ever see one on the islands, they're totally off the radar in Kansai - if they were even on it.
None of the Japan rarities, Chestnut, Black-headed and Red-headed can be expected. Though Black-headed is probably the most regular of the three. In my experience Chestnut is more likely in spring, the other two in autumn.
Japanese Yellow Bunting is an early May migrant in small numbers along the river systems in Kyoto, it can't be expected but there's a reasonable chance of finding one then. Obviously anyone visiting Japan would be much better off going to the breeding range. I've only found one bird here during autumn.

Odd Pine Buntings can turn up anywhere on Hegura but the vast majority end up on the rough ground along the harbour front. This was a lone male, 11 & 12 October.

Part of a flock of about eight birds spent a few days along the harbour front, Hegura 13 October.

This female-type Pine was part of the above flock.

Meadow Buntings are everywhere along the rivers here, this Male on the Yodo at Hirakata (Osaka), 1 February.

Breeding male on the Yodo River (Kyoto), 28 April.

First winter Meadow, 1 February.

Adult female Meadow, 1 March.

A very attractive isabel Meadow on the Yodo River near Ogura, 22 October 2010.

Another isabel about four years and 10km down river from the previous bird, 1 February 2014.

Male Tristram's Kemmin Kaihin Park, Kanazawa (Ishikawa) May 2014.

Female Tristram's on the edge of the school field, Hegura 7 October.

First winter Tristram's at the drinking pool on Hegura, October.

The central path on Hegura was good for Tristram's  before it was covered with concrete.

Male Chestnut-eared on Mishima (Yamaguchi), 30 April.

Chestnut-eared Bunting, Kyushu.

Though often solitary, they can be quite conspicuous. This at Ogura, 13 November.

A attractive male Little Bunting on Mishima (Yamaguchi), 29 April.

Little on Hegura, 14 October.

A male Yellow-browed in early May on Mishima (Yamaguchi), this isn't yet a full breeding humbug.

Female Rustic on Iriomote, 4 April. 

Female-type Rustic on arable land near Lake Biwa, 26 January.

Breeding male Rustic on Mishima, 1 May.

Breeding male Rustic on Mishima, 29 April.

Fresh female Elegant Bunting on Hegura, 7 October.

Fresh male Elegant Bunting on Hegura, 9 October.

A more worn male at Woody Pal (Lake Biwa) 2 December.

Male on Hegura, Oct 2015.

Black-headed Bunting, Hegura, October 2007.

Same bush, different bird, 11 October 2011.

Male Japanese Yellow Bunting on Mishima, 5 May.

Female Japanese Yellow Bunting on Mishima, 29 April.

Black-faced Bunting (personata, spodocephala and sordida)

Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala personata, sometimes split as Masked Bunting E. personata is a common taxon in Kansai, one a visitor will see with minimal effort. It is easily found anywhere with thick ground cover and bushes, shrubs or trees. Thus it's common along the Uji/Yodo and Katsura rivers in Kyoto but not the manicured Kamogawa. It occurs in parts of the botanical gardens or Imperial Palace where there's undergrowth and around the feet of surrounding hills such as at Takaragaiike. It doesn't occur in continuous forest where any Black-faced type call is more likely to be Grey, though the combination of a road following a stream through forest will often create enough habitat for them. It isn't shy, nor is it a skulker, but prefers to stay in cover and doesn't habitually perch prominently like Meadow Bunting, the other very common bunting here.

Winter male in the botanical gardens, Kyoto 3 February.

Winter male at the botanical gardens, Kyoto 7 March.

Breeding male on the Yodo river, Kyoto 10 April.

A bright female on Hegura in October.

A female-type on the Katsura River in Kyoto, 21 November. A visitor will probably see birds with these yellow suffused underparts more frequently than the bright underparts of the previous individual. Some visitors I've guided commented that birds here were much less yellow than they had expected. The ear coverts are grey enclosed by a brown border, compared to spodocephala the flank streaking is less contrasting because of the duller ground. 

In spring nominate continental birds are regular in western Japan, particularly on the islands, they're fairly common on Mishima (Yamaguchi) and Hegura (Ishikawa) it seems to be the default taxon in the Yaeyama Is. and on Tsushima. Females I see are strikingly white below, much colder than even the least yellow personata. If they can be seen, the outer tail feather markings are meant to be distinctive. However I was puzzled that I never saw breeding plumage males considering personata males look the part at this time of year, then suddenly in 2014 there were more males than females. Just one of those odd coincidences I suppose.

This spodocephala, unusually, was out on open fields far from cover on Mishima (Yamaguchi) 4 May 2009.

Another spodocephala Mishima (Yamaguchi) 29 April 2009. The cold greyish head and white underparts are eye-catching.

I came across this spodocephala only about 100m beyond the previous bird. Though most of the visible white on the tail in this shot is on t5, enlarging the image shows black is restricted to the outer web of t6. The head is uniformly grey, lacking brown lateral crown stripes and border enclosing the ear coverts. The flank streaks are fine on this individual but they are nevertheless conspicuously offset by the clean white ground.

Male spod. Hegura, May 2014. 

Male spod. Hegura, May 2014.

A fresh male spodocephala perched up with several personata on Hegura, 7 October 2011. This bird appears to have a more delicate bill than the personata at the bottom, A Guide to the Buntings and North American Sparrows (Byers et al 1995) states personata is heavier-billed. Admittedly it's difficult to judge because of the angle here but it also looks slight on the more heavily cropped image below.

The chin to upper breast is grey unlike any personata, it has a faint but distinct sub-moustachial stripe which I'd put down to pale tipped fresh feathers. I was surprised to see fine breast streaking underlying the grey and at first wondered whether this could be an aberrant personanta, however the t6 pattern matches that of spodocephala.

This heavily cropped shot shows the wholly white inner web of t6 as well as black on the outer web extending well up the feather from the tip.

Below are two more interesting birds on Hegura on the same date as the above male. Neither gave definitive views but if personata they raise questions about identification of female-types in autumn. The first is a very cold-plumaged bird lacking any hint of yellow and the second buffer with a browner head and faint yellowish tint to the throat. While I don't doubt many personata have yellow below limited to a light wash, I wouldn't expect a total absence of any yellow hue.
I'm unsure about the status of sordida, how often or whether, it occurs in Japan. I understand female-types are yellowish below and would therefore be more likely to go undetected. According to Brazil (Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia) female sordida has browner crown and ear coverts, with a buff not yellow supercillium.

Female-type on Hegura, 7 October 2011. This bird had extensive distal black running up the outer web of t6 but I was unable to see more detail. The sub-moustacial stripe and throat are a cold white and the underparts lacked any yellow. The overall appearance suggests spodocephala and though my attention was drawn to it, I could never be certain about its identity with the brief views I was able to get.

The other bird on Hegura on the same date as the previous two was subtly different to other Black-faced I've seen and seems to further muddy the waters. Could this be sordida or is it personata mostly lacking yellow pigment? On the face of it the southern distribution of sordida makes occurrence unlikely, autumn occurrence even more so. However Byers et al states some authors treat north-east Chinese and Ussuriland populations as part of sordida. I don't know if there are any morphological features shown by these birds which might support the view. This bird has browner ear coverts than typical personata or spodocephala with a much bolder brown border than the latter. The lateral crown stripes are very brown quite unlike  spodocephala but they look very contrasting even by personata standards. There is a yellowish tint to the throat but the sub-moustacial is white. The supercillium is buffish behind the eye and buff with a hint of yellow before the eye. The underparts are off-white and lack yellow except perhaps a very slight yellowish blush to the more buffish flanks. The streaking on the underparts is very fine but distinct against the light ground. The combination of bold brown lateral crown stripes, and border to brownish ear coverts seem to rule out spodocephala so if sordida seems too fanciful, this bird would at least indicate how very lacking in yellow personata can be. It's unfortunate I wasn't able to get more complete views.