Wagtail

Thanks Malcolm for the info! Yes, there was a pond nearby.

The Japanese Wagtail is much more tied to water than the M. alba sub-species so that might be a clue. You give the habitat as urban but was there a river/stream/lake/pond nearby or not? M. alba are not so fussy about water and can be found far from it at times. Yours looks even more Pied than the M. a. yarrelli found in the UK which is known as a Pied Wagtail, as opposed to White Wagtail for most of the other sub-species.

Thanks a lot for the help, Daniele!

Hi Noel and Sukanya! This bird shows the black eye-stripe, partial white face and white remiges of a local subspecies of Motacilla alba, Motacilla alba lugens. However Japanese Wagtails can come in partial albino forms which make their head very similar to other White Wagtails such as Motacilla alba lugens, M. a. leucopsis, and M. a. alboides. These species can only be distinguished in the field based not only on plumage but also specific characteristics such as calls and postures. Thus it might be best to leave this spotting as Wagtail, Motacilla sp.
This paper can be quoted:
http://www.bird-research.jp/1_shiryo/sei...

You are welcome. I see Motacilla alba in India and the yellow and citrine wagtails too. Never seen the Japanese wagtail but M.alba is very similar...so it was a guess. Glad it clicked. good luck with future spottings.

Thank you SukanyaDatta for the ID!

This is a wagtail Motacilla.
Since it was spotted in Japan maybe Motacilla grandis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_wa...