The summer male has a dark greenish-gray head and black lores and throat. It uses woodland and scrub in different seasons and moves between breeding and wintering areas, including within Japan.
In summer plumage, the male has a dark greenish-gray head and ear coverts, black lores and throat, and pale yellow underparts.
In the breeding season it uses open woodland and forest edges; in winter it also uses lowland edges, scrub, and reedbeds. It eats seeds, small insects, and spiders.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.