Little Bunting
Emberiza pusilla
Small bunting with an attractive contrasting head pattern: black crown with red-brown central stripe and pale eyering. Rufous cheeks bordered by narrow black lines framing the eyes. In the nonbreeding season, less bright overall but white wingbars more conspicuous. Breeds in taiga forests and open tundra with scattered birches and willows, often near water; song is a pleasant two- or three-part series of bright, buzzy warbled notes. Winters in various open habitats, including fields, brushy roadside ditches, and gardens. Often attracts attention by its sharp clicking "zick" call note.
Identification
This is a small bunting, measuring only 12–14 cm (4.7–5.5 in) in length. It has white underparts with dark streaking on the breast and sides. With its chestnut face and white malar stripe, it resembles a small female reed bunting, but has black crown stripes, a white eye-ring, and a fine dark border to the rear of its chestnut cheeks. The sexes are similar.<p>The call is a distinctive zik, and the song is a rolling siroo-sir-sir-siroo.
Taxonomy
First described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776, the little bunting is a monotypic species, with no geographical variation across its extensive Palearctic range.<p>The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific pusilla is Latin for "very small".
- Scientific name
- Emberiza pusilla
- Authority
- Pallas, 1776
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Emberizidae
- Genus
- Emberiza
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : low Arctic to n temperate Palearctic in shrubby tundra to taiga: far n Scandinavia through Russia to Chukotka; in s to far nc Mongolia (probably) and disjunctly in ne China
- Non-breeding range
- subtropical e Asian edges and open areas: to nc, ne India, n Bangladesh, n se Asia, s, e China, Korean Pen., Ryukyu Is. (=Nansei Shoto, s Japan) and Taiwan
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The little bunting breeds across the taiga of the far north-east of Europe and northern Eurosiberia to the Russian Far East. It is migratory, wintering in the subtropics in northern India, southern China and the northern parts of south-east Asia. The birds remain in their winter quarters for quite long; specimens were taken in Yunnan in late March. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe. This species is adaptable; in the mountains of Bhutan for example, where small numbers winter, it is typically found in an agricultural habitat, mostly between 1,000 and 2,000 metres (3,300 and 6,600 ft) ASL.<p>It breeds in open coniferous woodland, often with some birch or willow. Four to six eggs are laid in a tree nest. Its natural food consists of seeds, or when feeding young, insects.<p>A common and widely-ranging species, it is not considered threatened on the IUCN Red List.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lesser Kiskadee
Philohydor lictor
This flycatcher is brown above and bright yellow below with a black-and-white head pattern; very similar in plumage to a host of other species including Great Kiskadee and Rusty-margined Flycatcher. However, note Lesser Kiskadee’s smaller size, slender shape, and longer, narrower bill. Sexes alike. Found singly or in pairs, almost exclusively around slow-moving bodies of water in the lowlands of northern South America. Easy to find; tends to perch conspicuously often at eye level close to the water’s surface. Also listen for its slurred buzzy calls to help distinguish from similar species.
Short-tailed Woodstar
Myrmia micrura
Tiny hummingbird with a very short tail found in arid scrub and desert in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru. Male has glittering violet “beard” that is bordered by white above and below. Female lacks throat patch and has a buffy tinge to underparts, faint facial stripes, and a white tip to the tail. Female is told from other similar species in range by very short tail that does not reach wingtips when perched and white tip of tail (not white edges or corners).
Black-chested Snake-Eagle
Circaetus pectoralis
A medium-sized, mostly brown eagle with yellow eyes and an unspotted white belly. In flight it has brown-barred white wings. Immatures are mostly rufous. It is nomadic in savanna, plains, and semi-desert, where it forages primarily for snakes and lizards, sometimes hovering before dropping onto prey. Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle is similar but differs by having brown barring on the belly. Martial Eagle is much larger, has brown blotches on white underparts, and has uniformly brown underwings (visible in flight).
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.