Striolated Bunting
Emberiza striolata
Lanky bunting with a gray head, chestnut-brown wings, and a sharp bicolored bill. Male has a intricately streaked face featuring three bright white stripes and dark streaks on the chest. Female has a ghost of the male’s pale stripes, lacking any dark stripes. African subspecies are a richer chestnut and darker-headed than Asian birds. Breeds in rocky scrub often in or near villages and farms. Territorial in the breeding season, but often forms flocks in the winter. Song is a quick series of rolling buzzes and sweet whistles. Call is a simple, sparrowlike chip.
Identification
It is 14 cm long, similar in size to the house bunting and smaller than the similarly plumaged rock bunting. The breeding male has a chestnut body, and grey head with darker streaking and a white supercilium and moustachial streak. The female's head has a brown tint to the grey, and more diffused streaking.<p>The striolated bunting has stronger facial striping and a paler belly than the north African house bunting, which used to be considered conspecific as the subspecies E. striolata sahari. Birds in eastern Chad (E. striolata jebelmarrae) show some evidence of intergradation with the house bunting.<p>The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than that of the common chaffinch.
Taxonomy
Genus: Emberiza; Family: Emberizidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Emberiza striolata
- Authority
- (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Emberizidae
- Genus
- Emberiza
Range and habitat
It is a resident breeder of dry country from Chad, east through south-west Asia to north-western India and in Africa.<p>It breeds in remote wadis (not around human habitation like the related house bunting), usually close to streams, laying two to four eggs in a nest on the ground or in a hole in the ground. Its natural food consists of seeds, or when feeding young, insects.
- Breeding range
- PAL, AF : subtropical ne African to sw Asian rocky scrublands: patchily in ne Chad and e Egypt to ne Somalia and s to nw Kenya; Sinai Pen., Israel and w Jordan, Arabian Pen., s Iran, ne Afghanistan, sub-Himalayan Pakistan and far w India
- Non-breeding range
- to wc Indian fields
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: rising.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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White-browed Fulvetta
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Chunky fulvetta of scrubby, stunted subalpine forests. Striking and unmistakable, with orange-suffused wings, a dark crown, and a bright white throat and brow. Moves through low vegetation in large flocks, sometimes with other species. Song consists of an ear-piercingly high pair of notes followed by a brief sputter. Calls include trills, chatters, and whistles.
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