Red-headed Bunting

Taxobox
name = Red-headed Bunting


status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Emberizidae
genus = "Emberiza"
species = "E. bruniceps"
binomial = "Emberiza bruniceps"
binomial_authority = Brandt, 1841The Red-headed Bunting, "Emberiza bruniceps", is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae.

It breeds in central Asia. It is migratory, wintering in India. Its status in western Europe, where it is a potential vagrant, is confused by escapes, especially as this species is more commonly recorded than the closely related Black-headed Bunting, despite the latter have a more westerly breeding range. Reports in Britain have declined dramatically over recent years, co-inciding with the decline in Asiatic imports for the cage-bird trade.

Red-headed Bunting breeds in open scrubby areas including agricultural land. It lays 3-5 eggs in a nest in a tree or bush. Its natural food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.

This bird is 17cm long, larger than Reed Bunting, and long-tailed. The breeding male has bright yellow underparts, green upperparts and a brownish-red face and breast.

The female is a washed-out version of the male, with paler underparts, a grey-brown back and a greyish head. The juvenile is similar, and both can be difficult to separate from the corresponding plumages of Black-headed Bunting.

The song, given from a high perch, is a jerky " sweet-sweet-churri-churri-churri".

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* "Buntings and Sparrows" by Byers, Olsson and Curson, ISBN 1-873403-19-4

External links

* [http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=1930 OBC] 22 photographs (see pulldown menu at page bottom)