Little bunting
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The little bunting (Emberiza pusilla) is a passerine bird belonging to the bunting family (Emberizidae).
TaxonomyEdit
First described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776, the little bunting is a monotypic species,<ref name = "Byers154"/> with no geographical variation across its extensive Palearctic range.<ref name = "Byers156"/>
The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific pusilla is Latin for "very small".<ref name =job>Template:Cite book</ref>
DescriptionEdit
This is a small bunting, measuring only Template:Convert in length.<ref name = "Byers154"/> 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.
The call is a distinctive zik, and the song is a rolling siroo-sir-sir-siroo.
EcologyEdit
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.<ref name = "Byers156"/> The birds remain in their winter quarters for quite long; specimens were taken in Yunnan in late March.<ref name = "Bangs"/> It is a rare vagrant to western Europe.<ref name = "Byers156"/> 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 Template:Convert ASL.<ref name = "Inskipp"/>
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.
A common and widely-ranging species, it is not considered threatened on the IUCN Red List.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />
ReferencesEdit
Cited worksEdit
External linksEdit
- OBC 29 photographs (see pulldown menu at page bottom)