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GALLERIES > BIRDS > EMBERIZOIDAE > EMBERIZIDAE > RED-HEADED BUNTING [Emberiza bruniceps]


Red-headed Bunting Picture
 
 

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SPECIES INFO

The 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.

Juvenile in Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India.

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.






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