Pine Bunting
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| Pine Bunting | ||||||||||||||
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| Missing image Pinebunting78.jpg Pine Bunting | ||||||||||||||
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| Emberiza leucocephalos Gmelin,SG, 1771 |
The Pine Bunting, Emberiza leucocephalos, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group most modern authors now separate from the finches, Fringillidae.
Breeding and habitat
The Pine Bunting breeds across much of temperate Asia, migrating south to central Asia, north India and southern China in winter. It is common in all sorts of open land with some scrub or trees, including cultivation, but has a greater preference for open forest (usually pine) than the closely related Yellowhammer. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
Appearance and song
The Pine Bunting is a robust 16-17.5-centimetre bird, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a white crown and cheeks, and a chestnut forehead and throat, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much duller and is more streaked on its undersides. Non-breeding plumage is like like of a Yellowhammer, but with all the yellow replaced by white. Its song and calls are like those of the Yellowhammer.
Diet
The Pine Bunting's natural food consists of insects when feeding young and seeds at other times. The nest is on the ground. Four to six eggs are laid, which show the hair-like markings characteristic of the Bunting group.