The Rustic Bunting, Emberiza rustica, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae.
Distribution / Breeding:
.It breeds across northern Europe and Asia. It is migratory, wintering in south east Asia, Japan, and eastern China. It is a rare wanderer to western Europe.
It breeds in wet coniferous woodland. 4-6 eggs are laid in a nest in a bush or on the ground.
Diet:
Its natural food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.
Description:
This bird is similar in size to a Reed Bunting. It has white underparts with reddish flank, pink legs and a pink lower beak. The summer male has a black head with a white throat and supercilium (line above eye) and a reddish breast band.
The female has a heavily streaked brown back and brown face with a whitish supercilium (line above eye). She resembles a female Reed Bunting, but has the reddish flank streaks, a chestnut nape and a pink, not grey, lower beak.
Call / Song:
The call is a distinctive zit, and the song is a melancholic delee-deloo-delee.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). . 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
