Chestnut Bunting (Emberiza rutila)

[order] PASSERIFORMES | [family] Emberizidae | [latin] Emberiza rutila | [UK] Chestnut Bunting | [FR] Bruant roux | [DE] Rotelammer | [ES] Semillerito Castano | [NL] Rosse Gors

Subspecies

Physical charateristics

Slightly larger and noticeably less delicate than Little Bunting, with proportionately larger head, deeper chest, and longer wings; close in size to Yellow-breasted Bunting but with relatively shorter tail. In all plumages, shows yellow underparts, unstreaked chestnut rump, and little or no white on outer tail-feathers. Male bright chestnut on hood, back, and inner wing-feathers. Females and immature less distinctive, recalling Yellow-breasted Bunting but with less striped head and less sharply streaked underparts.

Range

Eurasia : East. It breeds in Siberia, northern Mongolia and north-eastern China. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering in southern China, South-east Asia and north-east India.

Habitat

Breeds in east Palearctic in temperate forest zone of Siberia, in open forests of larch and also broad-leaved trees such as alder and birch, apparently favouring rich ground-cover of herbaceous plants, and dense grass. Frequents mountain slopes and lake shores, and during spring migration also fields and gardens near villages. Wintering birds in India frequent rice stubbles and bushes in cultivation and forest clearings.

Reproduction

Breeds in east Palearctic in temperate forest zone of Siberia, in open forests of larch and also broad-leaved trees such as alder and birch, apparently favouring rich ground-cover of herbaceous plants, and dense grass. Frequents mountain slopes and lake shores, and during spring migration also fields and gardens near villages. Wintering birds in India frequent rice stubbles and bushes in cultivation and forest clearings.

Feeding habits

seeds, in breeding time feeds chicks insects

Conservation

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migration

Migratory, wintering mainly in southern China, Indochina and Burma. Migrates to winter quarters via Ussuriland (south-east Russia), eastern China (west to Shensi) and Korea. Rare records March-June of vagrancy west of winter range, in Sikkim, Nepal, Ladakh (north-west India), and Chitral (northern Pakistan). No reports in western Siberia.

Distribution map