Little bunting
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Zwergammer.jpg
| image_caption = On the island of Heligoland in the North Sea
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| taxon = Emberiza pusilla
| authority = Pallas, 1776
| range_map = EmberizaPusillaIUCN.svg
| range_map_caption = Range of E. pusilla{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}}
}}
The little bunting (Emberiza pusilla) is a passerine bird belonging to the bunting family (Emberizidae).
Taxonomy
First described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776, the little bunting is a monotypic species, with no geographical variation across its extensive Palearctic range.
The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific pusilla is Latin for "very small".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n145 145], 325}}
Description
This is a small bunting, measuring only {{convert|12|-|14|cm|abbr=on}} in length. 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.
Ecology
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. The birds remain in their winter quarters for quite long; specimens were taken in Yunnan in late March. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe. 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 {{convert|1000|and|2000|m|ft}} ASL.
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.
References
{{Reflist |refs =
{{cite journal
|author-link=Outram Bangs
|last=Bangs
|first= Outram
|year=1932
|title= Birds of western China obtained by the Kelley-Roosevelts expedition
|journal=Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser.
|volume=18
|issue=11
|pages= 343–379
|url=https://archive.org/details/birdsofwesternch1811bang}}
Byers, Olsson & Curson (1995), p. 154.
Byers, Olsson & Curson (1995), p. 156.
|last1=Inskipp
|first1=Carol
|last2=Inskipp
|first2=Tim
|last3=Sherub
|year=2000
|title=The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan
|journal=Forktail
|volume=16
|pages=147–162
|url=http://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Inskipp-Bhutan.pdf
|access-date=2014-08-03
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810200320/http://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Inskipp-Bhutan.pdf
|archive-date=2014-08-10
|url-status=dead
}}
}}
=Cited works=
- {{cite book
| title = Buntings and Sparrows: A Guide to the Buntings and North American Sparrows
| first1 = Clive
| last1 = Byers
| first2 = Urban
| last2 = Olsson
| first3 = Jon
| last3 = Curson
| year = 1995
| publisher = Pica Press
| location = Mountfield, East Sussex, UK
| isbn = 1-873403-19-4}}
External links
{{Commons|Emberiza pusilla}}
- [http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=1928 OBC] 29 photographs (see pulldown menu at page bottom)
{{Taxonbar|from=Q216855}}