|
|
|
House Bunting
(Emberiza sahari)
 German name(s): "Hausammer"
Size: 13-14 cm; wing span 21-26 cm
Weight: 12-18 g
|
|
 |
Similar
species |
|
|
 |
Physical description |
|
 Click here for a physical description
House Buntings are small buntings.
Their plumage is
highly cryptic,
and dimorphic, i.e.
males and
females
are slightly different.
Male
House Buntings have a grey head, with darkg-grey eye-stripes and
dark-grey streaking on the crown, with the rest of the head mid-grey.
Only the supercilium is a lighter shade of grey. They have a small
white sub-moustachial strip. The bib is mid-grey with dark-grey
streaking as well, as is the neck. The front, which is separated
from the bib by a sharp border, from the chest to the vent, is
slightly vermiculated deep rusty-buff, with lighter buff undertail
coverts.
The mantle and back are uniformly red-brown; also the upperwings
are quite homogenously red-brown. Only the leading edge is greyish
and the primaries have dark centres.
The uppertail has dark central feathers, while the outer edges are
rusty-buff.
Females
are similar to
males, but
with less colour contrast on the head. Also the front is less
conspicuous, with a smoother transition from grey to rusty-buff.
The irises of both sexes are dark and the bill has a dark-grey
upper mandible and a horn-coloured lower one. The legs and feet
are greyish-orange.
First-winter
House Buntings resemble
females.
|
 |
Taxonomy, classification |
|
See House
Bunting at Wikipedia  .
|
|
 |
Range, habitat, finding this species |
|
Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed based
on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to the
ebird.org
website.
The global distribution of the House Bunting is available
HERE
.
House Buntings are a sedentary species found almost exclusively
in north-western Africa. Their range extends from Morocco in the
North to Mali in the South and eastward to Chad.
In Europe House Buntings have only started to appear. There are
only a few sightings from Gibraltar and Malaga, in southern Spain,
yet.
In nature House Buntings are specialists for arid habitats.
However, they are very comfortable being around humans and their
edifices, freely entering and nesting in houses, shops and other
enclosed structures with suitable entrances, while naturally
they nest in crags and on rock ledges.
|
 |
Sightings |
|
Click here for sighting information
We have not seen House Buntings in Europe yet. The photo
shown below was taken in Morocco.
All photographic information presented on
this page has kindly been contributed by R. Normand
.
|
 |
Photos |
|
 |
ADULT |
|
 |
FEMALE |
|
Lateral view of a female(?) House Bunting
(photo courtesy of R. Normand
)
[ September 2018]
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
