mdahlem.net WWW

European birds    Bird names   News   Family groups 1-26    Glossary    Plumage    Tips    Thumbnails    Gen. info    Credits    Photos for sale
NON-PASSERINES     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10     11     12     13     14	15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     24     25     26     PASSERINES
Common names sorted alphabetically: A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   V   W   Y

24

Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia) German name(s): "Felsenammer" Size: 15-16.5 cm

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Rock Buntings are small buntings. Their plumage is highly cryptic. Males in breeding plumage have a grey head with three black streaks on each side, one through the eye, one below the ear coverts and another above the supercilium. Chin and chest are also plain-grey. The rest of the front is rusty-brown, with some faint vermiculation on the sides. The back and wings are brown, with copious dark-grey streaking. Only the lesser wing coverts are grey. The long tail is dark-grey, each feather having a white outer edge and the outer feathers having white ends. First-winter males and females have duller colours with less colour contrast for better camouflage than males in breeding plumage, but with the same overall morphology. Nominate race "cia" is the only one with white wing bars. The irises are brown. The short, pointy bill has a grey lower mandible and a darker-grey upper mandible. Legs and feet are orange-grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Rock 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, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Rock Bunting is available HERE . Rock Buntings are sedentary in part of their range. Elsewhere, in particular at high altitudes, they are summer breeding migrants, while spending the winters in low-lying regions. There are 4 races of Rock Buntings, the total range of which extends from north-western Africa (the Atlas mountain range) and Iberia in the West, via the northern Mediterranean and south-eastern Europe, up to the High Tatras, into Asia Minor, parts of Israel/Palestine, the Caucasus and further eastward into northern Iraq and Iran. Their range continues eastward into Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan, where it splits up, following the northern and the southern slopes of the Himalayas towards Nepal and Mongolia. In Europe Rock Buntings are only found in the South, from Iberia via southern France, Italy, the Alps and the Balkans into Greece and on to the Black Sea, southward of the Danube River, and on to the Caucasus. They are sedentary at intermediate altitudes in the mountain ranges, but birds from higher altitudes will move to lower-lying areas in winter. There is a small migratory population that follows the upper Rhine River northwards into the German low mountain ranges during the breeding season. As their name suggests, Rock Buntings have a preference for rocky landscapes, often on slopes with shrubs and scattered trees (including karst), in which they also nest. In mountain ranges they are often found near the tree line (in some cases above, in others below the tree line), but in some areas they move down to sea level.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "cia" A Rock Bunting, nominate race "cia", was caught, ringed and photographed by S. Cuturilov in Ovcarsko-Kablarski Canyon, near Cacak, Serbia, in October 2017. J. Pires found a Rock Bunting, nominate race "cia", at Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, in August 2020.

Photos

Race "cia"

ADULT

FEMALE

Near-lateral view of a female Rock Bunting with its wings spread (photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Ovcarsko-Kablarski Canyon, near Cacak, Serbia, October 2017]

Sex unknown

Dorsal view of a moulting Rock Bunting (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2020]

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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Fri, 4 February 2022, 19:05 +00:00