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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.

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.

Race "cia"