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24

Striolated Bunting (Emberiza striolata) Size: 13-14 cm; wing span: 22-26 cm Weight: 12-16 g

Oman: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table Grey Wagtail White Wagtail House Sparrow Indian Silverbill Striolated Bunting Black-crowned Sparrow Lark Tree Pipit Thumbnails page Classification table Index of bird names Birds of Oman home page

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Striolated Buntings are small finch-like birds. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Male Striated Buntings have a distinct facial striation pattern, with a wide white supercilium, a thin black eye stripe, a grey stripe under that and another white moustachial stripe under the grey. Otherwise the head (frons, crown), neck, chin and upper chest are grey, streaked with darker grey. The front changes gradually downwards into a pale buff-grey colour from lower chest to belly, vent and undertail coverts. The mantle is dark grey-brown, streaked with dark-grey. The wing coverts are brown to grey-brown with black central streaks, while the flight feathers are dark-grey with broad brown outer edges. Female Striolated Buntings have a much plainer facial pattern, with grey and grey-brown hues and also the rest of their body plumage has lower colour contrasts than that of the males. Both sexes have dark-brown irises, short triangular bills with a grey upper mandible and a horn-coloured lower one, and greyish-pink leg and feet. First-winter males and all juveniles resemble females.

Taxonomy, classification See Striolated Bunting at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information Striolated Buntings have previously been considered to be conspecific with the House Bunting, but have now been given full species status.

Range, habitat 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 Striolated Bunting is available HERE . There are four extant races of Striated Buntings. Altogether, apart from parts of Arabia (see below), Striated Buntings populate parts of eastern Africa (the valley of the Nile river; parts of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti) and of south-western Asia, from about Kuwait via southern Iran and Pakistan into north-western India. In Arabia, only Striolated Buntings of nominate race "stiolata", occur. They can be found on the Sinai peninsula and in the border region of Jordan with north-western Saudi Arabia through the western half of Saudi Arabia, a few patches in Yemen and another small population in southern Oman. They are also present in the mountain ranges of northern Oman, from Musandam to near the eastern cape, but not in the narrow, densely populated coastal strip.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "striolata" A small flock of about 10-12 Striolated Buntings, nominate race "striolata", was first spotted by us in a dry creek bed (wadi) on the fringes of the Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, in January 2010.

Photos

Race "striolata"

ADULT

MALE

Partially obscured near-frontal view of a male Striolated Bunting; note the prominent facial striation
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

Lateral view of a male Striolated Bunting
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

FEMALE

Lateral view of a female Striolated Bunting; note the much more inconspicuous facial markings compared to the male shown above
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

Lateral view of a female Striolated Bunting on sentry duty at the top of an acacia shrub
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

PAIR

Pair of Striolated Buntings on a rock - male at the back and female at the front; click on image to see 5 birds in total
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

With that pesky photographer in the vicinity, he decides to stick it out, while she thinks it is safer to move on
[Campus of Sultan Qaboos University, near Muscat, January 2010]

Food, Diet

Like all finches and closely related species, Striolated Buntings are primarily seed-eaters. Only when feeding young, an ample supply of insects is required.

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.

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