Black-faced Bunting

Emberiza spodocephala Pallas, 1776

≈14 cmLength18 gWeight

The male has a blue-gray head with blackish lores and cheeks, and shows little fear of people.

Busiest months: April · Most records: China, South Korea, Mongolia

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Male: head, neck and throat blue-gray with a slight olive wash
Male: base of the bill, lores and cheeks gray-black
Two white wing patches
Male of the nominate subspecies: breast and flanks pale sulfur-yellow, belly white

Male, female and young

The female is less distinctly marked than the male, with a brown head and neck, yellowish-white supercilium and cheek stripe, and yellow underparts with brown streaks.

Voice

Short, metallic “tzii” or “tzee” calls, rather than a song.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: China, South Korea, Mongolia

Black-faced Bunting has been recorded at 1,025 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 19 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)1,514 records
Nanhui DongtanChina1,435 records
Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)874 records

More places

Matsu – Dongyin Vegetable FarmChina642 records
Muravyevka ParkRussia545 records
Taipei – Beitou Guizikeng Drainage CanalTaiwan (China)542 records
Matsu – Dongyin Shizi Vegetable FarmChina483 records
Hsinchu Coast IBA – Gangnan Jincheng LakeTaiwan (China)430 records
Nanpu MudflatChina403 records
Beihu MarshlandChina388 records

Countries and regions with the most records

China South Korea Mongolia Russia India Japan Thailand Philippines

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-faced bunting (Schoeniclus spodocephalus) is a small passerine bird in the Old World bunting family Emberizidae. It breeds in eastern Russia and Mongolia and winters from central Nepal to northern Indochina.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Black-faced Bunting?

The Black-faced Bunting is about ≈14 cm long and weighs around 18 g.

Where does the Black-faced Bunting live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: temperate north-central, northeastern, central Palearctic shrubby areas in woodland: south-central Russia and northern Mongolia east to Sea of Okhotsk and northern Sakhalin (southeastern Russia) and south to northeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Heilongjiang (northeastern China) and northern, central Korean Peninsula; disjunctly Qinghai and Shaanxi south to Yunnan and Guizhou (central China). It is most often recorded in China, South Korea and Mongolia.

When is the best time to see the Black-faced Bunting?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in April (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Black-faced Bunting endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Black-faced Bunting as Least Concern.

What does the Black-faced Bunting eat?

Main food: Insects & other invertebrates.

What family is the Black-faced Bunting in?

It belongs to the family Buntings (Emberizidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length: ≈14 cm
Weight: 18 g
Habitat: Shrubland
Diet: Insects & other invertebrates
Lifestyle: Active on the ground
Migration: Migratory
Conservation: Least Concern

More measurements

Wing: 70 mm
Tail: 62 mm
Bill: 12 mm
Tarsus: 20 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic: temperate north-central, northeastern, central Palearctic shrubby areas in woodland: south-central Russia and northern Mongolia east to Sea of Okhotsk and northern Sakhalin (southeastern Russia) and south to northeastern Inner Mongolia, northern Heilongjiang (northeastern China) and northern, central Korean Peninsula; disjunctly Qinghai and Shaanxi south to Yunnan and Guizhou (central China)

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Subspecies · 2

Emberiza spodocephala spodocephala sc Russia and n Mongolia e to Sea of Okhotsk and n Sakhalin (se Russia) and s to ne Inner Mongolia, n Heilongjiang (ne China) and n, c Korean Pen. | non-breeding: s, e China, Taiwan (China) and Ryukyu Is. (s Japan)
Emberiza spodocephala sordida Qinghai and Shaanxi s to Yunnan and Guizhou (c China) | non-breeding: c Nepal to ne India and n se Asia