Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Emberiza fucata Pallas, 1776

≈14 cmLength20 gWeight

The male has a gray head, chestnut ear-coverts and black and chestnut bands across the breast.

Busiest months: May and November · Most records: China, Japan, South Korea

Looks like Rustic Bunting

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Crown and nape gray with dark streaks
  2. Ear-coverts chestnut
  3. Black and chestnut bands across the breast
  4. Scapulars reddish-brown; rump also reddish-brown

Male, female and young

Female similar but duller, with less distinct head and breast markings; first-winter birds are plainer, with warm rufous ear-coverts and a prominent eye-ring.

Voice

An explosive “pzick”; song is a rapid twitter, starting with detached notes, then accelerating and ending with two or three distinct notes.

Similar species

Rustic Bunting
Rustic Bunting

The call resembles that of Rustic Bunting, but Chestnut-eared Bunting’s call is softer.

Where and when it's recorded

Chestnut-eared Bunting has been recorded at 441 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 16 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Long ValleyHong Kong (China)536 records
  2. Nanhui DongtanChina483 records
  3. Beihu MarshlandChina346 records
More places
  1. Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)247 records
  2. Baruipur MarshesIndia207 records
  3. South Lake, YuhangChina204 records
  4. Wajima – Hegurajima (island)Japan154 records
  5. Eocheong-do (island)South Korea146 records
  6. Nanpu MudflatChina145 records
  7. Muravyevka ParkRussia134 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaJapanSouth KoreaIndiaThailandRussiaCambodiaPhilippines

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 chestnut-eared bunting (Emberiza fucata), also called grey-headed bunting or grey-hooded bunting, with the latter name also used for grey-necked bunting, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.

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

Questions

How big is the Chestnut-eared Bunting?

The Chestnut-eared Bunting is about ≈14 cm long and weighs around 20 g.

Where does the Chestnut-eared Bunting live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: disjunctly in subtropical western Himalayas, central China and northern temperate Northeast Asia, in scrubby hills: montane northwestern Pakistan through Himalayas to central Nepal; Sichuan and southern Shaanxi south to southeastern Tibet, Yunnan and Guizhou; north-central, northeastern Mongolia, southern Transbaikalia to Sakhalin (southeastern Russia), Nei Mongol and Heilongjiang (northeastern China) south to Korean Peninsula, southern Kuril Islands to Kyushu (northern to southern Japan); and Zhejiang and Fujian (east-central China). It is most often recorded in China, Japan and South Korea.

When is the best time to see the Chestnut-eared Bunting?

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

Is the Chestnut-eared Bunting endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Chestnut-eared Bunting as Least Concern.

What does the Chestnut-eared Bunting eat?

Main food: Seeds.

What family is the Chestnut-eared Bunting in?

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

At a glance

Length
≈14 cm
Weight
20 g
Habitat
Shrubland
Diet
Seeds
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Migratory
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
74 mm
Tail
58 mm
Bill
13 mm
Tarsus
20 mm

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

Range

Palearctic: disjunctly in subtropical western Himalayas, central China and northern temperate Northeast Asia, in scrubby hills: montane northwestern Pakistan through Himalayas to central Nepal; Sichuan and southern Shaanxi south to southeastern Tibet, Yunnan and Guizhou; north-central, northeastern Mongolia, southern Transbaikalia to Sakhalin (southeastern Russia), Nei Mongol and Heilongjiang (northeastern China) south to Korean Peninsula, southern Kuril Islands to Kyushu (northern to southern Japan); and Zhejiang and Fujian (east-central China)

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Subspecies · 3
  • Emberiza fucata arcuata disjunctly in w Himalayas, c China and ne Asia: montane nw Pakistan through Himalayas to c Nepal; Sichuan and s Shaanxi s to se Tibet, Yunnan and Guizhou | non-breeding: to lower elevations
  • Emberiza fucata fucata nc, ne Mongolia, s Transbaikalia to Sakhalin (se Russia), Nei Mongol and Heilongjiang (ne China) s to Korean Pen., s Kuril Is. to Kyushu (n to s Japan)
  • Emberiza fucata kuatunensis Zhejiang and Fujian (ec China)

Classification

Order
Passerines Passeriformes
Family
Buntings Emberizidae
Genus
Emberiza

Other birds in the genus Emberiza

Crested BuntingCrested BuntingEmberiza lathamiSlaty BuntingSlaty BuntingEmberiza siemsseniCorn BuntingCorn BuntingEmberiza calandraYellowhammerYellowhammerEmberiza citrinellaPine BuntingPine BuntingEmberiza leucocephalosRock BuntingRock BuntingEmberiza ciaGodlewski's BuntingGodlewski's BuntingEmberiza godlewskiiMeadow BuntingMeadow BuntingEmberiza cioidesWhite-capped BuntingWhite-capped BuntingEmberiza stewartiJankowski's BuntingJankowski's BuntingEmberiza jankowskiiGrey-necked BuntingGrey-necked BuntingEmberiza buchananiCinereous BuntingCinereous BuntingEmberiza cineracea
Chestnut-eared Bunting

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by (c) Griha Hasanov, some rights reserved (CC BY). ↗

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