Rustic Bunting? Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

[earlytorise]

Hi, attached please find three pictures of a bunting I found in Hong Kong yesterday, followed by heavily cropped versions of the same photos. The surroundings might indicate how much lighting there was.

Is it definitely a Rustic?

The two problems are

1) how to separate Rustic from similar birds like Yellow-browed Bunting

2) how to interpret these not-sharp images. So for example in DSCN9855 the front of the supercilium looks as dark as the crown (i.e. the pale section of the supercilium seemingly ends where the dark section starts right away), but in DSCN9853 the front of the supercilium seems brownish and less dark than the crown. Could it be that in the former, the feathers from the lateral crown-stripe are covering up the front of the supercilium? Hard for me to judge.

Cheers

 

[johnallcock]

It looks fine for Rustic to me. Note that the upperparts (mantle and probably rump) show pinkish-rufous streaks, it looks like the flanks have broad rufous streaks, lesser coverts are rufous, prominent white wing bar, crested appearance, well marked head pattern, etc. Rustic was previously a major rarity here but has increased in recent years (despite the declining global trend).

I think photo 9855 is deceiving for supercilium pattern. The head is largely hidden behind the grass and angled slightly away, which could affect the apparent contrast with the lateral crown stripes. 9853 shows the unobscured head and should be more reliable

 

[MacNara]

Is it definitely a Rustic?

Yes.

I'm not absolutely sure what you are saying about the supercilium. But fIrst winter birds look like this - see attachment 1 - and the super is very yellow, but the at the front the brown blends into the crown -see attachment 2

How to separate Rustic from similar birds like Yellow-browed Bunting

I have only seen Yellow-browed once, whereas Rustic is a winter visitor near my house in large numbers. I think telling them apart from the back in autumn may not be so easy. The yellow brow of Yellow-browed is yellower (compared to the creamy of the Rustic 1W), but if you have no comparison bird, it's not easy. If you have a front view, then as John Allcock says, the rufous streaking on the flanks of Rustic, as opposed to the black streaking on Yellow-browed is an excellent distinguishing feature - see attachment 3.