Golden-breasted Bunting

Alternative name: African Golden-breasted Bunting

Photo by jdbirdman
Pilanesberg, South Africa

Emberiza flaviventris

Identification

15-16cm
Male

• White crown
• Black lateral crown stripes
• White supercilium
• Black-bordered white ear coverts
• Orange-yellow underparts
• Yellow throat
• Whitish lower belly
• Chestnut upperparts
• Grey rump
• Brown wings with two white wing bars
  

Sexes are very similar, but females - buff tone to head, browner head stripes, and the back may have dark streaks.
Young birds are duller and paler than the females.

Distribution

Africa, south of the Sahara; absent from the equatorial forest belt.
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, DRC and Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and Swaziland

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are four subspecies^[1]:

• E. f. flavigaster: paler, redder back, pale grey rump, paler yellow underparts and whiter flanks

• Southern edge of Sahara from Mauritania to Eritrea

• E. f. kalaharica:

• Southern South Sudan and central and southeastern Angola south to northeastern Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and northern South Africa

• E. f. flaviventris:

• Southern and eastern Cape Province to KwaZulu-Natal

• E. f. princeps: similar to nominate, but larger, and paler below

• Northern and north-western Namibia to south-western Angola

Habitat

Dry open woodlands.

Behaviour

Primarily a highland species found either in pairs or singly. They are mainly seen foraging on the ground (although males can sometimes be seen singing from the tops of trees).

Breeding

They build a cup nest lined with fine grass or hair low in a shrub. The 2-3 glossy, black-lined, white or cream eggs are incubated for 12-13 days; the young fledge in another 16-17 days.

Diet

A ground feeder, the diet includes seeds, insects and spiders and sometimes larger creatures when the birds have young to feed.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. birdwatching.com.na

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Golden-breasted Bunting. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Golden-breasted_Bunting

External Links

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