Pine Bunting - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by paux
Kazakhstan, May, 2019

Emberiza leucocephalos

Identification

Photo © by Dave Hawkins
Chosely, Norfolk, March 2004

16-17.5cm (6¼-7 in)

White crown and cheeks
Chestnut forehead and throat with dark streaks

Female is duller and is more streaked on undersides
Seems to be rather variable in extent of white versus rufous in the head

Similar species

Female , Summer Plumage
Photo © by Houman Doroudi (Tormtay)
Lar National Park, Mazandaran Province, Iran, May 2017

Female Yellowhammer usually has yellow tones, but on a few, these may be very faint and therefore difficult to separate. To identify female Pine Bunting (which should look more contrasting overall), look especially that

outer edges of primaries are white
outer edges of outer tail feathers are white (especially proximal part)
lower belly white without yellow or golden tones
underwing coverts are white without any yellow
no yellow or olive-green tones to the plumage
tendency for two-toned bill, paler on lower than upper mandible

On both sexes, note that the rump is more brownish lacking the orange tone to the rufous that many Yellowhammer shows.

Hybrids, crossed with Yellowhammer are common.

Distribution

Hybrid Pine Bunting X Yellowhammer. Note the white supercilium, face and throat (where a Yellowhammer would be yellow). Pure male Pine has throat etc rufous. In addition, the rufous breast is restricted to the pectorals and the flank streaking is black versus rufous in Pine
Photo © by paux. N. Xinjiang, China

Asia: found from Siberia to north India and southern China.

Accidental vagrant to Alaska with 2 records.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

E. l. leucocephalos:

Siberia to Sakhalin and Tibet; winters to Iraq, India and China

E. l. fronto:

North-western China (Kokonor region of north-eastern Qinghai to north-western Gansu)

Habitat

Open pine forests; fields with hedges, scrub or trees.

Behaviour

Diet

During the breeding season, their diet consists mostly of insects and invertebrates such as grasshoppers, caterpillars and beetles, with seeds the remainder of the year.

Breeding

The clutch consists of 4-6 eggs. The nest is a woven cup built by the female. There are usually two broods.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2016)

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Pine Bunting. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pine_Bunting

External Links

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