Grey-necked Bunting Emberiza buchanani breeds Turkey to Mongolia, with neobscura in the Tianshan and Altai Mountains in Xinjiang. Winters in India. Breeds at mid-altitudes in dry rocky hills with scant vegetation and low bushes. Mid-sized bunting with blue-grey hood, whitish eye-ring, and a long, pinkish-orange bill. Very similar to ortolan bunting. Male has buffish malar stripe and throat, rufous-brown upperparts with black streaking on mantle, and black-centered scapulars and wings with broad rufous fringing. Breast and belly deep rusty-red. Female has buffish-grey hood and may show streaking on crown. Immature birds paler than female with streaking also on underparts. Feet pinkish-orange. Soft “tsip” call. Song four scratchy, rising notes followed by lower-pitched ending flourish, the first note of the flourish most emphatic. — Craig Brelsford
THE BUNTINGS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com has research on most of the buntings of China. Click any link:
Crested Bunting Emberiza lathami
Yellowhammer E. citrinella
Pine Bunting E. leucocephalos
Rock Bunting E. cia
Godlewski’s Bunting E. godlewskii
Meadow Bunting E. cioides
Jankowski’s Bunting E. jankowskii
Grey-necked Bunting E. buchanani
Ortolan Bunting E. hortulana
Tristram’s Bunting E. tristrami
Chestnut-eared Bunting E. fucata
Little Bunting E. pusilla
Yellow-browed Bunting E. chrysophrys
Rustic Bunting E. rustica
Yellow-throated Bunting E. elegans
Yellow-breasted Bunting E. aureola
Chestnut Bunting E. rutila
Tibetan Bunting E. koslowi
Black-headed Bunting E. melanocephala
Red-headed Bunting E. bruniceps
Yellow Bunting E. sulphurata
Black-faced Bunting E. spodocephala
Masked Bunting E. personata
Pallas’s Reed Bunting E. pallasi
Japanese Reed Bunting E. yessoensis
Common Reed Bunting E. schoeniclus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
