Emberiza melanocephala
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The black-headed bunting (Emberiza melanocephala) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae. It breeds in south-east Europe east to Iran and migrates in winter mainly to India, with some individuals moving further into south-east Asia. Like others in its family, it is found in open grassland habitats where they fly in flocks in search of grains and seed. Adult males are well marked with yellow underparts, chestnut back and a black head. Adult females in breeding plumage look like duller males. In other plumages, they can be hard to separate from the closely related red-headed bunting and natural hybridization occurs between the two species in the zone of overlap of their breeding ranges in northern Iran.
The black-headed bunting was formally described in 1769 by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli under the binomial name Emberiza melanocephala. The type locality is Carniola in Slovenia. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting, and the specific melanocephala combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black", and kephale meaning "head".
This bird is 15... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 2 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karaj | 🇮🇷 Iran | |
| 2 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 5 | Kathmandu | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 6 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 7 | Antalya | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 8 | Nagpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Bunting sighting in Chitwan National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 338th most-seen of the 367 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Bunting in Chitwan National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Black-headed Bunting sightings, Chitwan National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Kanha National Park (India, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Chitwan National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
