Pine Bunting

Pine Bunting

Emberiza leucocephalos

Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Novosibirsk

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%

10 Verified sightings at Novosibirsk
7 In 1 park From 2019 to 2026
September Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Pine Bunting

The pine bunting (Emberiza leucocephalos) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group most modern authors now separate from the finches, Fringillidae. It lives in Eurosiberia east of the Urals. The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific leucocephalos is from Ancient Greek leukos, "whites", and kephalos, "headed".

The pine bunting is a robust 16–17.5-centimetre bird, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a white crown and cheeks, and a chestnut forehead and throat, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much duller and is more streaked on its undersides. Non-breeding plumage is like that of a yellowhammer, but with all the yellow replaced by white. Its song and calls are like those of the yellowhammer.

The pine bunting breeds across much of temperate Asia, migrating south to central Asia, north India and southern China in winter. It is common in all sorts of open land with some scrub or trees, including cultivation, but has a greater preference for open forest (usually pines) than the closely related yellowhammer. It is a rare vagrant to western... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song1:13

Mongolia · 2025

© Richard E. Webster · XC1024159 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song and call0:39

Kyrgyzstan · 2023

© Peter Boesman · XC813379 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call0:33

Mongolia · 2022

© Stanislas Wroza · XC766203 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
~10%

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Novosibirsk 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
2 Ulaanbaatar 🇲🇳 Mongolia
<5%
3 Ramallah 🇵🇸 Palestine
<5%
4 Beijing 🇨🇳 China
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Pine Bunting in Novosibirsk?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Bunting sighting in Novosibirsk on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 91st most-seen of the 123 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Pine Bunting in Novosibirsk?

September

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Bunting in Novosibirsk on a given day, against under 5% in May–July and October–March, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Pine Bunting?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pine 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.

Is Novosibirsk the best place to see a Pine Bunting?

Yes

Of the 4 cities where we can rate Pine Bunting sightings, Novosibirsk has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia, under 5%) and Ramallah (Palestine, under 5%).

Which relatives of the Pine Bunting live in Novosibirsk?

Same genus: Emberiza

The closest relatives of the Pine Bunting that you can see in Novosibirsk (genus Emberiza, Old World Buntings) are Reed Bunting (about 20%), Little Bunting (about 10%) and Pallas's Bunting (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Pine Bunting sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Pine Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Novosibirsk (10 verified sightings), 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.

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