Rustic Bunting

Rustic Bunting

Emberiza rustica

Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic

LCNTNear ThreatenedVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Taipei

In 3 days <5%

32 Verified sightings at Taipei
22 In 1 park From 2019 to 2026
November Best month

About the Rustic Bunting

The rustic bunting (Emberiza rustica) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific rustica is Latin for "rustic, simple".

The rustic bunting was first formally Species description described in 1776 by the Prussian naturalist and explorer Peter Simon Pallas with Dauria give as the type locality. This species is classified in the genus Emberiza, the typical buntings, in the family Emberizidae. Within Emberiza the rustic bunting is sister to the little bunting (E. pusilla).

There are two subspecies: Emberiza rustica rustica: breeds in the taiga over most of Eurasia from Scandinavia to Siberia. Emberiza rustica latifascia: breeds in far eastern Siberia from Yakutsk to Kamchatka. It breeds across the northern Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering in south-east Asia, Japan, Korea, and eastern China. It is a rare wanderer to western Europe.

It breeds in wet coniferous woodland. Four to six eggs are laid in a nest in a bush or on the ground. Its natural food consists of seeds, and when feeding young, insects. This bird is similar in size to a reed bunting. It has white underparts with reddish flank, pink legs and a pink lower mandible. The summer male has a black head with a white throat and supercilium and a reddish breast band.

The female has a heavily streaked brown back and brown face with a whitish supercilium. She resembles a female reed bunting, but has the reddish flank streaks, a chestnut nape and a pink, not grey, lower mandible. The call is a zit, similar to that of a song thrush (Turdus philomelos), and the song is a melancholic delee-deloo-delee. Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:14

Sweden · 2026

© Lars Edenius · XC1174783 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:46

Sweden · 2026

© Jens Morin · XC1156573 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Alarm call0:55

Sweden · 2024

© Thomas Bergman · XC916023 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Nikko National Park 🇯🇵 Japan
<5%

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Sendai 🇯🇵 Japan
~20%
2 Jinhua 🇨🇳 China
~20%
3 Seoul 🇰🇷 South Korea
~10%
4 Busan 🇰🇷 South Korea
~10%
5 Nagoya 🇯🇵 Japan
<5%
6 Beijing 🇨🇳 China
<5%
7 Tokyo 🇯🇵 Japan
<5%
8 Shanghai 🇨🇳 China
<5%
9 Hangzhou 🇨🇳 China
<5%
10 Nanjing 🇨🇳 China
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Rustic Bunting in Taipei?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rustic Bunting sighting in Taipei on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 194th most-seen of the 266 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Rustic Bunting in Taipei?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rustic Bunting in Taipei on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

Is Taipei the best place to see a Rustic Bunting?

13th of 13

Of the 13 cities where we can rate Rustic Bunting sightings, Taipei ranks 13th at under 5%. The best odds are in Sendai (Japan, about 20%), Jinhua (China, about 20%) and Seoul (South Korea, about 10%).

Where does the Rustic Bunting sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Rustic Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Taipei (32 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.

← Back to Taipei