Meadow Bunting

Meadow Bunting

Emberiza cioides

Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic

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

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%

2,629 Verified sightings at Tokyo
144 In 1 park From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
🌙 Nocturnal When it's spotted

About the Meadow Bunting

The meadow bunting or Siberian meadow bunting (Emberiza cioides) is a passerine bird of eastern Asia which belongs to the genus Emberiza in the bunting family Emberizidae. The meadow bunting is 15 to 16.5 cm long. The male is mostly rufous-brown with dark streaks on the back. The boldly-patterned head is brown with white eyebrows, moustachial stripe and throat and grey sides to the neck. The outer tail-feathers are white and the legs are pinkish-brown. Females are similar but are duller and paler with a less well-defined head pattern.

The song is a short, hurried phrase given from a prominent perch. The call is a series of up to four sharp notes. It breeds in southern Siberia, northern and eastern China, eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. It is fairly non-migratory but northern birds move south as far as southern China and Taiwan. There are several records from Europe but many of these are considered to be escapes from captivity rather than genuine vagrants. It occurs in dry, open habitats such as scrub, farmland, grassland and open woodland.

The nest is built low in bushes or on the ground. Three to five eggs are laid and are incubated for... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song0:21

South Korea · 2026

© Se-Jun Choi · XC1152378 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call0:56

Mongolia · 2026

© Ding Li Yong · XC1148032 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song1:01

China · 2026

© Peter Boesman · XC1147450 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Nikko National Park 🇯🇵 Japan
~30%

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Sendai 🇯🇵 Japan
~50%
2 Nagoya 🇯🇵 Japan
~30%
3 Tokyo 🇯🇵 Japan
~10%
4 Osaka 🇯🇵 Japan
~10%
5 Kitakyushu 🇯🇵 Japan
~10%
6 Hiroshima 🇯🇵 Japan
~10%
7 Fukuoka 🇯🇵 Japan
<5%
8 Sapporo 🇯🇵 Japan
<5%
9 Beijing 🇨🇳 China
<5%
10 Seoul 🇰🇷 South Korea
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Inokashira Park Zoo 🇯🇵 Japan In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Meadow Bunting in Tokyo?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Meadow Bunting sighting in Tokyo on a given day, based on 2,629 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 43rd most-seen of the 229 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Meadow Bunting in Tokyo?

February–March and November

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Meadow Bunting in Tokyo on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month.

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

Between 10 pm and 1 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Meadow Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.

Is Tokyo the best place to see a Meadow Bunting?

3rd of 10

Of the 10 cities where we can rate Meadow Bunting sightings, Tokyo ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Sendai (Japan, about 50%) and Nagoya (Japan, about 30%).

Where does the Meadow Bunting sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Meadow Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Tokyo (2,629 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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