Emberiza pusilla
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The little bunting (Emberiza pusilla) is a passerine bird belonging to the bunting family (Emberizidae). First described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776, the little bunting is a monotypic species, with no geographical variation across its extensive Palearctic range.
The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting. The specific pusilla is Latin for "very small". This is a small bunting, measuring only 12–14 cm (4.7–5.5 in) in length. It has white underparts with dark streaking on the breast and sides. With its chestnut face and white malar stripe, it resembles a small female reed bunting, but has black crown stripes, a white eye-ring, and a fine dark border to the rear of its chestnut cheeks. The sexes are similar.
The call is a distinctive zik, and the song is a rolling siroo-sir-sir-siroo. The little bunting breeds across the taiga of the far north-east of Europe and northern Eurosiberia to the Russian Far East. It is migratory, wintering in the subtropics in northern India, southern China and the northern parts of south-east Asia. The birds remain in their winter quarters for quite long; specimens were taken in Yunnan in late... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 6 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Shijiazhuang | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Taiyuan | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Nanchang | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Changsha | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Tianjin | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Jinhua | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Jinan | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 10 | Ulaanbaatar | 🇲🇳 Mongolia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Little Bunting sighting in Tuen Mun on a given day, based on 65 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 87th most-seen of the 183 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Little Bunting in Tuen Mun on a given day, against under 5% in April–October and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Tuen Mun's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain against 290 mm in June.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 26
Of the 26 cities where we can rate Little Bunting sightings, Tuen Mun ranks 12th at about 10%. The best odds are in Beijing (China, about 20%), Shijiazhuang (China, about 20%) and Taiyuan (China, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Tuen Mun (65 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.
