Emberiza variabilis
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The grey bunting (Emberiza variabilis) is a species of bird in the family Emberizidae. It breeds in southern Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and northern Japan, it migrates to southern Japan and the Nansei archipelago. Its natural habitats are boreal forests and temperate forests. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Bunting sighting in Nikko National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th most-seen of the 102 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.
January, April and August–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Bunting in Nikko National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May–July and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grey 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.
Only Nikko National Park, in our data
Nikko National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Grey Bunting sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Emberiza
The closest relatives of the Grey Bunting that you can see in Nikko National Park (genus Emberiza, Old World Buntings) are Masked Bunting (about 40%), Meadow Bunting (about 30%) and Chestnut-eared Bunting (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grey Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Nikko National Park (17 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.
