Emberiza pusilla
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Bunting sighting in Taroko National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 118th most-seen of the 147 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Bunting in Taroko National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Little Bunting sightings, Taroko National Park ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 10%), Manas National Park (India, about 10%) and Cuc Phuong National Park (Vietnam, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Taroko 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.
