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Reed Bunting

Emberiza schoeniclusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Reed Bunting Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Reed Bunting Breeding Male: Medium-sized finch with dark-streaked brown upperparts and faintly streaked, white underparts. Head and throat are black; moustache stripe and collar are distinctly white. Tail is white-edged. Female has striped brown head and dark-bordered white throat.

Range and Habitat

Reed Bunting: Breeds on the Aleutians off the coast of Alaska.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"shreep-shreep-teeree-tititick"

Interesting Facts

 The Reed Bunting regularly form flocks outside the breeding season, often flocking with other Emberiza species. These flocks form in September.

 They sometimes make holes in bullrush stems to extract insect larvae.

 A group of buntings are collectively known as a "decoration", "mural", and "sacrifice" of buntings.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Reed Bunting
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Buntings, Finches, Sparrows (Emberizidae)_blue
Species Emberiza schoeniclus
Length6 - 7.25 Inches
Wingspan9.5 Inches

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting: Medium-sized finch with dark-streaked brown upperparts and faintly streaked, white underparts. Head and throat are black; moustache stripe and collar are distinctly white, and tail is white-edged. Short, low flights, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "shreep-shreep-teeree-tititick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Reed Bunting: Eats seeds, but also takes insects and other invertebrates, especially in summer. Forages in reeds, rushes, and riparian-thickets in summer, and in wet meadows, pastures, farmlands, and open country in winter.

● Breeding & nesting: Reed Bunting: Four to six light purple eggs with gray pink marks and splotches are laid in a nest made of dried grass and moss, lined with hair, flowers, and fine grass, and built on the ground sheltered by a small brush or low shrub. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out mostly by the female.

● Similar species: Reed Bunting: Pallas's Bunting has a smaller straight bill, gray-brown upperparts with brown-black streaks, gray-brown wing coverts, and white behind eye.

Flight Pattern

Short flights close to vegetation, with rapid wing beats alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.
Reed Bunting Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Reed Bunting: Breeds on the Aleutians off the coast of Alaska.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationCasual in AK
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.8 Ounces