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Gray Bunting

Emberiza variabilisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Gray Bunting Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Gray Bunting: Medium sized, dark gray bunting with black streaks on back, shoulders, and underparts. Undertail coverts are white. Female has brown upperparts, brown-streaked paler underparts, and chestnut-brown rump. Immature male resembles female but has some gray on head, and is gray below. Rare visitor to Alaska.

Range and Habitat

Gray Bunting: Native of Asia; rare visitor to western Aleutians. Preferred habitats include thickets in coniferous and mixed forests in hills and mountains.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"houee-tseewee-tseewee"

Interesting Facts

 The Gray Bunting is also known as the Japanese Gray Bunting.

 It was first described in 1835 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck, the Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.

 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 Gray 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 variabilis
Length5.5 - 6.5 Inches
Wingspan8.875 Inches

Gray Bunting

Gray Bunting Breeding Male: Medium sized, dark gray bunting with black streaks on back, shoulders, and underparts. Undertail coverts are white. Heavy, pink bill with black tip, culmen. Pink legs and feet. Short flights, alternates rapid wing beats with periods of wings pulled to sides. Secretive.

● Song: "houee-tseewee-tseewee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gray Bunting: Eats primarily seeds but takes some berries and insects, especially in summer months; forages in trees, bushes, and on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Gray Bunting: Five white eggs spotted with red gray are laid in a nest made of grass and moss, and lined with finer grass, rootlets, and hair. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Gray Bunting: Little Bunting has gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, and brown patches on head.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with rapid wing beats alternating with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.
Gray Bunting Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Gray Bunting: Native of Asia; rare visitor to western Aleutians. Preferred habitats include thickets in coniferous and mixed forests in hills and mountains.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationAccidental in North America
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.5 - 0.7 Ounces