House bunting
| House bunting | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Emberizidae |
| Genus: | Emberiza |
| Species: | E. sahari |
| Binomial name | |
| Emberiza sahari J. Levaillant, 1850 | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
The house bunting (Emberiza sahari) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.
.jpg)
It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.[3] In Morocco, the species has expanded from the Atlas Mountains northwards since the 1960s, and has recently reached Tangier[4] and Tétouan[5] on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The house bunting bred in Europe for the first time in 2023, in Algeciras in southern Spain.[6]
The house bunting breeds around human habitation, laying two to four eggs in a nest in a hole in a wall or building. Its natural food consists seeds, or when feeding young, insects.[7]
It is 14 cm long, similar in size to the striolated bunting and smaller than the rock bunting. The breeding male has a sandy orange-brown body and a grey head slightly dark-streaked but without the white supercilium that the striolated bunting has. The female's head has a brown tint to the grey, and more diffused streaking.[8]
The house bunting has recently been split from the closely related striolated bunting,[9][10] of which it used to be treated as a subspecies, Emberiza striolata sahari. The striolated bunting has stronger facial striping and a paler belly than the house bunting.[3]
The incubation period of the clutch of three eggs is 12–14 days.[3]
The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than that of the common chaffinch.[8]
In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques.[7]
References
- ↑ BirdLife International. (2024). "Emberiza tahapisi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024 e.T103767669A263291246. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T103767669A263291246.en. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- ↑ "Emberiza sahari". Avibase.
- 1 2 3 Byers, C.; Olsson, U.; Curson, J. (1995). Buntings and Sparrows. Pica Press. ISBN 1-873403-19-4.
- ↑ Amezian M.; Bensusan K.; Perez C.; Thompson I. (2006). "Is House Bunting about to colonise Europe?" (PDF). Birding World. Vol. 19. p. 263.
- ↑ El Khamlichi, R.; Amezian, M. (8 June 2012). "House Bunting finally colonised Tétouan, northern Morocco". MaghrebOrnitho. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- ↑ "House Bunting breeds in Europe for first time". Bird Guides. 14 September 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- 1 2 Snow, D. W.; Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise ed.). OUP. ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
- 1 2 Mark Beaman & Steve Madge (1998). The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic. Christopher Helm. pp. 827–828. ISBN 0713639601.
- ↑ Collinson, M. (2006). "Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palearctic lists". British Birds. Vol. 99, no. 6. pp. 306–323.
- ↑ Kirwan, Guy M. and Hadoram Shirihai (2007). "Species limits in the House Bunting complex" (PDF). Dutch Birding. Vol. 29, no. 1. pp. 1–19.