Butterflies & Dragonflies          Contact          First Sightings          Links          On This Day          S. Glos Listers          Systematic List          Where To Watch

 

The Birds Of South Gloucestershire          Black-headed Bunting - emberiza malanocephala

 

Black-headed Bunting is a passerine in the bunting family, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches. It breeds in south-east Europe east to Iran, is migratory usually wintering in India. It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe and the UK generally in June. It breeds in open scrubby areas including agricultural land and its natural food consists of insects when feeding young but otherwise seeds. Black-headed Bunting is around 17cm long and the summer male has bright yellow underparts, chestnut upperparts and a black hood. The female is a washed-out version of the male, with paler underparts, a grey-brown back and a greyish head and the juvenile is similar. The call is a soft zrit, and the song is a jerky zrit.. zrit.. zrit.. srut.. srut.. srut.

 

There has been one Black-headed Bunting reported from S. Gloucestershire;

 

2009: (1)

On June 7th a summer male was watched for several minutes on a bird table at Yate.  This occurrence constitutes the first report of this species for S. Gloucestershire.

 

The bird was seen on Sunday June 7th 2009 in the morning at around 09:30 and was described as a bright yellow bird with a black head, brown back about the size and shape of a Chaffinch. It was watched fro several minutes feeding on seed below the bird table with several House Sparrow and was seen briefly on the back fence before flying on its own towards Kingsgate Park. In flight, white in the outer tail feathers were noted. Despite much searching it could not be relocated that day or over the following days. (Mark Coller)

 

NB: A week or so before the S. Glos occurrence an adult male Black-headed Bunting was photographed on Guernsey at Jerbourg on May 26th 2009.

 

©TBOSG November 2005 - All rights reserved