House bunting
| House bunting | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Emberizidae |
| Genus: | Emberiza |
| Species: | E. sahari
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| Binomial name | |
| Emberiza sahari J. Levaillant, 1850
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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The house bunting (Emberiza sahari) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.
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It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.[2] In Morocco, the species has expanded from the Atlas Mountains northwards since the 1960s, and has recently reached Tangier [3] and Tétouan [4] on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The house bunting bred in Europe for the first time in 2023, in Algericas in southern Spain.[5]
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.[6]
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.[7]
The house bunting has recently been split from the closely related striolated bunting,[8][9] 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.[2]
The incubation period of the clutch of three eggs is 12–14 days.[2]
The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than that of the common chaffinch.[7]
In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques.[6]
References
[edit]
- ^ "Emberiza sahari". Avibase.
- ^ a b c 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? Birding World 19: 263.
- ^ El Khamlichi, R.; Amezian, M. (8 June 2012). "House Bunting finally colonised Tétouan, northern Morocco". MaghrebOrnitho. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "House Bunting breeds in Europe for first time". Bird Guides. 14 September 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ a b Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition. OUP ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
- ^ a b 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 99 (6): 306-323.
- ^ Kirwan, Guy M. and Hadoram Shirihai (2007) Species limits in the House Bunting complex Dutch Birding 29(1): 1-19