Little Bunting

Overview

Little Bunting: Small finch with dark-streaked gray-brown upperparts, heavily streaked white underparts. Face and crown are chestnut-brown and black-bordered. Eye-ring is dull white; throat is white. Wings have two pale, thin bars. Legs, feet are yellow. Tail has white outer feathers.

Range and Habitat

Little Bunting: Reported from St. Lawrence Island and the western Aleutians, northwestern Alaska, and California. Preferred habitats include mountain forests.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Little Bunting was first described by Peter Simon Pallas, a German zoologist and botanist, in 1776.
It is one of the few buntings which doesn't acquire strikingly bright colours, even in the breeding season.
A group of buntings are collectively known as a "decoration", "mural", and "sacrifice" of buntings.

The Little Bunting has a large range, estimated globally at 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 square kilometers. Native to Europe, Asia, and the United States, this bird prefers forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 10,000,000 to 16,000,000 individuals in Europe alone and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Little Bunting is Least Concern.