Red-headed Bunting

Emberiza bruniceps Brandt, JF, 1841

Red-headed Bunting, Emberiza bruniceps, breeds across shrub-steppe and oasis country from south-west Russia and Kazakhstan through north-west Xinjiang and far south-west Mongolia, with further breeding in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It also winters in Indian fields, reaching the north-west and north-central sub-Himalayan plains and much of the Indian peninsula. A passerine in the bunting family, it is a migratory species. It nests in open scrubby ground, including farmland, placing three to five eggs in a tree or bush. Its food is mainly seeds, with insects taken when feeding young.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Emberizidae — Buntings

Breeding range

Palearctic: temperate c Palearctic shrub-steppe to oases: sw Russia in Astrakhan, Kazakhstan (except far n) and se Orenburg (sc Russia) to nw Xinjiang (nw China) and far sw Mongolia; in s to nc, ne Iran, n, e Afghanistan and n Baluchistan, far w Pakistan through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

Nonbreeding range

Indian fields: far w to nw, nc sub-Himalayan plains and through Indian Pen. (except ne)