Bird GuideOld World BuntingsLittle Bunting

Little Bunting

Little Bunting
Emberiza pusilla
At a Glance Range & Identification Back to Top

At a Glance

Widespread across northern Scandinavia and Siberia in summer, the Little Bunting winters mostly in southern Asia. It shows up as a very rare stray in Alaska, mostly in fall, and has made it all the way to California twice.
All bird guide text and rangemaps adapted from Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufman© 1996, used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Category
Perching Birds
Conservation
Low Concern
Habitat
Shrublands, Savannas, and Thickets, Tundra and Boreal Habitats
Behavior
Flitter, Rapid Wingbeats, Undulating

Range & Identification

Description

5" (13 cm). This very rare visitor is a small, short-tailed bunting, heavily streaked above and below. Somewhat like a Savannah Sparrow but with a dark bill, pale eye-ring, wash of reddish brown on face.
Size
About the size of a Sparrow
Wing Shape
Broad, Long, Pointed
Tail Shape
Notched, Square-tipped

Songs and Calls

Song a rollicking but short, gold-finch-like warble of modulated trills and high, sweet notes. Call a very quick tsit or tsik.
Call Pattern
Rising, Undulating
Call Type
Chirp/Chip, Flute, Trill, Whistle