Meadow Bunting
Emberiza cioides
Male meadow buntings deliver their distinct, sweet songs from high, exposed perches like fence posts and treetop twigs to establish territory.
- Scientific name
- Emberiza cioides
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Passeriformes › Emberizidae › Emberiza
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Open countryside, grassy hillsides, scrubland, farmlands, and riverbank shrubbery.
- Diet
- Grass seeds, grains, weeds, and small insects such as caterpillars and beetles during the breeding season.
- Range
- Japan, Korean Peninsula, Eastern China, Far Eastern Russia
- Size
- Length: 15-16.5 cm, Wingspan: 22-24 cm, Weight: 20-25 g
- Lifespan
- 3-5 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Agricultural intensification, heavy pesticide reliance reducing food availability, and habitat loss.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Observe quietly from a distance using binoculars, especially during spring nesting season to avoid causing stress or nest abandonment.
The meadow bunting or Siberian meadow bunting ( Emberiza cioides ) is a passerine bird of eastern Asia which belongs to the genus Emberiza in the bunting family Emberizidae.
Photo: Kim, Hyun-tae, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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