# 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.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/053c8af1-ea03-4564-8ff3-2ef2bc1a8f58
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9216
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emberiza cioides
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/7613213/medium.jpg (Kim, Hyun-tae, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.