General

Rustic Bunting: Medium-sized bunting with bright chestnut-brown upperparts streaked with black on back. Throat and belly are white, breast band is cinnamon-brown, and sides and flanks are streaked. Black head has slight crest and thick white eyebrow. Tail is dark brown with white edges. Female and winter adults have chestnut-brown rumps, brown crowns and cheeks, and white underparts streaked with brown. Juvenile is duller overall and has darker brown streaks.

Range and Habitat

Rustic Bunting: Eurasian species. During migration, visits Aleutians and other islands in the Bering Sea; casual along the Pacific coast to California. Preferred habitats include coniferous forests, riparian thickets, wet taiga, scrub, and brushy areas.

Breeding and Nesting

Rustic Bunting: Four to five light blue or green eggs with dark markings are laid in a cup nest made of grass, moss, and stems, lined with finer grass, hair, roots, and feathers, and built on the ground atop a grassy tussock, tree roots, or low in a shrub. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Rustic Bunting: Eats insects and seeds. Forages on the ground and gleans insects from low vegetation.

Readily Eats

Safflower, Apple Slices, Suet, Millet, Peanut Kernels, Fruit

Vocalization

Rustic Bunting: Song is a gentle, trilled, gurgling warble. Call is abrasive "sit" or "tsip."

Similar Species

Rustic Bunting: Little Bunting is smaller, has shorter legs, rust-brown crown and cheeks, and lacks short crest.