Crested bunting

Melophus lathami

Photo by Sharad Agrawal (India Nature Watch)

Common name:
crested bunting (en); escrevedeira-de-poupa (pt); bruant huppé (fr); escribano crestado (es); haubenammer (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Emberizidae

Range:
This species is found from southern China, northern Vietnam, northern Laos and north-western Thailand, west to Nepal, central and north-western India, and northern Pakistan.

Size:
These birds are 16 cm long and weigh 20-26 g.

Habitat:
The crested bunting is found in dry grasslands, rocky outcrops and hillsides, terraced arable land, and dry scrublands.

Diet:
They feed mainly on small grass seeds of various kinds, including fallen grains and some weed seeds, but also hunt some insects.

Breeding:
Crested buntings breed in April-August, usually coinciding with the local rainy season. The nest is a shallow cup made of grass roots, grasses and moss, either unlined or lined with fine grasses, plant fibres, rootlets, moss and hair. The female lays 3-4 pale greenish-white to greyish eggs with red, brown and purple spots and blotches. There is no available information regarding the incubation and fledgling periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as generally fairly common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.