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Bunting - Shanghai, China (1 Viewer)

thirudevaram

thirudevaram

Trapped in mist ***s
Found this Bunting on 7th November, 2015. Doesn't look like the regular buntings as most of the Wintering and passage birds have strong streakings on the back and have strong markings on the face. The sandy back and plain face is bit confusing, i could only think of Black-headed Bunting which is very unusual here.
 

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Yes, your bird is undoubtedly a fem/1st-w Black-headed or Red-headed Bunting, one of the trickiest species pair to ID in this plumage. Looking at the image I cannot make out any suggestion of rufous tones to the mantle/scaps (rump is obscured) which would make life a whole lot easier and confirm it as BHB.

Any more photos?

Grahame
 
Hi Dev, I agree it's not a usual passage or wintering bunting for eastern China. It sort of reminds me of a female House Sparrow from Canada for some reason but I'm not sure.
Tom
 
Grahame Walbridge said:
Yes, your bird is undoubtedly a fem/1st-w Black-headed or Red-headed Bunting, one of the trickiest species pair to ID in this plumage. Looking at the image I cannot make out any suggestion of rufous tones to the mantle/scaps (rump is obscured) which would make life a whole lot easier and confirm it as BHB.

Any more photos?

Grahame
Click to expand...

Why isn't it an Imm/1st Winter Yellow-breasted Bunting...for starters the bill is flesh coloured, when it's grey on RH/BH Bunting?
 
Tib78 said:
Bland face pattern, long primary projection and lack of flank streaking.

I agree with Grahame, it's either a Black-headed or Red-headed bunting.
Click to expand...

Having since trawled the web for images of all three I'm inclined to agree that it is more likely to be BH/RH Bunting, much overlap and variability with these taxa, especially the bland face and amount/lack of flank streaking, primary projection circa 2/3rds of overlying tertials perhaps a tad on the long side.
 
Although dangerous to presume, there has been a few out of place Black-headed Bunting in SE Asia this last week including Malaysia.
 
rockfowl said:
Although dangerous to presume, there has been a few out of place Black-headed Bunting in SE Asia this last week including Malaysia.
Click to expand...

Mark,

Am I right in thinking BH is the more common in SE/E Asia?

FWIW the bill structure, pp and well-srtreaked crown are all in favour of BH.

Grahame
 
Yes Grahame, I think Dave B has just had the 5th for Malaysia. Red-headed rare, not sure of any records from China outside of documented records from HK and Xingiang.
 
We have a bit of practice with this species pair in Hong Kong and nowadays first winter birds of both species are confidently identified to species (although I have never personally seen a 1/w Red-headed Bunting here). Blackheaded is now more than annual, while Red-headed is a genuine rarity, with just three records.

This bird looks good for Black-headed for me - for the reasons that Grahame mentioned in post 8. In my opinion Red-headed generally shows a blander and gentler face, partly due to the reduced or absent black streaking on the crown. See here: http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=18182

Nearly forgot - great find Dev!

Cheers
Mike
 
MKinHK said:
We have a bit of practice with this species pair in Hong Kong and nowadays first winter birds of both species are confidently identified to species (although I have never personally seen a 1/w Red-headed Bunting here). Blackheaded is now more than annual, while Red-headed is a genuine rarity, with just three records.

This bird looks good for Black-headed for me - for the reasons that Grahame mentioned in post 8. In my opinion Red-headed generally shows a blander and gentler face, partly due to the reduced or absent black streaking on the crown. See here: http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=18182

Nearly forgot - great find Dev!

Cheers
Mike
Click to expand...

Thank you for weighing in, Mike.
 
Sorry Grahame. Birdforum is now not accessible for ppl inside the great wall and my VPN quota has expired too which kept me away from the forum for long. I have some poor shots of the rump, underparts n vent if you still want to dig deeper.
 

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