Description:

Medium-sized bunting, adult with distinctive facial pattern and double breast band. Adult has chestnut ear-coverts, black breast streaking, and usually some chestnut on breast sides. Some first-winter birds rather nondescript, but plain head with warm brown ear-coverts and prominent eye-ring distinctive.

Distribution:

Rare summer visitor to southern tip of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan, also possible in western Ghizer. Usually below 2400m around scrubby hillsides, open areas near fields, meadows with bushes and open grassy areas, especially near rivers.

Behavior:

Forages on ground. Usually singly or in small parties of up to five individuals. In non-breeding season sometimes in larger flocks; also joins mixed flocks. Diet consists of grass seeds and some insects. Diet during winter mostly seeds, such as those of sedges, grasses and cereals, but invertebrates still form a significant percentage of items.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Chestnut-eared Bunting in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Chestnut-eared Bunting

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.