
Photo: (c) Rejoice Gassah, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
Emberiza rutila
Habitat
Open forest with plenty of ground cover and shrubs in the breeding season
Size
14–15cm
The chestnut bunting is a fairly small bunting, 14–15 cm long, of the East Palearctic. The tail is fairly short with little or no white on the outer feathers. Breeding males have bright chestnut-brown upperparts and head with a yellow breast and belly streaked on the sides, while the female is mostly dull brown with dark streaks above and mainly pale yellow underparts; non-breeding males are similar but duller, with the chestnut partly hidden by pale feather fringes (Wikipedia, general species account).
The variable, high-pitched song is given from a perch low in a tree, and the call is a short zick, like the little bunting's (Wikipedia, general species account).