Rock Bunting

The rock bunting is a bunting 16 cm long, in a family now separated by most modern authors from the finches. The breeding male has chestnut upperparts, unmarked deep buff underparts and a pale grey head marked with black striping. It breeds in open dry rocky mountainous areas in north-west Africa, southern Europe east to central Asia and the Himalaya, and locally in central Europe; four races differ mainly in plumage shade, and the one breeding in Europe, Africa and western Turkey is the only one to show white wing bars (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is partially migratory, with northern populations wintering further south, mainly within the breeding range of the resident southern populations. It lays three to five greyish eggs in a lined nest on the ground or occasionally in a low bush, and its natural food is seeds, with insects when feeding young (Wikipedia, general species account).