Bird Guide

Cape Bunting vs Golden-breasted Bunting

Cape Bunting (Emberiza capensis)

Cape Bunting

Emberiza capensis

Small21 gShrubland

The Cape bunting is 16 cm long. The adult has a black crown, white supercilium and black-bordered white ear coverts. The upperparts are grey brown with some dark streaks, and the wing coverts are chestnut. The tail is darker chestnut, and the underparts are grey with a pale throat. The sexes are very similar, but females may have a buff tone to the white head markings. Young birds have duller chestnut wings, a less distinct head pattern, and heavier streaking extending on to the breast and flanks. The call is an ascending zzoo-zeh-zee-zee.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Derek Keats, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by
Golden-breasted Bunting (Emberiza flaviventris)

Golden-breasted Bunting

Emberiza flaviventris

Small18 gShrubland

The golden-breasted bunting is 15–16 cm long. The adult male has striking head pattern with a white crown, black lateral crown stripes, white supercilium and black-bordered white ear coverts. The underparts are orange-yellow becoming yellow on the throat and whitish on the lower belly. The upperparts are chestnut with a grey rump. The browner wings have two conspicuous white wing bars. The sexes are very similar, but females may have a buff tone to the white head markings and browner head stripes, and the back may have dark streaks. Young birds are duller and paler than the females.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Golden-breasted Bunting
Recorded by paulo kivuyo · Call · kikatiti, Meru, Arusha Region, Tanzania · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: le0p0ld_d · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cape Bunting and Golden-breasted Bunting.