Crested Bunting vs Cretzschmar's Bunting

Crested Bunting

Emberiza lathami

Small22 gGrassland

Males have a prominent crest, yellowish beak, black body plumage contrasting with the rufous flight feathers of the wing and tail. Females are shorter crested and have an overall dull-olive brown colour with dark brown streaks. The wing and tail feathers are fringed in cinnamon. Females have a grey beak. Non-breeding males are buffish grey and subadults have black tips to the rufous primary coverts. The species was formerly placed in the monotypic genus Melophus but DNA sequence based phylogenies showed it to be nested within other Emberiza species.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ben Costamagna · CC BY 4.0

Cretzschmar's Bunting

Emberiza caesia

Small20 gShrubland

This bird is smaller than ortolan. The breeding male has a grey head with orange moustaches. The upperparts are brown and heavily streaked, except on the rump, and the underparts are rusty orange. The stout bill is pink. Females and young birds have a weaker head pattern, and are more similar to ortolans. They can be distinguished by the warm brown rump and white eye-ring.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jan Svetlík · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Crested Bunting and Cretzschmar's Bunting.