| House bunting | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Emberizidae |
| Genus: | Emberiza |
| Species: | E. sahari |
| Binomial name | |
| Emberiza sahari J. Levaillant, 1850 | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
The house bunting (Emberiza sahari) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.
It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad. [2] In Morocco, the species has expanded from the Atlas Mountains northwards since the 1960s, and has recently reached Tangier [3] and Tétouan [4] on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The house bunting bred in Europe for the first time in 2023, in Algeciras in southern Spain. [5]
The house bunting breeds around human habitation, laying two to four eggs in a nest in a hole in a wall or building. Its natural food consists seeds, or when feeding young, insects. [6]
It is 14 cm long, similar in size to the striolated bunting and smaller than the rock bunting. The breeding male has a sandy orange-brown body and a grey head slightly dark-streaked but without the white supercilium that the striolated bunting has. The female's head has a brown tint to the grey, and more diffused streaking. [7]
The house bunting has recently been split from the closely related striolated bunting, [8] [9] of which it used to be treated as a subspecies, Emberiza striolata sahari. The striolated bunting has stronger facial striping and a paler belly than the house bunting. [2]
The incubation period of the clutch of three eggs is 12–14 days. [2]
The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than that of the common chaffinch. [7]
In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques. [6]
