Pine Bunting

The pine bunting is a robust bunting 16–17.5 cm long, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a white crown and cheeks, a chestnut forehead and throat and a heavily streaked brown back; the non-breeding plumage is like a yellowhammer's but with all the yellow replaced by white, and its song and calls are like the yellowhammer's. It breeds across much of temperate Asia, migrating south to central Asia, north India and southern China in winter (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its natural food is seeds, and insects when feeding its young. The nest is on the ground, with four to six eggs showing the hair-like markings characteristic of buntings. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of non-specialised habitat that eats plants and seeds, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).