Striolated Bunting

The striolated bunting is a bunting 14 cm long, similar in size to the house bunting and smaller than the similarly plumaged rock bunting. The breeding male has a chestnut body and a grey head with darker streaking and a white eyebrow and moustachial streak, and the female's head has a brown tint to the grey and more diffused streaking. It is a resident breeder of dry country from Chad, east through south-west Asia to north-western India, and in Africa (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in remote wadis, unlike the related house bunting not around human habitation, usually close to streams, laying two to four eggs in a nest on the ground or in a hole in the ground. The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than the common chaffinch's. Its natural food is seeds, or insects when feeding young. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and winter migrant of grassland and scrub with a Moderate range of about 48,500 km² and insufficient data on trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).