Rustic Bunting - Saskatchewan

An ABA Code-3 Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica) was found at the residence of Brenda and Harvey Schmidt in Creighton, Saskatchewan, on 3 December (still present on Sunday) in the willows and coming into the yard with juncos.

Rustic Bunting is common in northern Eurasian taiga where it is found in marshy areas including willow thickets associated with damp spruce forests or margins of bogs. Fall migration routes from western parts of its range take birds east, skirting deserts and steppes, turning south when they reach eastern Siberia.  Most birds winter in Japan, Korea, and China (Sparrows and Buntings, A Guide to the Sparrows and Buntings of North America and the World, Byers, Curson, and Olsson).

Photographs can be viewed at: http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com/2009/12/arriving-with-four-juncos-yesterday.html

Comments

[Sean]

"Shmidt" is really "Schmidt" with a "c."