Red-headed Bunting
Emberiza bruniceps Brandt, JF, 1841 (0, 1)
Photo © Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
STATUS
Central Asia, south-west and south-central Russia, south-west Mongolia, north-west China, north-east Iran and Pakistan, migratory wintering in India. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
A number of earlier records were placed in Categories D and E due to it being a common import for the captive bird trade. This individual was originally accepted as a 2CY male Black-headed Bunting. However, after detective work by the Norwegian Rarities Committee it was found to be a 1CY male Red-headed Bunting and therefore the first acceptable record for Britain.
BBRC RECORD
1). 2010 Shetland Out Skerries, 1CY, male, 2nd to 8th October.
(Birding World 23 (10): 438, photo; Birding World 24 (8): 351, plate 23; N. A. J. Hudson and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 104: 624, plate 338; BOURC (2025) Ibis 57th Report in prep.).
