Emberizidae Old World Buntings

The Old World buntings are a widespread group of small songbirds generally endowed with modest plumages, aside from a handful with bright-yellow wash on the breast or head. They, like many unrelated birds known as “sparrows,” are clothed to fit their open-country landscapes, primarily in earth tones, with contrasting bars or splashes of black around the face. It is their distinctive songs that announce their presence and their identity. After breeding, they molt into even drabber plumage, ratcheting up the challenge of species identification. As with many seed-eating species of open terrain, they tend to switch during the breeding season to a higher-protein diet rich with insects, especially for feeding their young.