The Pallas's reed bunting, also known as Pallas's bunting, is a passerine bird in the Emberiza family, Emberizidae. Most modern authors now separate this group from the finches, Fringillidae.
Region
Siberia and East Asia
Typical Environment
Breeds across the northern Palearctic, especially in Siberia and Mongolia, favoring extensive reedbeds, sedge marshes, and wet meadows near lakes and slow rivers. In the non-breeding season it moves to eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, using reed-fringed wetlands, rice paddies, and weedy fields. It also occurs in shrubby floodplains and along drainage ditches. Vagrants are occasionally recorded in Western Europe during migration.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 2000 m
Climate Zone
Continental
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Pallas's reed bunting is a small marsh-dwelling bunting of northern Asia that breeds in reedbeds and wet sedge meadows and winters across East Asia. It often skulks low in vegetation but males sing from exposed perches in spring. The species is a scarce but regular vagrant to parts of Western Europe. Like many buntings, it switches from an insect-rich diet in summer to mostly seeds in winter.
Emberiza pallas MHNT
Temperament
wary and skulking
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with low, undulating flights over reeds
Social Behavior
Typically nests low or on the ground in dense reeds or sedges, with a cup nest concealed near water. Pairs are territorially defensive in the breeding season, but outside of breeding it forms small to medium-sized flocks. Both adults feed the young, and post-breeding gatherings occur in rich feeding areas.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Male delivers a simple, thin, tinkling song from exposed reed tops or shrubs. Calls include a sharp tik or tsip and soft contact notes within flocks.
Plumage
Upperparts are warm brown with dark streaking; underparts pale with fine streaks on the flanks. Breeding males show a contrasting dark head and face pattern with a pale supercilium and white outer tail feathers; females and non-breeding birds are duller and more uniformly streaked. Tail often shows white edges in flight.
Diet
In summer it consumes a variety of insects and other invertebrates, including beetles, flies, caterpillars, and spiders. In autumn and winter it shifts mainly to seeds of grasses, sedges, and weeds, occasionally taking grains from stubble and rice fields. It also picks small buds and shoots when available.
Preferred Environment
Feeds low in reedbeds, sedge clumps, wet meadows, and along the margins of lakes and rivers. In winter it commonly uses rice paddies, weedy fields, and reed-fringed ditches, often foraging on the ground or low in cover.
