Chestnut-eared Bunting

Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata) is a compact bunting with a grey head, chestnut ear patch and breast band, white throat and strongly streaked brown back. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits open grassland, scrub and cultivated slopes across eastern Asia, feeding on seeds and insects on the ground and placing its nest low among dense vegetation. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).