Female Emberizids rarely sing. Males sing to attract females and to defend territories against other males. Some species have simple songs (chip notes linked together) and others have more complex or melodic songs. Males often sing from prominent perches within their territories, some also sing while in flight. Male and female pairs often have a call that they use to communicate with each other and with their offspring. Emberizids also give alarm calls when threatened.
Communication Channels: acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Many populations of Emberizids are declining. Habitat loss and fragmentation are main threats. Habitat is being lost due to urbanization, and as forest succession reduces the size and number of grasslands and old fields. Over-grazing, cowbird parasitism, trapping for the cage-bird trade and house cats also pose threats to many species.
The IUCN lists a number of species as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. CITES also lists a few Emberizids under appendix II and III. Most migratory species in the United States are protected by the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the US ESA lists two subspecies as endangered (Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis) and Florida grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus)) and one as threatened (San Clement sage sparrow (Amphizpiza belli clementeae)).
The family Emberizidae (sparrows, buntings and relatives) falls within the order Passeriformes (perching birds). Members of the Emberizidae family are commonly referred to as American or New World sparrows and buntings. The common name "sparrow" is actually a misnomer and is based on a superficial resemblance the members of Emberizidae have to the family Passeridae (Old World sparrows). Old World sparrows have similar size, shape and colors as New World sparrows and were mistakenly called sparrows by people arriving in the New World. New World sparrows are not actually closely related to Old World sparrows despite their name.
The classification of the family Emberizidae has been the subject of much debate (see Systematic and Taxonomic History). For this account I will use the classification found in Howard and Moore’s third edition of the Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Howard and Moore (2003) list 73 genera and 308 species of sparrows and buntings. The greatest diversity of Emberizids occurs in the New World where they are thought to have evolved.
On average, Emberizids are nondescript, small to medium sized, brownish birds. Many birdwatchers jokingly call them “little brown jobs”. They have a world-wide distribution and are found in a variety of different habitat types. Males and females are usually monogamous and are quite similar in appearance. Most Emberizids eat seeds and insects.
Because they are seed eaters, sparrows and buntings can often be crop pests. They feed on lettuce, broccoli, sugar beats, alfalfa, grains, fruit trees, flower seedlings and grass seed, among other things. They have a negative economic impact since farmers and others spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep the birds out.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
Sparrows and buntings are common visitors to bird feeders and many species are sought out by avid birdwatchers. Also, as insectivores they eat insects that might be crop pests (for example, crickets (order Orthoptera), beetles (order Coleoptera), caterpillars (order Lepidoptera) and ants (order Hymenoptera)). Some Emberizids are also kept as pets.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; ecotourism ; controls pest population
Emberizids are important members of their ecosystem. Because of their food habits, they likely have a regulatory influence on insect populations, and they are an important food source for their predators. They also have an influence on the reproduction of the plants whose seeds they eat. In addition, Emberizids are hosts for brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), a parasitic species of bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Emberizids are typically omnivorous (both insectivorous and grainivorous). They primarily eat seeds during the winter and insects during the summer. Their choice of prey usually consists of whatever insects are most common and easiest to catch. Some species, such as song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), that live in coastal areas, feed on mollusks and crustaceans.
Many species will specialize on certain types of seeds; small beaked sparrows eat small seeds, large beaked sparrows eat large seeds. Bill size and shape are adaptations that reflect the birds' food type. Emberizids forage by scratching at the ground looking for insects and seeds, pulling them off of vegetation, picking them off the ground, or gleaning insects from vegetation. Some species can get most of the water they need from insects and seeds and do not need additional water.
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore ); herbivore (Granivore ); omnivore
Emberizids are found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. However, the highest diversity of sparrows and buntings is found it the Western Hemisphere.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
Other Geographic Terms: holarctic
Emberizids feed and nest in a wide variety of terrestrial habitats, in temperate, tropical and polar regions. They generally prefer open country and can be found in habitat from salt marshes at sea level to areas of alpine tundra at high elevation. They live in grasslands, deserts, desert scrublands, wetland and woodland edges, shrubby habitat, arctic and alpine tundra, agricultural fields, urban and suburban areas. Sparrows and buntings are almost never found in mature forest interiors; Bachman’s sparrows (Aimophila aestivalis) are the only sparrows that live in old growth forest. However, the longleaf pine forests that they inhabit are very open and are more like edge habitat than dense forest.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; polar ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: tundra ; desert or dune ; savanna or grassland ; forest ; scrub forest ; mountains
Aquatic Biomes: coastal
Wetlands: marsh
Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban ; agricultural
The oldest recorded sparrow was 13 years and 4 months old. Adult annual survival is usually around 60 percent. Like most small birds, Emberizids probably live on average only two to five years.
Emberizids are small to medium sized birds 10 to 24 cm in length (15 cm on average). Towhees are the largest members of the family. Males are usually larger than females. Males and females are generally similar in appearance, however, where dimorphism occurs, males are brighter than females. Longspurs, buntings, towhees and seedeaters are the groups within Emberizidae that most often show sexual dimorphism.
Emberizids have conical bills. Most members of Emberizidae are brown or gray with streaks on their breast and/or back. However, there are some exceptions; for example, snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) are primarily white. Juveniles usually have streaky coloration, especially on their breast. Adults molt in the late summer/early fall and in the spring. The molt does not usually change the bird’s appearance.
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike; male larger; sexes colored or patterned differently; male more colorful
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Known predators include hawks (family Accipitridae), falcons (family Falconidae), owls (family Strigidae) and numerous mammals (class Mammalia, including house cats (Felis silvestris), raccoons (Procyon lotor), foxes (family Canidae) and weasels (family Mustelidae)). Sparrows and buntings often forage near cover so they can flee if a predator approaches. They also forage in flocks, a behavior that allows for increased vigilance and reduces the chance that any one bird will be caught. As with almost all ground nesting birds, nest predation is common among Emberizids.
Known Predators:
Most Emberizids are monogamous. However, a few are polygynous. Even among the socially monogamous species, extra-pair copulation (when birds mate with individuals other than their mate) is common. Smith’s longspurs (Calcarius pictus) are polygynandrous (promiscuous, males and females have multiple mates). Saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus) exhibit what is called scramble competition polygyny. In this mating system, which is common in frogs, males are not territorial and more than one male will try to mate with a single female at once. In most species, males defend breeding territories using song and by chasing intruders.
Mating System: monogamous ; polyandrous ; polygynous ; polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Breeding in Emberizids usually takes place during the summer or rainy seasons. Breeding usually occurs during the season with the maximum abundance of invertebrates, the favored food source for parents to feed their young. Many species have more than one brood per year and will re-nest if their initial nest is lost due to depredation. Nests are built between 0 and 6 meters above the ground, however, usually on the ground or in shrubs within one meter of the ground. Sparrows and buntings usually build open cup nests (a few species build domed nests) made of grass and stems, lined with fine roots, grass and hair. Nests are not re-used year after year and take from 2 to 12 days to build (usually 3 to 4).
Females lay 3 to 5 eggs on average. Eggs are white, bluish or tan with very few spots to a lot of spotting. They measure between 17 by 13 mm to 25 by 19 mm. Females incubate the eggs and may be fed occasionally by their mates during this period. Incubation lasts 11 to 14 days and the eggs hatch synchronously. Young are fed primarily insects by both parents and usually fledge between 9 to 12 days after hatching. If the nest is disturbed, chicks will fledge earlier. Young reach sexual maturity in one year.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
Females incubate the eggs and may be fed occasionally by their mates during this period. Incubation lasts 11 to 14 days and the eggs hatch synchronously. Young are altricial and are fed primarily insects by both parents. Chicks usually fledge between 9 to 12 days after hatching. If the nest is disturbed, chicks will fledge earlier. Young receive parental care for 21 to 35 days after hatching. Males often take a greater part in raising fledglings than females so that females can begin a second brood.
Parental Investment: altricial ; male parental care ; female parental care
The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
The family Emberizidae was formerly much larger and included the species now placed in the Passerellidae (New World sparrows) and Calcariidae (longspurs and snow buntings). Molecular phylogenetic studies found that the large family consisted of distinct clades that were better treated as separate families.[1][2]
The genus Emberiza is now the only genus placed in the family Emberizidae.[3] The genus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[4] The type species was subsequently designated as the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).[5] The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting.[6] The origin of the English "bunting" is unknown.[7]
A 2008 genetic study found that three emberizid species that were placed in their own monotypic genera clustered within the Emberiza. These were the crested bunting (Melophus lathami), the slaty bunting (Latouchiornis siemsseni), and the corn bunting (Miliaria calandra).[8] All three species are now included in the genus Emberiza.[3]
A large DNA-based study of the passerines published in 2019 found that the buntings are most closely related to the longspurs and snow buntings in the family Calcariidae.[9]
Ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World chose to split up Emberiza and recognise the genera Fringillaria, Melophus, Granativora, Emberiza, and Schoeniclus.[10] Their example has not been followed by the online version of the Handbook of the Birds of the World[11] nor by Frank Gill and David Donsker in the list of world birds that they maintain on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.[3] The British Ornithologists' Union has argued that splitting the genus provides little benefit and destabilizes the nomenclature.[12]
Species in the New World genus Passerina include the word "bunting" in their common names, but are now classed in the family Cardinalidae.[13]
The family is divided into four major clades. The species in Clade I are mainly African while those in Clades II to IV are Palearctic:[14]
Emberizidae Clade ICabanis's bunting – Emberiza cabanis
Golden-breasted bunting – Emberiza faviventris
Somali bunting – Emberiza polioplura
Cape bunting – Emberiza capensis
Lark-like bunting – Emberiza impetuani
Socotra bunting – Emberiza socotrana
Gosling's bunting – Emberiza goslingi
Cinnamon-breasted bunting – Emberiza tahapisi
Striolated bunting – Emberiza striolata
House bunting – Emberiza sahari
Clade IIYellow-throated bunting – Emberiza elegans
Slaty bunting – Emberiza siemsseni
Japanese reed bunting – Emberiza yessonsis
Common reed bunting – Emberiza schoenicus
Pallas's bunting – Emberiza pallasi
Yellow-browed bunting – Emberiza chrysophrys
Grey bunting – Emberiza variabilis
Tristram's bunting – Emberiza tristrami
Chestnut bunting – Emberiza rutila
Yellow-breasted bunting – Emberiza aureola
Little bunting – Emberiza pusilla
Rustic bunting – Emberiza rustica
Yellow bunting – Emberiza sulphurata
Black-faced bunting – Emberiza spodocephala
Clade IIICrested bunting – Emberiza lathami
Black-headed bunting – Emberiza melanocephala
Red-headed bunting – Emberiza bruniceps
Clade IVCorn bunting – Emberiza calandra
Chestnut-eared bunting – Emberiza fucata
Tibetan bunting – Emberiza koslowi
Jankowski's bunting – Emberiza jankowskii
Meadow bunting – Emberiza cioides
Rock bunting – Emberiza cia
Godlewski's bunting – Emberiza godlewskii
Cirl bunting – Emberiza cirlus
White-capped bunting – Emberiza stewarti
Pine bunting – Emberiza leucocephalos
Yellowhammer – Emberiza citrinella
Grey-necked bunting – Emberiza buchanani
Cinereous bunting – Emberiza cineracea
Cretzschmar's bunting – Emberiza caesia
Ortolan bunting – Emberiza hortulana
The above cladogram is based on a study published in 2021. The phylogenetic relationships of two African species, the brown-rumped bunting (Emberiza affinis) and Vincent's bunting (Emberiza vincenti), were not determined in the study.[14]
The genus contains 45 species.[3]
Extinct species have been described:[15]
Emberiza pannonica from the upper Miocene of Hungary is also referred to this genus, but was later found to be a member of Muscicapidae.[16]
The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
