Field Guide
🐦
Reed Bunting
Emberiza schoeniclus
Not yet photographed by the community
Wetland bunting; male has black head and white moustache.
Species Profile
Amber List (formerly Red List; population recovering)
- Lifespan
- 3–5 years in the wild, occasionally up to 10 years
- Size & Weight
- 15–16.5 cm, wingspan 21–27 cm; 16–19 g
- Habitat
- Reed beds, wetland margins, and scrubby areas with dense vegetation near water, particularly reedmace and willow carr.
- UK Distribution
- Found throughout the UK in suitable habitat; resident year-round, with numbers augmented by continental migrants in winter.
- Diet
- Primarily seeds from reeds and grasses in winter, switching to insects and spiders during breeding season to feed chicks.
- Predators
- Sparrowhawks, kestrels, stoats, weasels, and corvids; eggs and chicks vulnerable to magpies and jays.
- Mating Season
- April to July
- Breeding
- Clutch of 4–5 eggs, incubation period 10–12 days, fledging at 10–11 days; typically 2 broods per season.
- Behaviour
- Males are highly territorial and perform distinctive song-flights with rapid calls from prominent reed stems. They are polygynous, with males often maintaining multiple mates. Generally skulking and secretive, remaining low in vegetation.
- •Males have a distinctive black face mask and white moustache stripe during breeding season, which is largely lost in winter plumage.
- •The Reed Bunting experienced a severe population decline of over 90% between the 1960s and 1990s due to wetland habitat loss, but numbers have recovered somewhat in recent decades.
- •They have a sharp, metallic call note—a distinctive 'tsi-ik'—used year-round to maintain contact and territorial boundaries.
- •Reed Buntings are one of the few UK songbirds still commonly shot or trapped illegally in some continental regions during migration.
- •In winter, they often form loose flocks and visit gardens and farmland, occasionally appearing at bird feeders, especially during harsh weather.
🐦
No photos yet
Be the first to photograph a Reed Bunting and share it with the community.