Just back from a trip to Lesvos, Greece and will need to spend some time sorting photos and catching up with Contacts' uploads. Meanwhile here's a shot of a male Black-headed Bunting proclaiming his territory. This species is found in SW Europe and the Middle-East and is generally a late arriving migrant from its wintering grounds in central and western India. Only encountered in ones and twos and the start of our stay it was ubiqitous by the end. This species has occurred in Ireland on occasion but, because of its popularity in the cage-bird trade, some of these sightings have been deemed to be escapes from captivity rather than naturally occurring.
sc Europe to sw Asian open woods, scrub: sw France, Italy, Balkans ne to se Ukraine and sw Russia and Caucasus; in s to Greece, Crete, Turkey, Cyprus to n Israel and n Jordan, e through nw Syria and n Iraq to nc, se Iran
Nonbreeding Range Subregions
w Indian fields, thickets: far w to nc plains and s to sc Indian Pen.
Africa (entire continent rather than south of Sahara)
AN
Antarctica
AO
Atlantic Ocean
AU
Australasia (Wallacea (Indonesian islands east of Wallace's line), New Guinea and its islands, Australia, New Zealand and its subantarctic islands, the Solomons, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu)
PAL
Eurasia (Europe, Asia from the Middle East through central Asia north of the Himalayas, Siberia and northern China to Japan)
IO
Indian Ocean
LA
Latin America (Middle and South America)
MA
Middle America (Mexico through Panama)
NA
North America (includes the Caribbean)
NO
Northern oceans
OR
Oriental Region (South Asia from Pakistan to Taiwan, plus Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Greater Sundas)
