Yellow--breasted Bunting
8
September 1996
At 1620 hours, after a particularly uninspiring
seawatch, I was walking off Carr Naze onto the Country Park. The obligatory
Skylark was sitting on the short mown grass, but just in case I nevertheless
casually raised my bins. The effect of focusing on the bird was anything but
casual.
Bill size and shape pointed to a bunting. Although
the background colour was buff, plumage tracts immediately pointed towards
Yellow-breasted Bunting. Scarcely able to believe I was about to grip back the
bird only two years after Filey's first (I was messing about on a boat in 1994)
I skirted the bunting to get the sun behind me. As I circled round, the bird
merely turned its head to watch me barely 15 yards distant.
Sitting tight to the ground, better light confirmed
initial impressions of the patterns of the head, upper parts and breast. Surely
it was a Yellow-breasted Bunting, and in panic I looked around. Tourist day-trippers
were everywhere but there wasn't a single birder in sight. Suddenly the bird
took off, flying towards the cliff edge before vanishing. White outer feathers
on the short tail confirmed the identification.
Rushing to the edge I looked left and right before
spotting Anthony Norris and John Sanderson watching a bird near Carr Naze Pond.
The bunting had landed right in front of them! However, they were looking into
the sun through long grass, whilst I was getting exceptional views again.
After two minutes, I decided to alert others at the
Country Park Café. Returning several minutes later and several pounds poorer
(most of my loose change had bounced out of my pockets during the sprint to the
Café) there was no sign of the bird. Luckily the presence of birders at the
nearby Greenish Warbler ensured a thorough search of Carr Naze was possible and
my relief was tangible when 45 minutes later Dave Scanlan relocated the bird on
Carr Naze. Here it remained until almost dusk, giving views to over a hundred
birders.
Description
A thick set bunting with a relatively short tail and
a substantial two tone bill. Upper mandible mid-grey, lower mandible pale horn.
Head pattern was distinctive with pale buff mid
crown stripe offset by dark brown streaks on sides of crown forming lateral
crown stripes. Obvious pale buff supercilium, widest over the ear coverts.
Lores plain, whilst ear coverts darkly framed with pale centres.
Mantle highly streaked, forming contrasting
pale/dark lines, with distinctive pale "tramlines" on sides of
mantle. Wings also contrastingly patterned with two pale off-white wing bars
and buff-white pale edges of tertials sharply defined against their dark
centres. Tail dark with contrasting white outer feathers.
Underparts buff, with virtually no hint of yellow.
Breast finely streaked almost forming a clear-cut pectoral band. Flanks also
streaked. No call heard
Only two years after Filey's first, this was a
welcome repeat reflecting several East Coast records over recent years. Indeed,
it came at the same time as a bird at Spurn.