Chestnut-eared Bunting

It was during my very first week of arriving Japan, that I found many Chestnut-eared Buntings (Emberiza fucata) around the entrance of my university. I couldn't take any decent photo of the birds back then, and I even forgot to make any effort in getting better shots of them either. It just popped up in my mind again last week, when I was sitting in the bus and staring directionlessly out of the window and one of this bunting just suddenly caught my eyes. The bird was perching and preening on the fence by the roadside. Few days later I rushed up to the campus early in the morning and I found that I was surrounded with several couples of this bunting. Several males were still actively singing on open bushes and the females were feeding in low vegetations. Can't believe how I totally forgot about this pretty bird that lives just in front of my campus! Though the males always came out to sing on open perches, they were not easy to get close at all. The song is a sweet warbling song, which is slightly softer and sweeter than that of the Meadow Bunting. The latter also presented well as usual, but not quite active in singing. Since the females always foraged under thick vegetations, they usually came up to the top of the bushes to dry their feathers up once in the while. They seemed to stay close to their mates and gave soft bunting-ish tzit tzit call to contact with the males. Hope the weather's better soon, so I can get some more shots in a better light.

Male bird is much brighter with greyer head. Female bird has duller buffish colouration.