# Black-faced bunting (*Emberiza spodocephala*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-bunting  
Data as of: 2026-11-13

The black-faced bunting (Emberiza spodocephala) is a bird in the family Emberizidae, placed with the songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small, migratory, terrestrial bird that lives in shrubland and has an invertivore diet. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 16.5 g – 18.5 g |
| Length | 16 cm |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Invertivore |
| Main food | seeds |
| Habitat | shrubland |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4.5 |
| Litters or clutches a year | 2 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Emberizidae
- genus: Emberiza
- species: *Emberiza spodocephala* Pallas, 1776

Synonyms: *Emberiza melanops*, *Emberiza spodocephala extremi-orientis*, *Emberiza spodocephala flaviventris*, *Schoeniclus spodocephala*

## Common questions

### What is the scientific name of the black-faced bunting?

The black-faced bunting is Emberiza spodocephala, named by Pallas, 1776.

### How heavy is the black-faced bunting?

Adults typically weigh about 18.4 g. It belongs to the small size class, covering adult body mass of 10 g to 1 kg.

### What does the black-faced bunting eat?

It has an invertivore diet and its trophic level is carnivore.

### What habitat does the black-faced bunting use?

Its habitat is shrubland, and it is a terrestrial bird.

### Is the black-faced bunting endangered?

No. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), which is not a threatened category.

### How many eggs does the black-faced bunting lay?

A clutch has 4 or 5 eggs, and there are 2 clutches per year.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Black-faced bunting (Emberiza spodocephala). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-bunting