Buntings and New World Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Slaty Bunting (Latoucheornis siemsseni) - HBW 16, p. 509

French: Bruant bleu German: Blauammer Spanish: Escribano Azul
Other common names: Fukien Slaty Bunting, Blue Bunting, Chinese/Fukien (Blue) Bunting, La Touche’s Bunting

Taxonomy: Junco siemsseni G. H. Martens, 1906, Mia River region, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Originally described in genus Junco, male plumage superficially resembling that of “slate-coloured” populations of Junco hyemalis, but was soon placed in a monotypic genus. Recent phylogenetic analyses, however, indicate that this species is, surprisingly, a sister-species of Emberiza elegans. Differs from Emberiza in unstreaked male plumage and very rufous female plumage, very small bill, and strangely shaped tail feathers, but recent molecular studies indicated that differences from that genus are minor and that present genus could well be merged with Ember.. View all taxonomy...

Distribution: Breeds in C China in S Gansu and S Shaanxi (from Taibai Shan) S to W Sichuan (Nan Chuan range and valleys at E edge of Tibetan Plateau; probably also in NE Sichuan); probably also farther E, in Anhui (Huang Shan). In non-breeding season widely recorded at lower elevations in Sichuan, W Hubei, Anhui, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and N Guangdong.