Red-headed Bunting at Bird Island

Red-headed Bunting (Ann & Paul Bailey)

Ann and Paul Bailey have reported a Red-headed Bunting Emberiza bruniceps at Bird Island. This is nothing short of sensational. If accepted by SBRC this will be not only a first record for Seychelles but a first for the entire African region and the entire southern hemisphere.

Red-headed Bunting breeds from the Volga–Ural region east through Kazakhstan to western Mongolia and northwest China and south to Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is migratory, wintering in India. It is a nocturnal migrant and most having left breeding grounds by August, southern migration continuing to October. It has been previously recorded as far south as Sri Lanka and has also been recorded throughout much of western Europe as far as Iceland.