The orange-breasted bunting (''Passerina leclancherii'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird in the family Cardinalidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

. With its wide range and large total population, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

considers it as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

The orange-breasted bunting grows to a length of about and is slightly smaller than the

rose-bellied bunting The rose-bellied bunting or Rosita's bunting (''Passerina rositae'') is a species of bird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is endemic to a very small area of southern Mexico.Brewer, D. (2020). Rose-bellied Bun ...

(''Passerina rositae''), which shares its range. The adult male has a pale green crown, turquoise blue nape and upper parts, often tinged with green, and a turquoise tail. The lores, eye-ring and underparts are canary yellow, deepening to golden-orange on the breast. The adult female has greyish-green upper parts and yellow underparts. The iris is dark brown, and the beak and legs are grey. The song is a rather plaintive warble, rather slower and less drawn out than that of other members of the genus.

Distribution and habitat

The orange-breasted bunting is endemic to Mexico. Its range extends from the Pacific coast in southern Nayarit,

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

and Guerrero to western

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

, and inland to the western part of

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, an area of about . It inhabits

tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

and arid scrubland, thorny thickets, bushy deciduous woodland, clearings and woodland edges, at altitudes up to about . It has a patchy distribution, not being present in some areas of apparently suitable habitat. It is more abundant in secondary growth than in undisturbed forest. The species was introduced to the Hawaiian island of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

in 1941 but did not become established, and was extirpated by 1952.Simberloff, D. & Boecklen, W. (1991) ''Patterns of Extinction in the Introduced Hawaiian Avifauna: A Reexamination of the Role of Competition''. The American Naturalist. vol 138, no 2. pp. 300–327

Ecology

The birds form small groups when foraging or may forage in pairs. The diet of this species has not been studied, but in general, buntings in this genus are seed-eaters, with some fruit and invertebrates being eaten. Birds in captivity will consume white millet, hemp seed and

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. ...

seed, as well as hard sweet apples, ant cocoons and mealworms. Breeding takes place in the wet season in May and June. The nest is a cup-shaped structure formed of rootlets, grasses and dry leaves, with a softer lining and is built in a low bush or thick scrub. A clutch of three or four bluish-white or greenish-white eggs are laid.

Status

This bird has a wide range and large total population. No particular threats have been identified and the population seems stable, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

References

{{Commons category, Passerina leclancherii orange-breasted bunting Birds of Mexico Endemic birds of Mexico orange-breasted bunting Taxonomy articles created by Polbot