ajohn

I love the first picture of the cuckoo. It looks like the Pipit was fed up with the constant demand for food and trying to strangle the chick! In fact, many of the birds look a bit worn at the end of the breeding season.

With reference to the taxonomy of the Pink-tailed Rosefinch/Bunting, this is really complicated and it seems that it isn't a rosefinch or a bunting, but is in a family of it's own (Urocynchramidae). IOC list the species as Przevalski's Finch.