msamuel

Please kindly advise.
LV on 3Nov2010

HFCheung

Looks like Black-faced Bunting to me.

HF Cheung

John Holmes

I'd say "First winter Yellow-breasted Bunting" - it looks a bit warmer in tone than Black-faced, to me.

John

tsheunglai

what the photo shows indeed is a yellow-breasted  bunting after exam the photos on OBI.

The crown is darkish-streaked it is not a female 1st winter but a 1st winter male.

S L Tai

msamuel

Thanks those who replied.  Let me attach one more photo to see if it gives better clues.  What puzzles me is that it is overall, and in particular the head, darker in color than yellow-breasted bunting that I know.  It could be a yellow-breasted bunting as it was eating crops together with munias.

kkoel

Adult female YB Buntings show a thinner "ear-ring" - perhaps that's why it looks lighter and brighter than the juveniles, which tend to show an accentuated ear-ring like this one...^^"

ajohn

It's a female Yellow-breasted Bunting. (I don't think there is enough white in the wing, chestnut on the rump or yellow below for a male)
Adults and first-winter birds are very difficult to separate in this species, even in the hand. I'm not sure if you can tell which this is from these photos.

kkoel

Thanks John for clarifying!