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Cirl Bunting
Emberiza cirlus
Identify the Cirl Bunting by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Cirl Bunting is a small bunting of southern Europe, the Mediterranean islands and North Africa; males have a striking yellow head marked with black stripes and a greenish breast band. A non-migratory bird of warmer regions, it favours open farmland with hedgerows and scrub, especially on sunny slopes. Agricultural change has hit its northern range edge hard, although targeted conservation has boosted numbers locally. A 19th-century introduction established a population in New Zealand.
Did you know?
- It is remarkably sedentary, often moving only about 250 m from the nest in summer and up to around 2 km in winter.
- A population introduced in the 19th century still survives in New Zealand.
Voice
About the species
Identification
The male has a black throat and eye-stripe on a yellow face, an olive-green crown and breast band, yellow underparts and a chestnut back. Females and young are streaked and resemble a female Yellowhammer, but have an olive-brown rather than rufous rump and a more patterned face.
Family
Emberizidae
Size
Small (sparrow)
Colours
yellow, black, brown, green, grey
About the habitat
Mixed farmland with grass and arable fields, thick hedgerows and patches of dense scrub, often on sunny slopes. It also uses green spaces in towns and cities.
Diet
In summer invertebrates, especially grasshoppers and crickets, to feed the chicks; in winter small seeds from stubbles, fallows and spilled grain, often feeding in flocks.
Behaviour
Males sing a simple, rattling trill. Pairs nest low in dense hedges or scrub and usually raise two broods, sometimes three, between April and mid-September; the female incubates and both parents feed the young. Largely sedentary, it forms flocks to forage in winter.
Sources
Photo: Cirl_bunting.jpg: Paco Gómez from Castellón, Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cirl bunting cropped.jpg
Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707694, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707694
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirl_bunting
