Emberiza cirlus
The Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) is a strikingly handsome passerine, a member of the Old World bunting family Emberizidae, known for its distinctive male plumage. Measuring approximately 15-16 cm in length with a wingspan of 22-25 cm and weighing 20-28 grams, males boast a bright lemon-yellow belly, a sharp black throat, a prominent yellow supercilium, and a distinctive black line through the eye, complemented by an olive-grey crown and a chestnut shoulder patch. Females are duller, exhibit...
The Cirl Bunting thrives in warm, dry, open country with scattered trees, dense hedgerows, and scrub, often adjacent to traditional agricultural land, orchards, vineyards, or suburban gardens, typically at low to mid-elevations.
Their diet consists primarily of seeds, particularly those from cereal crops, grasses, and weeds, supplemented significantly by invertebrates (insects, spiders, caterpillars) during the breeding season and for feeding nestlings. They forage almost exclusively on the ground.
Cirl Buntings are diurnal, spending most of their active hours foraging on the ground, employing a hopping and scratching technique to uncover food. Outside the breeding season, they often form small, loose flocks, sometimes mixing with other bunting or finch species, and roost communally in dens...
The Cirl Bunting's primary breeding and resident range spans Western and Southern Europe, extending from the UK (historically southern England, now restricted to the southwest) through France, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and into the Balkan states, Greece, and parts of Turkey. It also has popul...
Least Concern
- The Cirl Bunting's UK population plummeted from an estimated 10,000 pairs in 1900 to just 118 pairs by 1989, making it one of the UK's most threatened birds, before a remarkable recovery to over 1,000 pairs. - Its distinctive song, often described as a 'jingling' or 'buzzing' trill, can be conf...