Thecorn bunting (Emberiza calandra) is apasserinebird in thebunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from thefinches, Fringillidae. This is a large bunting with heavily streaked buff-brown plumage. The sexes are similar but the male is slightly larger than the female. Its range extends from Western Europe and North Africa across to northwestern China.
This is an unusual bunting because the plumages of the sexes are similar in appearance, though the male is approximately 20% larger than the female. This large bulky bunting is 16–19 cm long, with a conspicuously dark eye and yellowish mandibles. Males lack any showy colours, especially on the head, which is otherwise typical of genusEmberiza. Both sexes look something likelarks, being streaked grey-brown above with whitish underparts. The underparts are streaked over the flanks and breast, and the streaking forms gorget around the throat. The lesser wing coverts are distinctively dark and white-tipped. The tail is plain brown.[8]
The song of the male is a repetitive metallic sound, usually likened to jangling keys, which is given from a low bush, fence post or telephone wires.
It breeds across southern and centralEurope, northAfrica andAsia across toKazakhstan. It is mainly resident, but some birds from colder regions of central Europe and Asiamigrate southwards in winter.
The corn bunting is a bird of open country with trees, such as farmland and weedy wasteland. It has declined greatly in north-west Europe due to intensive agricultural practices depriving it of its food supply of weed seeds and insects, the latter especially vital when feeding the young. It has recently become extinct inWales andIreland, where it was previously common.
Males defend territories in the breeding season and can bepolygynous, with up to three females per breeding male. The population sex ratio is generally 1:1, which means some males remain unmated during a season. Males play only a small role in parental care; they are not involved in nest building or incubation, and only feed the chicks when they are over half grown.
The nest is made of grass, lined with hair or fine grass, and is usually built on the ground. Average clutch size is four, but commonly varies from three to five, occasionally six.
In England, the government's environmental organisationNatural England offers grants towards implementing measures to conserve this species, under theenvironmental stewardship scheme.[9]
Cramp, Stanley; Perrins, C.M., eds. (1994). "Miliaria calandra Corn Bunting".Handbook of the Birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. IX: Buntings and New World Warblers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 323–338.ISBN978-0-19-854843-0.
