Cirl bunting

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Cirl bunting
Male
Female
Song recorded in Devon, England

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Emberiza
Species:
E. cirlus
Binomial name
Emberiza cirlus
Linnaeus, 1766
Geographic distribution shown in green
MHNT
MHNT

The cirl bunting (/ˈsɜːrl/ SURL),[2] (Emberiza cirlus), is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae.

It breeds across southern Europe, on the Mediterranean islands and in north Africa. It is a resident of these warmer areas, and does not migrate in winter. It is common in all sorts of open areas with some scrub or trees, but has a preference for sunny slopes. In the 19th century it was introduced to New Zealand and the persistent population remains in the South Island.[3]

Changes in agricultural practice have affected this species very adversely at the northern fringes of its range, and in England, where it once occurred over much of the south of the country, it is now restricted to south Devon. The cirl bunting is the mascot on the signs for the village of Stokeinteignhead in Devon.

Taxonomy

The cirl bunting was

monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[7]

Description

The cirl bunting is like a small yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), and is around 15.5 cm (6.1 in) in length with a wing-span 22–25.5 cm (8.7–10.0 in). It has a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a bright yellow head, with a black crown, eyestripe and throat, and a greenish breast band across its otherwise yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much more like the yellowhammer, but has a streaked grey-brown rump and chestnut shoulders.[8]

The monotonous song of the cock is rattling trill, like Arctic warbler or the terminal rattle of lesser whitethroat.[9]

Distribution and habitat

The ideal farmland habitat is a mixture of grass and arable fields, divided by thick hedgerows with pockets of dense scrub.[10] They can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, and are found in green spaces in towns and cities, even Rome.[citation needed]

They are sedentary in nature and will often travel only 250 metres (820 ft) from their nests to forage in summer, and up to 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in winter to find stubble.

Behavior and ecology

Breeding

Cirl buntings first breed when they are one year of age. The nest is at low level, within dense cover such as that provided by thick

gorse. The breeding season runs from April until mid-September, usually having two broods but occasionally three. Two to five eggs are laid, which show the hair-like markings characteristic of buntings. They are incubated only by the female and hatch 12–13 days after the last egg is laid. The young are cared for and fed by both parents. They nestlings fledge after 11–13 days but continue to be fed by their parents for a further two or three weeks.[11]

Food and feeding

In the summer their natural food consists of

invertebrates for example grasshoppers and crickets to feed their chicks. In the winter they feed on small seeds from over-wintered stubbles, fallow land, set-aside, and the over-winter feeding of stock with grain or hay. They tend to feed in flocks
during the winter.

English population

Frontispiece of the Ornithological Dictionary, 1802, showing a male cirl bunting. George Montagu discovered the species near his home in Kingsbridge, Devon, still its British stronghold.

History

A very small cirl bunting population exists in South Devon in England, near the small town of Kingsbridge where the pioneering ornithologist George Montagu discovered the species, as he recorded in his book, the Ornithological Dictionary, 1802.[12] The species appears to have first colonised Britain near Kingsbridge, most likely not long before Montagu described it. It expanded from there across southern England in the nineteenth century. It retreated from the 1930s onwards, so that by 1989 the population again survived mainly near Kingsbridge. Since then, conservation efforts have increased the population more than fivefold, but it remains almost wholly in Devon.[13]

Conservation

Through its Countryside Stewardship Scheme and environmental stewardship, Natural England has various options to conserve the species:

A partnership between Natural England and the

RSPB runs the "Cirl Bunting Project", part of a larger project called "Action for Birds". Through the efforts of conservation organisations and landowners, the cirl bunting population has increased from 118 pairs in 1989 to 700 pairs in 2003. However, their range has not expanded.[citation needed
]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22720888A132004013.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ The RSPB: Projects: The Cirl Bunting Project
  3. ^ Angus, D. J. 2013 [updated 2015]. Cirl bunting. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
  4. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 311.
  5. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  6. ^ "Cirl". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  8. ^ Cramp & Perrins 1994, p. 170.
  9. ^ Cramp & Perrins 1994, p. 177.
  10. ^ "Farming for Birds Cirl Bunting RSPB" leaflet
  11. ^ Cramp & Perrins 1994, pp. 179–180.
  12. ^ Montagu, George (1802). Ornithological Dictionary; or Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds, London: J. White.
  13. ISBN 0-7011-6907-9
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-84754-080-5
    .

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emberiza cirlus.
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