Cretzschmar's Bunting

Overview

Cretzschmar's bunting (Emberiza caesia) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, which most modern authors separate from the finches. The English common name commemorates the German physician and scientist Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar, who founded the Senckenberg Natural History Museum.

Identification

• Smaller than the ortolan bunting, with breeding males displaying a grey head, orange moustaches, and rusty orange underparts.
• Upperparts are brown and heavily streaked, except on the rump, and the bill is stout and pink.
• Females and young birds have a weaker head pattern, a warm brown rump, and a white eye-ring.
• A very rare wanderer to western Europe, otherwise found in coastal or insular habitats.

Habitat

Breeds on sunny open hillsides with some bushes, mainly in coastal or insular regions of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and the Levant, often at lower levels than the closely related ortolan bunting. It is migratory, wintering in Sudan and northern Eritrea.

Diet

Feeds primarily on small seeds, especially from grasses, and supplements its diet with small invertebrates, particularly ants, especially when feeding young. Forages almost entirely on the ground.

Did you know?

Europe hosts an estimated 230,000–451,000 mature individuals, comprising 85% of the global population, despite its relatively limited breeding range. It is a very rare wanderer to western Europe, where it is seldom observed.