Cirl Bunting
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The cirl bunting ( ), (''Emberiza cirlus''), is a
passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the
finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...
es, Fringillidae. It breeds across southern Europe, on the
Mediterranean islands The Mediterranean Sea basin is supposed to host more than 10,000 islands, with 2,217 islands larger than 0.01 km2. The two main island countries in the region are Malta and Cyprus, while other countries with islands in the Mediterranean Sea in ...
and in north Africa. It is a resident of these warmer areas, and does not
migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
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 The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
. Changes in agricultural practice have affected this species very adversely at the northern fringes of its range, and in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, where it once occurred over much of the south of the country, it is now restricted to south
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
. The cirl bunting is the mascot on the signs for the village of
Stokeinteignhead Stokeinteignhead () is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, above the southern bank of the estuary of the River Teign. The parish has a short boundary on the estuary, and is otherwise surrounded, clockwise f ...
in Devon.


Taxonomy

The cirl bunting was
formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...
by the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in 1766 in the
twelfth edition Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...
of his ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...
'' under its current
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Emberiza cirlus''. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from
Old German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
''Embritz'', a bunting. The specific ''cirlus'' is from a local Italian name ''cirlo'', for a type of bunting, from ''zirlare'', "to chirp". The English ''cirl'' is derived from ''cirlus'', "probably from ''zirlare'', to whistle as a thrush". The species is
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
: no
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognised.


Description

The cirl bunting is like a small
yellowhammer The yellowhammer (''Emberiza citrinella'') is a passerine bird in the Emberiza, bunting family that is native to Palearctic, Eurasia and has been introduced species, introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the br ...
(''Emberiza citrinella''), and is around in length with a wing-span . 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. The monotonous song of the cock is rattling trill, like
Arctic warbler The Arctic warbler (''Phylloscopus borealis'') is a widespread leaf warbler in birch or mixed birch forest near water throughout its breeding range in Fennoscandia and the northern Palearctic. It has established a foothold in North America, bre ...
or the terminal rattle of
lesser whitethroat The lesser whitethroat (''Curruca curruca'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, winterin ...
.


Distribution and habitat

The ideal farmland habitat is a mixture of grass and
arable Arable relates to the growing of crops: * Arable farming or agronomy, the cultivation of field crops * Arable land, land upon which crops are cultivated * Arable crops program, a consolidated support system operated under the EU Common Agricultura ...
fields, divided by thick hedgerows with pockets of dense scrub. They can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, and are found in green spaces in towns and cities, even
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. They are sedentary in nature and will often travel only from their nests to forage in summer, and up to 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
hedgerows A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...
and scrub. The ideal scrub is said to be
blackthorn ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in Basq ...
, hawthorn,
bramble ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. I ...
and
gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...
. The breeding season runs from April until mid-September, usually having two
brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest br ...
s but occasionally three. Two to five
eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...
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.


Food and feeding

In the summer their natural food consists of
invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...
for example
grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...
s and
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
s to feed their chicks. In the winter they feed on small seeds from over-wintered stubbles, fallow land,
set-aside Set-aside was an incentive scheme introduced by the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1988 (Regulation (EEC) 1272/88), to (i) help reduce the large and costly surpluses produced in Europe under the guaranteed price system of the Common Agricul ...
, and the over-winter feeding of stock with
grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...
or
hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...
. They tend to feed in
flocks Flock, flocks or flocking may refer to: * Flock (birds), a gathering of individual birds to forage or travel collectively Arts and entertainment Music * ''Flock'' (Bell X1 album), 2005 * ''Flock'' (Jane Weaver album), 2021 * The Flock (band), ...
during the winter.


English population


History

A very small cirl bunting population exists in South Devon in England, near the small town of
Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...
where the pioneering ornithologist George Montagu discovered the species, as he recorded in his book, the ''
Ornithological Dictionary The ''Ornithological Dictionary; or Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds'' was written by the English naturalist and army officer George Montagu, and first published by J. White of Fleet Street, London in 1802. It was one of the texts, alo ...
'', 1802. 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.


Conservation

Through its
Countryside Stewardship Scheme The Countryside Stewardship Scheme was originally an agri-environment scheme run by the United Kingdom Government set up in 1991. In its original form it expired in 2014. It was relaunched for the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) 2014-202 ...
and
environmental stewardship Environmental stewardship (or planetary stewardship) refers to the responsible use and protection of the natural environment through active participation in conservation efforts and sustainable practices by individuals, small groups, nonprofit org ...
,
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
has various options to conserve the species: * Allow stubbles to overwinter. Leave crops such as spring
barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
stubble untreated (no
fertiliser A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...
,
pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
, or cultivation) until the end of the following March. This allows the cirl bunting to feed over the winter on the spilt grain and seeds of broad-leaved arable weeds like fat hen,
chickweed ''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad ...
, and annual meadow grass ''
Poa annua ''Poa annua'', or annual meadow grass (known in America more commonly as annual bluegrass or simply poa), is a widespread low-growing turfgrass in temperate climates. Notwithstanding the reference to annual plant in its name, perennial bio-types ...
'', which grow in the meantime. The loss of this old farming practice led to the species' decline. * Maintain semi-improved or rough grassland and field margins, particularly tussocky grasses such as
cock's-foot ''Dactylis'' is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the Pooideae, bluegrass subfamily within the Poaceae, grass family. ''Dactylis'' is native to North Africa, they are found throughout the world, and are an invasive species. They ar ...
. These provide an overwintering habitat for insects, which in turn provides food for the cirl bunting and their chicks. * Sow barley-based wild bird seed mix crop. This crop has an open structure, allowing birds to forage. * Delay spraying insecticides to provide invertebrate food for as long as possible. * Leave hedgerows untrimmed for periods of time. This provides breeding areas and food. A partnership between Natural England and the
RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...
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.


References


Sources

*


External links


ARKive
stills, video
An RSPB guide to cirl bunting sites in Devon.
Retrieved 18 May 2007
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta and Gerd-Michael HeinzeNatural England and RSPB Cirl Bunting ProjectRSPB, Natural England, Paignton Zoo Cirl Bunting Re-introduction ProjectRSPB website description, including songOverwinter Stubbles Advice for Farmers RSPB websiteRSPB hails 'remarkable' recovery of threatened cirl bunting
BBC News First Published 1 November 2016 {{Authority control Emberiza Birds of Europe Birds of North Africa Birds described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus