Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)Spanish name: Escribano soteño bird observation Spain

The cirl bunting  – size  6 1/3 inches  – is a resident bird of the Mediterranean and is also found in France and a small area in the south of England. The male has three bright yellow stripes on the head, on the eyebrow, under the eye and on the top of the chest. The rest of the head and the throat is black coloured. The female has the same head pattern but both the yellow and the black is a lot paler. In summer cirl buntings feed themselves and their chicks, with invertebrates such as grasshoppers and crickets. In winter, where they are often found in groups, they eat mostly seeds.

Bird observation Spain; This species prefers as its habitat a landscape of trees, forest edges and vineyards, but can also be found in warmer areas such as city parks. An interesting fact about this species is that they only operate very locally so that in the breeding season they will only look for food in the vicinity of up to 820 feet from the nest. In wintertime, this will extend to about 1.25 miles. In Spain there are an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 breeding pairs of this species

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