Sunday 4 August 2019

Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Emberiza ("bunting") cirlus (ultimately derived via Italian from zirlare; "to chirp")
Adult male Cirl Bunting (subspecies E. c. cirlusat Roseland Penninsula, Cornwall - July 2019

Featured Subspecies: Emberiza cirlus cirlus
Weight: 21-27g  /  Length: 15.5cm  /  Wingspan: 22-25.5cm
UK RED LIST IUCN Red List: Least Concern

It is an established trend that farmland birds have suffered from industrialisation the most, and the Cirl Bunting is a prime example; once a widely spread resident of the UK, modern farming techniques utterly crashed it's population, restricting it solely to a stretch of the South Devon Coast where it remains largely restricted to this day.  There is some small good news however; a reintroduced population in South Cornwall seems to be doing well, which is where I caught some distant views of them.  The population on the continent is far healthier, and is widely distributed around the Mediteranean.

Related Species:
Order:Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Emberiza
SUBSPECIES: E. c. cirlus, E. c. nigrostriata

 - Sighting Locations -
UNITED KINGDOM - A rare resident with a very restricted range.
 - Several birds seen on the Roseland Penninsula in 2019.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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