Scientific name: Emberiza caesia Cretzschmar, 1827
Bird group: Buntings
Field characters. 15.5 cm. Resembles Ortolan Bunting. Male has blue-grey head and orange-coloured throat and underparts. Upperparts brown with dark streaks. Rump orange, tail with white on outer tail feathers. Female like male but colours duller and head pattern less pronounced. Both sexes have white eye-ring, as in Ortolan Bunting. Juvenile almost indistinguishable from Ortolan Bunting, but never with olive-green tones and with slightly weaker streaking. Spends much time on the ground.
Voice. Call 'tsip' and 'teu', similar to Ortolan Bunting. Song again resembling latter, but more sharper and varied.
Distribution. Rather common summer visitor in SE Europe.
Habitat. Dry and stony slopes with scarce shrub; also often in orchards, young plantations, and vegetable gardens.
Food. Seeds, also insects. Prey mainly taken on the ground.