Scientific name: Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus, 1758
Bird group: Buntings
Field characters. 16.5 cm. Male with bright yellow head and underparts, with some dark stripes on head. Female has less yellow on head and underparts with more brown streaks. Both sexes have characteristic chestnut rump and white in outer tail feathers. Upperparts brown, streaked with black. Some males have less yellow on underparts and have whitish belly. Juveniles resemble females, but with less yellow or sometimes even completely without yellow. When perched regularly flicks tail. Outside breeding season sometimes in large flocks, often with other buntings, larks and finches.
Voice. Call 'tsick' and 'twitick'. Song 'titititi tèèèh', sometimes resembling Cirl Bunting
Distribution. Common resident, locally declining.
Habitat. Open cultivated areas, with hedgerows and scattered bushes. Never in woodland. In winter also on open arable fields.
Food. Mainly seeds, but in summer also insects. Feeds on the ground.