Birds
Corn Bunting
Emberiza calandra · Presură sură
A heavy, plain bunting that sings its jangling song from wires and posts over farmland.
At a glance
- Status in Romania
- Migratory
- Habitat
- Meadow
- Activity
- Morning · Daytime
- Diet
- Seeds, mainly cereals, and other plant parts; many invertebrates in summer, especially in the breeding season.
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)
- Photography difficulty
- Easy to observe
Photography Guide
Practical starting points based on the species’ behaviour and habitat, not fixed rules.
- Where and how to look
- Wires and fence posts along farmland roads in spring.
- Best time / activity
- Morning · Daytime
- Photography difficulty
- Easy to observe
- Ethics
- Ground-nesting bird: stay on tracks and field edges in the breeding season and never search grass for nests.
Identification
Large, plain brown-streaked bunting with a stout pale bill; sexes alike.
Habitat
Open farmland, mainly cereals, fodder crops and legumes; meadows with bushes and semi-natural areas at the edge of villages.
Distribution
Open habitats in all regions except the mountains.
Approximate range in Romania
Diet
Seeds, mainly cereals, and other plant parts; many invertebrates in summer, especially in the breeding season.
Behaviour
Sings from a prominent perch, often dangling its legs in flight.
Seasonality in Romania
Breeds in Romania and is partly migratory, especially in the north and the high hills. In winter part of the population forms flocks and moves to the south of the country, or migrates to southern Europe and North Africa.
Monthly presence has not yet been source-verified.
Breeding
Breeding begins in March; 1–2 clutches a year of 1–7 eggs; incubation 12–14 days.