Cretzschmar's Bunting

Cretzschmar's Bunting
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Emberizidae Genus: Emberiza Species: caesia
Binomial name
Emberiza caesia

The Cretzschmar's Bunting , Emberiza caesia , is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae.

It breeds in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and the coastal countries along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. It is migratory, wintering in the Sudan. It is a very rare wanderer to western Europe.

Cretzschmar's Bunting breeds on sunny open hillsides, with some bushes. It is mainly coastal or insular, and often breeds at lower levels than the closely-related Ortolan Bunting where both occur. It lays four to six eggs in a ground nest. Its natural food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.

This bird is smaller than Ortolan. The breeding male has a grey head with orange moustaches. The upperparts are brown and heavily streaked, except on the rump, and the underparts are rusty orange. The stout bill is pink.

Females and young birds have a weaker head pattern, and are more similar to Ortolans. They can be distinguished by the warm brown rump and white eye-ring.