CORN BUNTING
This large bunting, up to 190mm long, is a singer and is heard often here. Both sexes have similar plumage, but the male is 20% bigger than the female. They are dark streaked grey, brown above and buffy white below with dark streaks on the throat, breast and sides. The legs and bill are yellowish pink. They have a heavily undulating flight. Corn buntings like to be seen when singing and so choose high perches from which to warble.
Corn buntings are residents here and prefer open farmland and weedy wastelands. They feed on insects, especially grasshoppers and crickets and seeds. A male can have up to 3 females during the breeding season but only get involved when the chicks are half grown. The female makes the nest, incubates the eggs and feeds the chicks when hatched. The nest is made on the ground using hair and fine grass. The average clutch size is 4 eggs. They can be seen individually or in flocks, and I have seen lots of them in the farmland at Livadi Marsh.
