thumb|Emberiza citrinella
The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) is a passerine bird in the bunting family that is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the breeding range year-round, but the eastern subspecies is partially migratory, with much of the population wintering further south. The male yellowhammer has a bright yellow head, streaked brown back, chestnut rump, and yellow under parts. Other plumages are duller versions of the same pattern. The yellowhammer is common in open areas with some shrubs or trees, and forms small flocks in winter. Its song has a rhythm like "A little bit of bread and no cheese". The song is very similar to that of its closest relative, the pine bunting, with which it interbreeds.
Breeding commences mainly in April and May, with the female building a lined cup nest in a concealed location on or near the ground. The three to five eggs are patterned with a mesh of fine dark lines, giving rise to the old name for the bird of "scribble lark" or "writing lark". The female incubates the eggs for 12–14 days prior to hatching, and broods the altricial downy chicks until they fledge 11–13 days later. Both adults feed the chicks in the nest and raise two or three broods each year. The nest may be raided by rodents or corvids, and the adults are hunted by birds of prey. Yellowhammers feed on the ground, usually in flocks outside the breeding season. Their diet is mainly seeds, supplemented by invertebrates in the breeding season. Changes to agricultural practices have led to population declines in western Europe, but its large numbers and huge range mean that the yellowhammer is classed as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
This conspicuous yellow bird has inspired poems by Robert Burns and John Clare, and its characteristic song has influenced musical works by Beethoven and Messiaen. Children's writer Enid Blyton helped to popularise the standard English representation of the song.
thumb|[[Yellowhammer]]
Taxonomy
The yellowhammer was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name. Emberiza is derived from the Old German , a bunting, and citrinella is the Italian for a small yellow bird. The English name is thought to have come from Ammer, another German word for a bunting, and was first recorded in 1553 as yelambre.
The bird family Emberizidae contains a single genus Emberiza, with around 40 members, that are confined to the Old World. Within its genus, the yellowhammer is most closely related to the pine bunting, with which it forms a superspecies; they have at times been considered as one species. The white-capped and cirl buntings are also near relatives of the species pair. Where their ranges meet, the yellowhammer and pine bunting interbreed; the yellowhammer is dominant, and the hybrid zone is moving further east. Distinguishing females of the three subspecies using plumage features is not usually possible.
Females and juveniles, especially of the pale eastern subspecies, E. c. erythrogenys, may be confused with pine buntings, but they always have a yellow tint to their plumage, a paler rufous rump, and more uniform upperparts than that species. Young and female yellowhammers can be distinguished from cirl buntings by the grey-brown rump of the latter species.
Voice
The song of the cock yellowhammer is a series of short notes, gradually increasing in volume and followed by one or two more protracted notes. It is often represented as "A little bit of bread and no cheese", and the full version can be confused with the almost identical song of the pine bunting. If the final notes are omitted, confusion with the cirl bunting is possible. Other vocalisations include a zit contact call, a see alarm, and a trilled tirrr given in flight. with minor differences to the conclusion of the basic song; all are mutually recognised by birds from different areas. females tend to mate with males that share their dialect, and prefer those with the largest repertoires.
The pine bunting and yellowhammer are so closely related that each responds to the other's song. The male yellowhammer's song is more attractive to females, and is one reason for the dominance of that species where the ranges overlap. although it is absent from high mountains, Arctic regions, the western Netherlands, most of Iberia and Greece, and low-lying regions of other countries adjoining the Mediterranean Sea. It breeds in Russia east to Irkutsk, and in most of Ukraine. The Asian range extends into northwest Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Kazakhstan.), the Balearic Islands, Iceland, and the Faroes. and soon spread over the main islands. They sometimes visit New Zealand's subantarctic islands, although rarely staying to breed, and have reached Australia's Lord Howe Island on a number of occasions. At the beginning of the 20th century, this bunting was seen as a serious agricultural pest in its adopted country.
Populations of yellowhammer have also been introduced to the Falkland Islands and South Africa.
The yellowhammer is a bird of dry, open country, preferably with a range of vegetation types and some trees from which to sing. It is absent from urban areas, forests, and wetlands. Probably originally found at forest edges and large clearing, it has benefited from traditional agriculture, which created extensive open areas with hedges and clumps of trees. The female incubates the eggs for 12–14 days to hatching, and broods the altricial, downy chicks until they fledge 11–13 days later. Both adults feed the chicks in the nest and two or three broods are raised each year.
Feeding
Foraging is mainly on the ground, and the bird's diet consists mainly of seeds. Oily seeds, such as those of brassicas, are ignored in favour of more starchy items. Typical food plants include common nettle, docks, common knotgrass, fat hen, common chickweed, and yarrow. Grasses are also important, particularly cereals, and grain makes up a significant part of the food consumed in autumn and winter, wheat and oats being preferred to barley. When not breeding, yellowhammers forage in flocks that can occasionally number hundreds of birds, and often contain other buntings and finches.
Predators and parasites
thumb|upright|The [[Eurasian sparrowhawk is a predator of the yellowhammer.]]
Predators of the yellowhammer include the sparrowhawk, Eurasian goshawk, lesser spotted eagle, and Eurasian hobby. It is not a significant host of the common cuckoo, a brood parasite, although as a ground-nesting bird, its eggs and chicks are vulnerable to predation from small mammals such as mice and other rodents. Nests are also raided by crows, Eurasian jays, and Eurasian magpies. Predation accounted for more than 60% of nest failures in a 2012 survey in Germany.
Thirteen species of fleas in the genera Ceratophyllus and Dasypsyllus have been found on this bunting, and internal parasites include Ascaridia galli. The yellowhammer may carry haematozoan blood parasites such as Haemoproteus coatneyi. Males with high parasite levels produced fewer offspring (there is no such effect for females), and tend to be less brightly coloured. The striking plumage of the male may therefore have arisen as a signal of fitness to breed. Yellowhammers infected with Haemoproteus may have lower winter survival rates due to a tendency to having shorter wings.
Status and conservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates the European population of the yellowhammer to be from 54–93 million individuals, suggesting a Eurasian total of 73–186 million birds. Although the population appears to be in a decline, the decrease is not rapid enough to trigger their vulnerability criteria. The large numbers and huge breeding range of about 12.9 million km<sup>2</sup> (5 million sq mi), mean that this bunting is classified by the IUCN as being of least concern. In 2016 the species went extinct on the Isle of Man. In eastern Europe, numbers appear to be stable, although the trend in Russia is unknown. Changes to agricultural practices are thought to be responsible for reduced breeding densities.
In culture
thumb|upright|[[John Clare wrote two poems about the yellowhammer.]]
The yellowhammer is a conspicuous, vocal, and formerly common country bird, and has attracted human interest. Yellowham Wood and Yellowham Hill, near Dorchester England, both derive their names from the bird. Robbie Burns' poem "The Yellow, Yellow Yorlin'" gets its title from a Scottish name for the yellowhammer, which is given an obvious sexual connotation: "I met a pretty maid, an' unto her I said,/ 'I wad fain fin' your yellow, yellow yorlin'.' " More factual descriptions of the bird and its behaviour can be found in John Clare's "The Yellowhammer's Nest" and "The Yellowhammer", whose final lines read:
<blockquote><poem>
In early spring, when winds blow chilly cold,
The yellowhammer, trailing grass, will come
To fix a place and choose an early home,
With yellow breast and head of solid gold.
</poem></blockquote>
Enid Blyton helped to popularize the bird's song as "little bit of bread and no cheese" in books such as The Ship of Adventure and Five Go Off in a Caravan, and wrote a poem called "The Yellow-hammer".
Beethoven's student, Carl Czerny, and biographer Anton Schindler, both suggested that the composer got the idea for the first four notes of his 5th symphony from the yellowhammer's call, although more likely the opening of the 4th Piano Concerto was actually the work in question. Beethoven also used the yellowhammer theme in two piano sonatas, no. 21 in C major (the "Waldstein", Op.53) and No. 23 in F minor (the "Appassionata", Op.57). Catalogue d'oiseaux, La fauvette des jardins and Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, appearing in four movements of the last piece.
References
Cited texts
External links
- Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
- Feather images at Ornithos
- Images and videos at Arkive
- Song at Xeno-canto
- "The Yellow, Yellow Yorlin'" by Robert Burns
- "The Yellowhammer" by John Clare
- "The Yellowhammer's Nest" by John Clare