Male Ortolans sing from bushes or trees on warm open slopes or in areas of upland pasture with hedges,walls, and copses.
Their persistence makes up for a lack of real musical quality.
Ortolan Buntings are also scarce but regular migrants in many coastal areas.
They are usually quite shy and quick to fly off but tend to feed in open, grassy places where they can be watched from a distance.They are slim, pale buntings with sharp pink bills and obvious pale eye-rings.
VOICE Call thick, metallic, dl-ip and chu; song fluty, simple, ringing phrase, often repeated several times then changed to higher pitch, sia sia sia si sia sru sru sru sru.
NESTING Simple, hair-lined nest of grass and straw, on or near ground; 4–6 eggs; 2 or 3 broods;April–July.
FEEDING Eats insects in summer, and seeds from ground at other times, often from short grass clearings in dunes or fields.
