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For the American woodpecker
Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks....
 or Alabama
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
 state troops, see Yellowhammer (disambiguation)
Yellowhammer (disambiguation)

Yellowhammer can refer to:*Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, an Old World passerine bird in the bunting family*Flicker , an alternative name for the North American Yellow-shafted Flicker, a woodpecker...


The Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, is a passerine
Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
 bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 in the bunting
Bunting (bird)

Buntings are a group of eurasian and african passerine birds of the Family Emberizidae.They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills, and are the Old World equivalents of the species known in North America as American sparrow....
 family Emberizidae, which breeds across Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and much of Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The Yellowhammer was introduced to New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
 in 1862 and is now common and widespread there. It is probably more abundant in New Zealand now than in Europe where it is in serious decline, (in the UK the species fell by 54% between 1970 and 2003).






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Encyclopedia


For the American woodpecker
Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks....
 or Alabama
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
 state troops, see Yellowhammer (disambiguation)
Yellowhammer (disambiguation)

Yellowhammer can refer to:*Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, an Old World passerine bird in the bunting family*Flicker , an alternative name for the North American Yellow-shafted Flicker, a woodpecker...


The Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, is a passerine
Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
 bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 in the bunting
Bunting (bird)

Buntings are a group of eurasian and african passerine birds of the Family Emberizidae.They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills, and are the Old World equivalents of the species known in North America as American sparrow....
 family Emberizidae, which breeds across Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and much of Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The Yellowhammer was introduced to New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
 in 1862 and is now common and widespread there. It is probably more abundant in New Zealand now than in Europe where it is in serious decline, (in the UK the species fell by 54% between 1970 and 2003). In Europe and Asia most birds are resident, but some far northern birds migrate
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
 south in winter. It is common in all sorts of open areas with some scrub or trees and form small flocks in winter.

The Yellowhammer is a robust 15.5-17 cm long bird, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a bright yellow head, yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much duller, and more streaked below. The familiar, if somewhat monotonous, song of the cock is often described as A little bit of bread and no cheese.

It has been claimed by Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of etudes for the piano.Biography...
 that the Yellowhammer's song was the inspiration for the "fate" motif of the Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, opus number 67 was written in 1804?08. This symphony is one of the most popular and well-known musical composition in all of European classical music, and one of the most often-played symphonies....
 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical music era and Romantic music eras in classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time....
.

Its natural diet consists of insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s when feeding young, and otherwise seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s. The nest is on the ground. 3-6 egg
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
s are laid, which show the hair-like markings characteristic of those of buntings.

Habitat


It is most commonly found on lowland arable and mixed farmland, probably due to the greater availability of seeds. It nests in hedges, patches of scrub, and ditches, especially if these have a wide grass margin next to them, and a cereal crop next to the margin. Hedges of up to two meters tall are preferred, and they will not nest until it is in full leaf, building the nest next to the hedge if it is built before this. In winter, the flocks feed at good seed sites, such as newly-sown fields and over-wintered stubbles.

Diet


Seeds of:

  • Cereal, grasses (eg Meadow Grass
    POA

    POA may refer to:* Price On Application or Price On Asking. When seller wants confidentiality.* Public Order Act 1936 , UK law concerning public disorder and violence....
    , Fescue
    Fescue

    Fescue is a genus of about 300 species of perennial plant tufted grasses, belonging to the grass family Poaceae . The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, although the majority of the species are found in cool temperate areas, such as the transition zone and Canada....
    , Ryegrass
    Ryegrass

    Ryegrass is a genus of nine species of tufted grasses, family Poaceae. Also called tares , these plants are native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but are widely cultivated and naturalised elsewhere....
    ), Common Nettle, dock
    Rumex

    The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex Carolus Linnaeus, are a genus of about 200 species of Annual plant, Biennial plant and perennial plant herbs in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae....
    , knotgrass Polygonum aviculare
    Polygonum aviculare

    Polygonum aviculare or Common Knotgrass is a plant related to buckwheat and dock . It is also called birdweed, pigweed and lowgrass....
    , Fat Hen Chenopodium album
    Chenopodium album

    Chenopodium album is a fast-growing weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium. The standard British name is Fat-hen;, though this is used for other plants also; the unambiguous name is White Goosefoot, and it is also known as lamb's quarters, nickel greens, pigweed or dungweed, or more ambiguously as just goosefoot....
    , Common Chickweed Stellaria media, Mouse-ear Cerastium
    Cerastium

    Cerastium is a genus of annual, winter annual, or perennial plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. The around 100 species are commonly called Mouse-ear chickweed; different species are found nearly worldwide but the greatest concentration is mainly from the northern temperate areas of the world....
    , Bramble
    Bramble

    Bramble refers to thorny plants of the genus Rubus, in the Rose family . Brambles include blackberry, loganberry, and other closely related plants....
    , Vetches, Clover
    Clover

    Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics....
    , Forget-me-not
    Forget-me-not

    Myosotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called Forget-me-nots. Its common name was calqued from the French, "ne m'oubliez pas" and first used in English in c.1532....
    , Dandelion, Knapweed, Sow-thistle Cicerbita
    Cicerbita

    Cicerbita is a genus of plants in the Asteraceae family....
    , Yarrow
    Yarrow

    Achillea millefolium or Yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere....
    , Plantains Plantago
    Plantago

    Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of small, inconspicuous plants commonly called plantains. They share this name with the very dissimilar plantain, a kind of banana....


Invertebrates - mainly, but not exclusively - taken through the breeding season:

  • Springtails, mayflies, grasshopper
    Grasshopper

    Grasshoppers are insects of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from Tettigoniidae, they are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers....
    , cockroach
    Cockroach

    Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria. This name derives from the Latin word for "cockroach", blatta.There are about 4,000 species of cockroach, of which 30 species are associated with human habitations and about four species are well known as pest s....
    , earwigs, bugs Hemiptera
    Hemiptera

    Hemiptera is an order of insects, comprising around 80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 mm to around 15 cm, and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts ....
    ,lacewings, caddis flies, sawflies, spiders, woodlice, , caterpillar
    Caterpillar

    Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous....
    s, flies
    Fly

    True flies are insects of the Order Diptera , possessing a single pair of insect wing on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
    , beetle
    Beetle

    Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
    s, earthworm
    Earthworm

    Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. The earthworm is the most known worm in America, and other countries....
    s, snail
    Snail

    The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
    s


They are more able to feed on the slower-moving invertebrates.

External links

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