Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) | Details

Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Emberiza calandra (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously placed in the genus Miliaria following AERC TAC (2003); Cramp et al. (1977-1994); Dowsett & Forbes-Watson (1993); Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	23,700,000 km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	27,600,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	180000000-319999999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.4 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 18,300,000-31,300,000 pairs, which equates to 36,700,000-62,600,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms c.20% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 183,500,000-313,000,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification: The population is declining markedly in north-west mainland Europe and less dramatically in central Europe owing to changing agricultural practices and climate change (Byers et al. 1995). In Europe, trends between 1980 and 2013 show that populations have undergone a moderate decline (p<0.05) (EBCC 2015). There is no indication of a decline in the central Asian population however information is sparse (Madge and de Juana 2017).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Andorra	extant	native		yes
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native			yes
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes			yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant			yes
Finland	extant	vagrant			yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes
India	extant	vagrant			yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Libya	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Malta	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	vagrant			yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	vagrant			yes
Oman	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native	yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native			yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native		yes	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	vagrant			yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
San Marino	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tunisia	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Bulgaria	Batova
Bulgaria	Emine
Bulgaria	Harsovska Reka
Bulgaria	Kresna Gorge
Bulgaria	Sakar
Greece	Thessaly plain

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/corn-bunting-emberiza-calandra on 09/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 09/01/2025.