The Ortolan Bunting is a bunting whose breeding male has a grayish-olive head and yellow throat. It feeds on seeds on the ground, but mainly on invertebrates during breeding.
A breeding male has a grayish-olive head and breast, with a yellow throat and moustachial stripe. Females are duller and may have slight breast streaking; juveniles lack yellow.
In Italy’s Marche Region, researchers studied Ortolan Bunting distribution during the 2009–2010 breeding seasons. Across 2,100 point-count locations, they recorded the species at 242 points (11.5%), finding it moderately widespread within the region. Earlier studies had reported an increase in breeding pairs in central-eastern Italy.
Occurrence records were positively associated with farmland and shrubs and negatively associated with urban structures such as roads and buildings. Farmland covers 52% of Marche’s area, and researchers analyzed land cover within 100 metres of each survey point. Records were concentrated in two broad parts of the region, and the species was more frequent at lower elevations and on gentler slopes.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the Marche survey, Ortolan Bunting records were associated with farmland and shrubs, while roads and buildings showed a negative association. The study connects local farmland conservation with these habitat features.