| .שאר-רוחש ןותבג (500 | ||||||||||
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וילגרו והצקב דדוחמה לודג רוקמ לעב ,םילודגה םינותביגה דחא :שאר-רוחש ןותבג | ||||||||||
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Subspecies and Distribution.
Emberiza melanocephala C and E South Europe. Eto Caspian Sea and Iran. Winters W and C South Asia, N India and NE Africa. | ||||||||||
Descriptive notes.16-18 cm, 28-33 g, wingspan 26-30 cm. One of the largest bunting of west Palearctic, with rather long, tapering bill, rather long body, and noticeably long legs combining into characteristically heave but sleek from shared only by Red-headed Bunting. Combination of uniformly pale, unstreaked underparts and lack of white outer tail-feathers excludes all other buntings except Red-headed Bunting.Male distinctive, with black head, chestnut back, and yellow underparts. Female and immature lack obvious characters and may not be separable from Red-headed Bunting. Sexes dissimilar, some seasonal variation in male. HabitatBreeds in south-west Palearctic in warm temperate, Mediterranean, and steppe zones. Generally in lowlands, avoiding both drier and wetter extremes. Favours fairly dense and tall bushy and scrub vegetation, including open maquis, wooded steppes, orchards, olive groves, and vineyards, and groves or thickets along streamsides, roadsides or field borders.Also found in open forest with undergrowth, in open lowland grassland with scrub, especially thorn scrub, and on mountain slopes. Food and FeedingDiet seeds and other plant material, invertebrates in breeding season. In summer quarters, forages principally in cultivated areas: cereal or sunflower fields, vineyards, orange groves, etc., feeding both on ground and in shrubs or low in trees.Breeding.May in W Italy, mid May to half of Jun in Croatia, mid may to end of Jun in Greece, May to mid Jun in Turkey.Nest site, low down in dense, often thorny shrub bramble, rose, rockrose, christ's thorn and commonly on vine. Nest, loose, untidy foundation of stalks of herbs, grass, and leaves, lined with fine grasses, stems, rootlets, hair, and sheep's wool. Fairly often with brightly-colored flower-heads on outside. 4-5 eggs, sub-elliptical smooth and slightly glossy. Very pale blue or greenish-blue, rarely buff, rather sparsely speckled purplish-grey to olive-brown, usually concentrated towards broad end. Incubation 13-15 days by both sexes. Movements.Migratory, all birds moving S-E or ESE to winter in western and central India. Leaves breeding grounds early, and returns late. Departure late Jul to Aug.Status and ConservationNot globally threatened. Increasing, with spread along Black Sea coast.Israel.In Israel subspecies Emberiza melanocephala quite common passage migrant, mainly through eastern and central parts. Locally common breeding summer visitor in northern and central parts. |
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