Ortolan bunting
Emberiza hortulana Linnaeus, 1758
The ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) is a bird in the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup, belonging to the family Emberizidae in the order Passeriformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 19.9 g, up to 24.55 g, and a wingspan of 26 cm.
Quick facts about the ortolan bunting
The ortolan bunting is a migratory omnivore of shrubland with a generalist foraging lifestyle, and its geographic range covers 9,881,000 km². It lays 4.5 eggs per clutch with one clutch per year, the eggs are incubated for 11.5 days, and the species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
- Weight
- 19.9 g – 24.6 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 26 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 5.83 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 6.83 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 11.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the ortolan bunting?
Photos of the ortolan bunting
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the ortolan bunting live?
Not recorded
What is the ortolan bunting?
The ortolan (Emberiza hortulana), also called ortolan bunting, is a Eurasian bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a passerine family now separated by most modern scholars from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name Emberiza is from Alemannic German Embritz, a bunting. The specific name hortulana is from the Italian name for this bird, ortolana. The English ortolan is derived from Middle French hortolan, "gardener".
The ortolan is served in French cuisine, typically cooked and eaten whole. Traditionally, diners cover their heads with their napkins or a towel while eating the delicacy. The ortolan was so widely eaten that its French populations had dropped dangerously low by the 1990s. French laws protecting the bird, and an EU-wide prohibition against killing or capturing it, have had little effect on the ortolan's numbers.
From the Wikipedia article “Ortolan bunting” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ortolan_bunting&oldid=1384182358), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the ortolan bunting sound like?
Is the ortolan bunting endangered?
The ortolan bunting is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the ortolan bunting classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyEmberizidae
- genusEmberiza
- SpeciesEmberiza hortulana Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Emberiza antiquorum, Emberiza hortulana elisabethae, Emberiza hortulana hortulana, Emberiza tunstalli, Fringilla janjohari, Glycispina hortulana
Other names and names in other languages (70)
- OrtolanstreepkoppieAfrikaans
- درسة الشعيرArabic
- Cistra hortolanaAragonese
- escribana castellanaAsturian
- Һарытамаҡ турғайBashkir
- Аўсянка садоваяBelarusian
- Садовая стрынаткаBelarusian
- Градинска овесаркаBulgarian
- Brean ortolanBreton
- HortoláCatalan
- HortolàCatalan
- hortolà comúCatalan
- Сад шӗпшӗлӗChuvash
- strnad zahradníCzech
- bras gerddiWelsh
- Bras y GerddiWelsh
- Breision y GerddiWelsh
- HortulanDanish
- OrtolanGerman
- GartenammerGerman
- ΒλαχοτσίχλονοGreek
- HortulanoEsperanto
- hortulana emberizoEsperanto
- Escribano hortelanoSpanish
- põldtsiitsitajaEstonian
- Berdantza miarritzBasque
- زردپره سرزیتونیPersian
- peltosirkkuFinnish
- Øsgulur ri?ispurvurFaroese
- øsgulur riðispurvurFaroese
- Bruant ortolanFrench
- NôtfinkWestern Frisian
- Gealóg gharraíIrish
- Escribenta horteláGalician
- Pompee ortolanManx
- גבתון גניםHebrew
- גיבתון גניםHebrew
- vrtna strnadicaCroatian
- kerti sármányHungarian
- Այգու դրախտապանArmenian
- Դրախտապան այգուArmenian
- DultittlingurIcelandic
- OrtolanoItalian
- ズアオホオジロJapanese
- Бақ сұлыкешіKazakh
- 노랑수염멧새Korean
- 회색머리멧새Korean
- sodinė startaLithuanian
- dārza stērsteLatvian
- градинарска стрнаркаMacedonian
- Алаг хөмрөгMongolian
- OrtolaanDutch
- Emberiza hortulanaPiedmontese
- sombriaPortuguese
- sombria-bravaPortuguese
- Presură de grădinăRomanian
- Садовая овсянкаRussian
- ОртоланRusyn
- BealdocihciNorthern Sami
- bealdocizášNorthern Sami
- strnádka záhradnáSlovak
- vrtni strnadSlovenian
- Vinogradska strnadicaSerbian
- Виноградска стрнадицаSerbian
- ortolansparvSwedish
- KirazkuşuTurkish
- Bayağı kiraz kuşuTurkish
- вівсянка садоваUkrainian
- 圃鵐Chinese
- 圃鹀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the ortolan bunting
Other species in the same genus Emberiza.
Yellowhammer
Emberiza citrinella
Common reed bunting
Emberiza schoeniclus
Corn bunting
Emberiza calandra
Black-headed bunting
Emberiza melanocephala
Yellow-breasted bunting
Emberiza aureola
Rock bunting
Emberiza cia
CompareOrtolan bunting vs YellowhammerOrtolan bunting vs Common reed buntingOrtolan bunting vs Corn buntingOrtolan bunting vs Black-headed bunting
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the ortolan bunting?
The ortolan bunting is a bird in the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup. It belongs to the family Emberizidae.
How big is the ortolan bunting?
It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 19.9 g, up to 24.55 g. Its wingspan is 26 cm.
What does the ortolan bunting eat?
The ortolan bunting is an omnivore with a generalist foraging lifestyle.
Where does the ortolan bunting live?
It lives in shrubland and is migratory. Its geographic range covers 9,881,000 km².
Is the ortolan bunting endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the global IUCN Red List assessment, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the ortolan bunting live?
Its lifespan is 5.8 years, with values up to 6.8 years reported.
How many eggs does the ortolan bunting lay?
It lays 4.5 eggs per clutch and has one clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 11.5 days.
Who named the ortolan bunting?
The ortolan bunting, Emberiza hortulana, was named by Linnaeus, 1758.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ortolan-bunting
“Ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ortolan-bunting.
@misc{ortolan_bunting_2026,
title = {Ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ortolan-bunting},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}