Birds / Buntings

Yellowhammer

Emberiza citrinella

Also known as Yellow bunting

Uncommon All year Farmland Heath

Test yourself

Recording: Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A rapid run of short notes ending in a drawn-out wheeze, sung from a hedgetop or wire.

Remember it

'A little bit of bread and no cheeeese.'

When and where

Listening for the yellowhammer

Heard: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feb to Aug
Time of day: Day
Where: Farmland, Heath
In Britain: All year
Family: Buntings

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Yellowhammer

Emberiza citrinella

JFMAMJJASOND

'A little bit of bread and no cheeeese.'

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

JFMAMJJASOND

A bowler running in and delivering the ball: the notes speed up, then fling out a final 'cheweeoo'.

Lesser Whitethroat

Curruca curruca

JFMAMJJASOND

Mumbles to itself, then rattles like a stick run along railings.

Could you pick out a yellowhammer?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

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Same habitat

Also in farmland

See all

Blackbird

Turdus merula

JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Dunnock

Prunella modularis

JFMAMJJASOND

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.

Goldfinch

Carduelis carduelis

JFMAMJJASOND

Bright, liquid, tinkling twitters with a 'tickelit' call, often from small flocks feeding on seed heads.

Greenfinch

Chloris chloris

JFMAMJJASOND

A long, wheezy 'dzweee' mixed with rippling trills, often delivered in a slow, floppy song flight.