Black-headed Bunting

Unidentified species as the male is a bright yellow on the lower part of his body, with a black head and back in warm brown.  The female has a completely pale yellow underparts and a brown head while the back is greyish. One of the larger species of the Ortolan family. It is also characterized by a relatively long, entirely grey, beak and by the absence of white feathers at the tail tips. We will usually see the male as it chirps from high places (tree and shrub tops, fences, rocks, cables, etc.). The chicks are the colors of the female.

It occurs as a summer visitor in parts of the southern Italian and Balkan peninsulas, Asia Minor, Iran, Georgia and the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Israel). The entire population winters in the northwestern Indian peninsula.

It can be found in open areas with scattered trees, tall shrubs and hedgerows, so in the open olive groves of the island, in areas with crops and natural bush vegetation (maquis and also topsoil as long as there are some scattered trees in the latter). It avoids wet and also completely wooded areas.

• It feeds, especially during reproduction, on invertebrates (crickets, scissors, cicadas, larvae of moths, myrmidons, beetles) that it finds on the ground but also in bushes and low parts of trees. Also with seeds and plant material.
•  It is one of the last species to arrive in Lesvos every spring, in late April.
• When it finally arrives the countryside is filled with its characteristic and loud chirping and it is common for males from neighbouring territories to fight fierce battles trying to intercept each other.
• Often when feeding its young and having to provide them with a constant supply of food it will be seen on the roadsides, on the ground, processing large insects before carrying them to the nest.
• The female immediately on their arrival in late spring is engaged in fostering and spinning the eggs and is, for this reason, difficult to observe.
• They nest only once a year.
• They seem to move/depart as soon as the chicks successfully leave the nest, since it is already summer by then.