Ortolan bunting: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Ortolan bunting lives – recorded in 36 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Emberiza hortulana
Group	Songbirds & perching birds
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	36 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe
Mass	2.48 g (birth weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Passeriformes
Family	Emberizidae

Where does the Ortolan bunting live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Ortolan bunting in 36 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Europe. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa, Burkina Faso. In Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is an Ortolan bunting?

Wikidata records the following for the Ortolan bunting: mass 2.48 g (birth weight).

Is the Ortolan bunting endangered?

The Ortolan bunting’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Ortolan bunting?

The Ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) is a bird in the order Passeriformes and the family Emberizidae, genus Emberiza. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About 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 napkin 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.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Ortolan bunting (revision 1381187311), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q206630 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).