Seasonal changes in habitat use by yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella).

Abstract

In summer, foraging Yellowhammers switched from broad-leaved crops to barley, and then to wheat, as the cereal crops ripened. However, Yellowhammers gathered invertebrates from both cropped and adjacent uncropped habitats, including sparsely vegetated set-aside managed as Wild Bird Cover. Cereal-based Wild Bird Cover was the most used foraging habitat relative to its availability in early winter. We suggest that the management of Wild Bird Cover on set-aside can contribute to the conservation of farmland buntings by increasing availability of invertebrates in summer and seed food in winter.