Yellowhammer Identification
What I look like
The Yellowhammer has a lemon-yellow head.
The upper body is brown striped.
The underside is yellow striped with brown.
It has a cinnamon-colored rump, very visible in flight.
The female and juveniles are much less yellow and more spotted.
My songs, my calls
The Yellowhammer has a typical "tsic" slightly metallic call.
Its song is somewhat metallic and melancholic.
It consists of a series of identical short notes ending with a drawn-out note. "tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsih dih douh".
According to legend, Beethoven was inspired by it for his 5th Symphony.
You can hear its song from February.
How I behave
The Yellowhammer moves in small groups in winter.
It searches for its food on the ground.
You can often notice Yellowhammers in harvested fields searching for seeds.
It may be with finches and sparrows.
In the garden, you can spot it singing from a high perch...
or pecking under the feeder for fallen seeds.
How I reproduce
The breeding season of the Yellowhammer extends from April to September.
It produces 2 broods per year of 3 to 5 grayish-white eggs, speckled with brown.
It nests on the ground or near the ground in bushes.
Its nest is a cup of grass and twigs.
What I eat
The Yellowhammer primarily eats seeds.
The young are fed with insects and larvae.
Where to find me
The Yellowhammer lives in agricultural areas with hedges and bushes, in fields, orchards, and at the forest edges.
You can also find it in gardens.
It is a resident species or a short-distance migrant.