Corn bunting and ortolan bunting in the agricultural area

Changes in farming practices have led to corn bunting and ortolan bunting disappearing from the agricultural area.

Trends in the corn bunting

In 1975 there were approximately 1200 breeding pairs of the corn bunting; by 1990 there were between 100 and 200 pairs and in 2002 only 30 to 40 pairs. This decline is attributable to the upscaling of agriculture and to cereals being replaced by maize.

Corn buntings are now found only in the washlands of the large rivers. The peaks in breeding bird numbers in 1994 and 1997 shown in the figure are attributable to the high water levels of the rivers in the preceding year, which the following year resulted in ruderal vegetation that was a good source of food for the corn bunting.

Trends in the ortolan bunting

Around 1950 there were 1200-1700 breeding pairs of the ortolan bunting in the areas on the higher-lying sandy soils in eastern and southern Netherlands. By 1990 there were 32 territories. Since then the species has declined to 2 territories near Winterswijk (the birds were single males). The ortolan bunting is now officially extinct in the Netherlands.

The ortolan bunting occurs in an agricultural landscape with small fields and wooded banks (what the Dutch call a "small-scale landscape"), where it nests in fields - preferably of rye. The disappearance of this crop has greatly accelerated the ortolan bunting's disappearance from the Netherlands. It does not nest in maize fields.

Both the corn bunting and ortolan bunting are on the Red List of birds.