Emberiza hortulana
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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.
The ortolan bunting was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and retains its original binomial name of Emberiza hortulana. The species is monotypic. A molecular phylogenetic study of the buntings published in 2008 found that the ortolan bunting is most closely related to Cretzschmar... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Ortolan Bunting sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Ortolan Bunting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to April, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ortolan Bunting sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Ortolan Bunting sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%), Mercantour National Park (France, about 10%) and Ecrins National Park (France, about 10%).
Same genus: Emberiza
The closest relatives of the Ortolan Bunting that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (genus Emberiza, Old World Buntings) are Rock Bunting (about 30%), Corn Bunting (about 20%) and Cirl Bunting (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ortolan Bunting is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
