Yellowhammer

How to recognise it

• Unstreaked rufous rump and yellow tones in every plumage
• Breeding male has a bright yellow head and throat and a thin dark eye-stripe
• Female is browner, more heavily streaked below and lacks the male's bright yellow head
• Dark tail with white edges that show clearly in flight

Call and song

The song is a series of short notes that gradually get louder and end in one or two longer drawn-out notes, roughly tju, tju, tju, tju, tju, tju, tjuuu. It sings from a raised perch such as a bush top or a post. Other calls include a contact call zit, an alarm call see and a trilling tirrr in flight.

Where and when

It breeds across large parts of Sweden, in places in good numbers, but not in the mountains or the far north. A partial migrant, it leaves northern inland breeding areas in autumn but stays all year along the Norrland coast and from central Sweden southwards. It is reported from all 21 counties, most in December to February. It is Near Threatened on the Swedish Red List 2025.

Food and behaviour

The Yellowhammer feeds mainly on the ground and eats mostly seeds, and in autumn and winter grain makes up a large part of its diet. Outside the breeding season it feeds in flocks, sometimes hundreds of birds, often mixed with other buntings and finches. The female builds a cup-shaped nest on or near the ground, and both parents feed the chicks.