Yellowhammer

The yellowhammer is a bird of the bunting family native to Eurasia and introduced to New Zealand and Australia. The male has a bright yellow head, a streaked brown back, a chestnut rump and yellow underparts, with other plumages duller versions of the same pattern. Most European birds remain in the breeding range year-round, but the eastern subspecies is partially migratory, with much of the population wintering further south, and it has occurred as a vagrant in places including the Himalaya, as a winter vagrant from northern Afghanistan to central Nepal (Wikipedia, general species account).

The song has a rhythm like a little bit of bread and no cheese, and is very similar to that of its closest relative, the pine bunting, with which it interbreeds. Breeding begins mainly in April and May, the female building a lined cup nest in a concealed location on or near the ground; the three to five eggs, patterned with a mesh of fine dark lines that gave the old name scribble lark, are incubated for 12–14 days, and both adults feed the chicks, raising two or three broods a year (Wikipedia, general species account).