Pine Bunting calls

The calls are very similar in both Pine Bunting Emberiza leucocephalos and Yellowhammer E citrinella, and any possible differences are still poorly known.

1 Most typical contact call, short and dry, usually given when birds are perched or on the ground, described as tchi'. Slightly higher pitched than similar call of Yellowhammer.
Examples: recordings 2, 3, 5,10

2 Contact call, shorter, drier and lower pitched than call note 1, given both in flight and by perched birds, matching call 2a in Cramp & Perrins (1994), described as tch'. No examples recorded.

3 Contact or alarm call, short and slightly raspy, given when perched, matching call 2b in Cramp & Perrins (1994), described as dzjèu. Very slightly higher pitched than similar call of Yellowhammer, and not always separable in the field.
Example: recording 7

4 Contact or alarm call, similar to preceding call but sweeter, slightly nasal, somewhat finch-like and almost certainly given under stress, as it is exclusively given by lone individuals and almost always in flight (but sometimes also when perched), described as dsjìu. Examples can be found on Mild 1987 and Veprintsev 1982-86.

5 Short and dry call, usually given on the ground, rarely in flight; very similar to Corn Bunting E calandra calls, described as pt-pt-l. No examples recorded.

6 Contact call given by flocks, given when perched, when taking flight, or in flight, described as tch-rr; tch-r-l-r.
Examples: recordings 1, 8 (latter also includes Cirl Bunting E cirlus)

7 Alarm call, given when perched just before taking flight, or when flushing out of fear (and often repeated in short series); the most characteristic call given by birds flushed by humans, described as tcì-rrrrrrrr-l (e.g. examples 2, 9) or ptì-rlrlrlrlrlrlrl (e.g. example 6). Usually a little longer and slightly higher pitched than similar call of Yellowhammer.
Examples, recordings 2, 4, 6, 9.

All recordings © Daniele Occhiato, Macchia Lucchese, Toscana, Italy on 7 January 2001.

Mild, K 1987. Soviet bird songs. Two cassettes and booklet. Stokholm.
Veprintsev, B N 1982-86. Birds of the Soviet Union: a sound guide. 7 LP records. Melodia. Moscow.

Sonagrams
Sonagram 1
Sonagram 2
Sonagram 3
Sonagram 4
Sonagram 5
Sonagram 6
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Sonagram 9
Sonagram 10