Factors affecting corn bunting Miliaria calandra abundance in a Portuguese agricultural landscape.

Abstract

Breeding and wintering abundance of corn buntings in an agricultural landscape of Alentejo (southern Portugal) was assessed in relation to agricultural intensification and other environmental variables during 1994-1997, using distance sampling and multivariate regression. Bird abundance was lowest in intensively managed farmland in both seasons, and was related positively to fallow area in winter and to the presence of game management and oats in spring. Fallows and oats were associated with extensively managed farmland, but the implementation of a managed hunting regime was unrelated to agricultural intensification. The importance of extensive arable systems to corn bunting conservation is discussed.