Habitat
Breeds on dry rocky slopes and uplands with shrubby vegetation and sometimes conifers. Winters in dry open country with short grass, semi-desert, low rocky hills, bare cultivated land and dry scrub, often in coastal areas, lowland agricultural land and semi-deserts. From sea-level - 2,200 m.
Cinereous Bunting (Emberiza cineracea) [XC350496]
by Niels Poul Dreyer from Nemrut Dagi, Turkey (alarm call)
Cinereous Bunting (Emberiza cineracea) [XC176939]
by Stephan Risch from Ipsilou Monastery, Greece (song)
Subspecies
Forms a species group with Grey-necked Bunting (Emberiza buchanani), Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana) and Cretzschmar's Bunting (Emberiza caesia). Observations of apparent intermediate individuals on passage indicates that subspecies intergrade in some unknown part of range.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
cineracea Brehm, 1855 - Breeds south-western Turkey and adjacent eastern Greek islands of Skyros, Lesbos and Chios. Winters in Sudan, Eritrea and southern Saudi Arabia.