Yellow-breasted Bunting

Overview

Yellow-breasted Bunting: Medium bunting, rufous upperparts, black head. Yellow underparts with dark streaks on sides and flanks, bold chestnut-brown breast band. Black wings with large white shoulder patches, wing-bars. Swift flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

Range and Habitat

Yellow-breasted Bunting: Eurasian native; range includes Finland, Belarus, and Ukraine in the west, through Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia, to far eastern Russia, Korea and northern Japan; in spring may visit western Aleutian Islands. Breeds in wet meadows with tall vegetation and scattered scrub, riverside, and scrub; winters in cultivated areas, rice fields, reed beds, and grasslands.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Yellow-breasted Bunting was first described in 1773 by Peter Simon Pallas, a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia.
It was formerly classified as a Near Threatened species by the IUCN. But new research has shown it to be rarer than it was believed. Consequently, it is uplisted to Vulnerable status in 2008.
A group of buntings are collectively known as a "decoration", "mural", and "sacrifice" of buntings.

The Yellow-breasted Bunting is considered a Vulnerable species. This is due to a rapid decline in populations. The bird’s native habitats include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet Nam and vagrant populations in Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Though it does have a varied habitat including shrublands, grasslands, wetlands and arable lands the species faces challenges from rampant trapping and poaching.