The Tibetan Bunting is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Emberizidae

Emberizidae

The Emberizidae are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with a distinctively shaped bill.In Europe, most species are called buntings. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the sparrows, the...

 family.

Range and population

Emberiza koslowi is restricted to the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, in eastern Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

 and southern Qinghai

Qinghai

Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, where several large valleys cut into the plateau, including those of the Tongtian River

Tongtian River

The Tongtian River is a section of the Yangtze River within China's Qinghai Province. . It is one of the...

 (the upper reaches of the Chang Jiang or Yangtze), the Lancang Jiang (the upper Mekong

Mekong

The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....

) and the Nu Jiang (the upper Salween). It is known by just a few scattered records in this inaccessible and poorly known area, but it appears to be genuinely rather scarce and localised.

Ecology

It inhabits barren areas, juniper and rhododendron scrub on valley slopes above the treeline at c.3,600-4,600 m. It rather unusually builds a domed nest and appears to breed late, with young hatching in mid-July.

Conservation measures proposed

Survey for the species in and around its restricted known range. Research its habitat requirements and assess the potential threats.