Yellow-breasted Bunting
Encyclopedia
The Yellow-breasted Bunting, Emberiza aureola, is an Eurasia
n passerine
bird
in the bunting
family
(Emberizidae).
This bird is similar in size to a Reed Bunting
, but longer-billed. The breeding male has bright yellow underparts with black flank streaks, brown upperparts, black face and throat bar, and a pink lower mandible.
The female has a heavily streaked grey-brown back, and less intensely yellow underparts. She has a whitish face with dark crown, eye and cheek stripes. The juvenile is similar, but the background colour of the underparts and face is buff.
The call is a distinctive zick, and the song is a clear tru-tru, tri-tri.
It breeds in northeastern Europe
and across northern Asia
. It is migratory
, wintering in southeast Asia, India
, and southern China
. It is a rare but regular wanderer to western Europe.
The Yellow-breasted Bunting breeds in open scrubby areas, often near water, and it is very common in Siberia
. It lays 4-6 eggs in a nest on the ground. Its food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.
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.
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
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 bunting
Bunting (bird)
Buntings are a group of Eurasian and African passerine birds of the family Emberizidae.They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills, and are the Old World equivalents of the species known in North America as sparrows...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Emberizidae).
This bird is similar in size to a Reed Bunting
Reed Bunting
The Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae....
, but longer-billed. The breeding male has bright yellow underparts with black flank streaks, brown upperparts, black face and throat bar, and a pink lower mandible.
The female has a heavily streaked grey-brown back, and less intensely yellow underparts. She has a whitish face with dark crown, eye and cheek stripes. The juvenile is similar, but the background colour of the underparts and face is buff.
The call is a distinctive zick, and the song is a clear tru-tru, tri-tri.
It breeds in northeastern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and across northern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It is migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, wintering in southeast Asia, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and southern 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...
. It is a rare but regular wanderer to western Europe.
The Yellow-breasted Bunting breeds in open scrubby areas, often near water, and it is very common in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. It lays 4-6 eggs in a nest on the ground. Its food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.
It was formerly classified as a Near Threatened
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
species by the IUCN. But new research has shown it to be rarer than it was believed. Consequently, it is uplisted to Vulnerable
Vulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...
status in 2008.
External links
- OBC 24 photographs (see pulldown menu at page bottom)