Yellow-breasted Bunting

Emberiza aureola Pallas, 1773

14–16 cmLength20 gWeight

It has bright yellow underparts, the male with a black face and a single chestnut breast-band across the yellow breast.

Busiest months: April and November · Most records: China, Thailand, Nepal

Critically Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Male in breeding plumage has a black face
Chestnut breast-band separates the yellow ring below the neck from the yellow breast
Conspicuous white barring on the scapulars
Rump and uppertail-coverts chestnut

Male, female and young

Females and immatures have a conspicuous buff supercilium, duller yellow underparts and duller white patches on the scapulars and wings.

Voice

A distinctive “zick”; song clear and ringing, like “tru-tru” and “tri-tri”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April and November · Most records: China, Thailand, Nepal

Yellow-breasted Bunting has been recorded at 229 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 24 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

China Thailand Nepal South Korea Mongolia Russia Cambodia United Kingdom

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The yellow-breasted bunting (Schoeniclus aureolus) is a passerine bird in the Old World bunting family Emberizidae that is found across the Boreal and East Palearctic. The specific aureola is Latin for "golden". The bird's call is a distinctive zick, and the song is a clear tru-tru, tri-tri.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Yellow-breasted Bunting?

The Yellow-breasted Bunting is about 14–16 cm long and weighs around 20 g.

Where does the Yellow-breasted Bunting live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: subarctic to northern temperate Palearctic bushy areas: Murmansk (far northwestern Russia; formerly eastern Finland) east to southern Chukotka, Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander islands, Sakhalin (eastern Russia); in south to far northern Kazakhstan, far northern Xinjiang (northwestern China), northern, central Mongolia, northern Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang (northeastern China) and far northern Hokkaido (northern Japan). It is most often recorded in China, Thailand and Nepal.

When is the best time to see the Yellow-breasted Bunting?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in April and November (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Yellow-breasted Bunting endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Yellow-breasted Bunting as Critically Endangered.

What does the Yellow-breasted Bunting eat?

Main food: Omnivore.

What family is the Yellow-breasted Bunting in?

It belongs to the family Buntings (Emberizidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length: 14–16 cm
Weight: 20 g
Habitat: Shrubland
Diet: Omnivore
Lifestyle: Varied
Migration: Migratory
Conservation: Critically Endangered

More measurements

Wing: 75 mm
Tail: 55 mm
Bill: 13 mm
Tarsus: 20 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic: subarctic to northern temperate Palearctic bushy areas: Murmansk (far northwestern Russia; formerly eastern Finland) east to southern Chukotka, Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander islands, Sakhalin (eastern Russia); in south to far northern Kazakhstan, far northern Xinjiang (northwestern China), northern, central Mongolia, northern Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang (northeastern China) and far northern Hokkaido (northern Japan)

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Subspecies · 1