About this species
The Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza aureola) is a small passerine with striking breeding plumage: the male has a bright yellow breast, chestnut breast-band, and dark head. It breeds in open scrubby habitats, wet meadows and forest edges across a vast belt from Finland to Japan.
Once one of the most abundant songbirds in northern Eurasia — with flocks of millions recorded at roost sites — the species has undergone one of the most dramatic population crashes of any bird. The global population is estimated to have declined by 80–90% since the 1980s, leading to its reclassification as Critically Endangered by IUCN in 2017.
The primary driver is large-scale illegal trapping for food in China and South-East Asia, especially during southward migration.