The yellow-breasted bunting was once one of the world’s “superabundant” birds, but due to persecution and over-exploitation of the species, they have almost disappeared.
The population of the yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) has seen a drastic decline of 90 percent since the 1980s, according to a study published in the Conservation Biology journal. It has all but disappeared from Japan, Europe and large parts of Russia.
Discovery News quotes the study as saying a population decline of this magnitude has not been seen since the passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction in the United States one hundred years ago. “The magnitude and speed of the decline is unprecedented among birds distributed over such a large area, with the exception of the passenger pigeon, which went extinct in 1914 due to industrial-scale hunting. High levels of hunting also appear to be responsible for the declines we are seeing in yellow-breasted bunting.”
Range of the yellow-breasted bunting
The yellow-breasted bunting is a Eurasian passerine bird in the bunting family (Emberizidae). The bunting is around 5.5 inches (15 centimeters) in size and weighs about 0.5 to 1.2 pounds (14 to 33 grams). They breed north of the Himalayas in wet meadows with tall vegetation and scattered scrub, and in riverside thickets and secondary scrub.
The birds spend their winters in large flocks in warmer southeast Asia, nesting in cultivated areas, rice fields, and grasslands. Their migratory route takes them through eastern China where they have been hunted for more than 2,000 years, according to data from the conservation group BirdLife International. The songbird’s huge flocks at their night-time roosts make them easy prey for trappers using nets.
Chinese government imposes penalties against “rice-bird” hunting
Due to reports of declining numbers in 1997, China banned the hunting of yellow-breasted buntings, also known as the “rice-bird” because of its liking of roosting in the dried-up rice fields. But even with the ban in place, the study revealed hunting was still going on as late as 2013, with the birds being hunted for food, or being sold on the black market.
In 2013, the decline had become so markedly dramatic that the yellow-breasted bunting was classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as “Endangered,” due to trapping outside their breeding grounds.
Senior conservation officer at Birdlife International, Simba Chan, thinks that re-education is the key to conservation of this beautiful species of bird. Getting birdwatchers and bird lovers in China involved in the effort will go far in saving them.
“To reverse these declines we need to better educate people of the consequences of eating wildlife. We also need a better and more efficient reporting system for law enforcement. In the last decade, birdwatching has become increasingly popular in China. Birdwatchers will play an important role in future data gathering. Now is the time to address these worrying declines in the yellow-breasted bunting across the region by mobilizing people for conservation action.”
The study, entitled “Global population collapse in a superabundant migratory bird and illegal trapping in China,” was published in the online journal Conservation Biology on June 8, 2015.
