Hong Kong has a large number of species of bunting (Emberizidae) during the winter and as passage migrants in spring and autumn. They vary from being common in their range to being classified as ‘critically endangered’ by the IUCN Red List. AJP photographed the following—which cover that range—during the early spring this year.
Yellow-breasted Bunting, Emberiza aureola. Classified as ‘critically endangered’ because it is trapped in huge numbers in China for human consumption. The French feast on the Ortolan Bunting (E. hortulana); the Chinese on this species. The Hong Kong bird book has it down as a scarce passage migrant with a only a few being seen in spring and autumn. Found across a broad band from northern Europe to the eastern edge of Asia it overwinters in south-east Asia.
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Little Bunting, Emberiza pusillanimous. Winters in southern and eastern China. A common winter visitor in Hong Kong as well as being very common on passage in spring.
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Yellow-browed Bunting, Emberiza chrysophus. A rare winter visitor and passage migrant in Hong Kong.
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Tristram’s Bunting, Emberiza tristrami. Uncommon winter visitor in Hong Kong (it winters in south China).
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Black-faced Bunting, Emberiza spodocephala. Common winter visitor and passage migrant in Hong Kong.
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The buntings are seed-eaters. And with that statement their mode-of-life is dismissed by birdwatchers, bird list tickers and the classical but still very much alive ornithologists. I will return to seed-eating birds in a later post. In the meantime here is the gone-to-seed cabbage plants the Little and Yellow-browed bunting flock were feeding on.
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