• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2012	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2008	Vulnerable	C1; C2a(ii)
2007	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Threatened

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land mass type	land-mass type - shelf island	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	164,000	medium
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km2)	278,000	medium
Number of locations		-
Severely Fragmented		-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals	unknown	poor	not applicable	0
Population trend	stable	poor	inferred	-
Decline (3 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (5 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation future)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)		-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation	100	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population had previously been roughly estimated to be in the band c.2,500-9,999 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2001). This appears to have been a considerable underestimate of the true population size, with Brazil (2009) considering that there were c. 100,000 breeding pairs. Without more certain information, the current population size is uncertain. The observation that at the northern edge of the range the species breeds down to near sea level may also indicate that the overall population size was likely to be considerably higher than previously suspected (Kaneko 2020). Densities had not significantly changed in 40 years at locations where habitat associations were studied: in 1977 densities were 30 individuals per km² while in 2014 densities were 50 individuals per km² (Deguchi et al. 2017). These high densities strongly indicates that the population size is not as small as previously suggested, and it is very likely to exceed thresholds for listing as threatened.
In the previous century the population is thought to have been greatly reduced from historical high abundance (Brazil 1991), however there was a small increase in breeding squares detected between the 1974-78 and the 1997-2004 Japanese Bird Atlas (Ministry of the Environment Biodiversity Center of Japan 2004), which has continued in the 2016-2021 atlas (Breeding Bird Distribution Survey 2021). Despite fears that the species may be impacted in a similar way to other migratory bunting species along the East Asian flyway, there is no evidence of a reduction in the numbers recorded during migration through Korea (Choi et al. 2020). Numbers of this species banded increased between the two periods investigated (1950s-1980s and 1990s-2010s), although numbers involved were small (Choi et al. 2020).

Trend justification: The species was reported to have suffered a dramatic reduction in abundance during the 20th century (Brazil 1991). Pesticide use appears to be correlated with this decline, though habitat degradation and loss to agriculture more generally are considered to have been the main drivers, potentially with an additional impact from bird trapping (Copete 2020).
An indirect study of comparative abundance trends in buntings in Korea (Choi et al. 2020) found more individuals had been banded in the 1990s-2010s versus the 1950s-1980s, and the Japan bird atlas indicates an increase in the number of confirmed or likely breeding grid squares from 89 in 1974-1978 to 126 in 2016-2021 (Breeding Bird Distribution Survey Committee 2021). As such the population is assessed as stable or possibly increasing.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
China (mainland)	extant	native				yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native				yes
Japan	extant	native	yes
North Korea	extant	native			yes
Philippines	extant	native			yes
South Korea	extant	native				yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native			yes	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
China (mainland)	Taohongling Sika Deer Nature Reserve
Hong Kong (China)	Inner Deep Bay and Shenzhen River catchment area
Japan	Mount Fuji
Japan	Mounts Asama, Shirane and Tanigawa
Japan	Mounts Azuma and Bandai
Japan	Mounts Zao and Funagata
Japan	Myoko, Togakushi highlands
Philippines	Batanes Islands
Philippines	Kalbario-Patapat National Park
Philippines	Mount Pulag National Park

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	600 - 1500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-		international	non-trivial	recent

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Emberiza sulphurata. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/yellow-bunting-emberiza-sulphurata on 06/06/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 06/06/2023.