IDENTIFICATION

VOCALISATIONS

The short calls are more diverse in character than most other buntings occurring in HK, and flushing birds may elicit a classic ‘tik’ call, but also other calls which are included in the following recordings.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

Chestnut-eared Buntings are usually found in areas of agriculture, fish ponds or landfill usually where there is substantial grassy growth. Most records come from Long Valley and the Deep Bay area, but also from other sites such Kam Tin, Lam Tsuen and other agricultural or grassy areas.

Vaughan and Jones (1913) described Chestnut-eared Bunting as living ‘luxuriously’ on the rice harvest in November, while Herklots (1953) considered that it was associated with open grassland, which both accord well with present-day habitat usage. It is suggested, therefore, that the reason for the decline of the wintering population must be sought outside HK, perhaps a combination of habitat destruction, pesticide use and trapping.

OCCURRENCE

Chestnut-eared Bunting is now largely an uncommon autumn passage migrant that is scarce in winter and spring (Figure 1).

The peak period of passage is the last week of October and the first half of November. Although between 1979 and 1998 there was only record suggestive of wintering, it is now a regularly present in winter, albeit in low numbers. This is due to the establishment of managed rice cultivation at Long Valley, with 95% of January and February reports since 2013 from that site. Spring passage is very weak, with reports after mid-March occurring in only one out of four years. Extreme dates are 1 October 2018 and 2018 and 6 May 2019.

Chestnut-eared Bunting has never been common in HK but until the mid-1970s it was reported in winter in parties of up to 15 birds, with an exceptional count of 30 at Tai Mong Tsai on 19 January 1967. Since 1974, the largest group has been a flock of up to eight at Luk Keng on 15 December 1991 and most records now concern one or two birds.

Swinhoe (1861) considered Chestnut-eared Bunting to be common and probably resident, which is presumed to be an error as he ascribed the same status to both Black-faced and Yellow-breasted Buntings. Interestingly however, Kershaw (1904) also stated that Chestnut-eared Bunting was resident in the Pearl River region, whilst describing Black-faced Bunting as a winter visitor and Yellow-breasted Bunting as a passage migrant, the status of these species today. Curiously, whilst Vaughan and Jones (1913) considered it to be a common winter visitor to the Pearl River region, the dates they listed (the first week of September to the first week of May) are more extensive than our perception now. Thus Herklots (1937), who considered that it generally occurred in small flocks in the New Territories, recorded it between December and March, subsequently amended to the end of November to the middle of April (Herklots 1953, 1967); broadly corresponding to the core period of occurrence in the post-1958 period.

BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET

Vaughan and Jones (1913) described Chestnut-eared Bunting as living ‘luxuriously’ on the rice harvest in November. The re-establishment of rice farming at Long Valley from 2013 has confirmed this phenomenon as the site is responsible for most records since then.

Foraging unobtrusively in tall rice or grass, Chestnut-eared Bunting is usually encountered when it is flushed or seen perched high in its favoured habitat.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Breeds in southeast Siberia from northern Mongolia east through southeast Russia and northeast China to Sakhalin, Japan and the Korean Peninsula, southeast China in the area of Fujian and the Himalayas from northern Pakistan east to southwest China; winters in southern Japan, south and southwest China, Indochina and the Himalayan foothills (Copete 2020). In China, a summer visitor to the northeast and a winter visitor to areas south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) (Liu and Chen 2021).

Three subspecies are recognised, two of which could occur in HK. These are the nominate, which breeds in southeast Siberia, and E. f. kuatunensis, which breeds in southeast China. The third taxon, arcuata, breeds in the Himalayas as far east as Yunnan, China. The subspecies kuatunensis is smaller, darker and redder on the upperparts.

Herklots (1967) considered that the subspecies of Chestnut-eared Bunting occurring in HK was the paler and larger nominate, form and sight records and limited trapping in recent years support this view. However, he also detailed a single sight record of a female of the smaller, darker E. f. kuatunensis from Tai Mo Shan on 16 February 1960. Lacking any substantiation, however, this record is not included.

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable. As is noted above, the pattern of occurrence suggests a decline in the number of birds occurring here.