Recent studies by the U.K.’s BirdLife International and its India partner, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) India, have shown that one of Eurasia’s most abundant bird species, yellow-breasted bunting, has declined by 90%.
A research paper recently published in the journal Conservation Biology suggests that unsustainable rates of hunting, principally in China, have contributed to the catastrophic loss of numbers.
Yellow-breasted bunting was once distributed over vast areas of Europe and Asia. In India, it is reported as a winter visitor, mainly in the north-east, in West Bengal, and also in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Here it is found from early October till April, in small to large flocks of up to 200.
