Bunting Count

Join Asia’s 2nd Bunting Count to observe and document the bunting species of Asia!

Bunting Count (or Winter Bunting Count) is a citizen science initiative organized by the Japan Bird Research Association and the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society in partnership with several groups and organisations in East, Southeast, and South Asia, including Bird Count India.

Where: Anywhere in Asia where buntings are found

When: 1 October 2023 to 30 April 2024

Buntings are sparrow-sized birds that inhabit open habitats across Asia and are largely migratory in nature. We have an amazing diversity of buntings in South Asia; 20 of the 45 species worldwide are found here. They are super vagrants; for example, 4 out of 40 species that were added to the South Asia checklist in the last decade were buntings. They are also known for major range expansion. Salim Ali, during his surveys of Kerala (Travancore-Cochin survey) and Karnataka (Mysuru survey), did not record a single bunting, but now there are eight species of bunting that have been recorded in southwestern India. 

Sadly, some buntings are also severely threatened. Yellow-breasted Bunting, for example, has undergone a remarkable decline in the past decades and now breeds only in small pockets of its previously vast breeding range. All northern European populations are now nearly extirpated! India, however, continues to harbour some of the most important wintering habitats for the species!

The target species in India are:

• Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola
• Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica
• Chestnut Bunting Emberiza rutila
• Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala
• Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla
• Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata

How to participate? 

• Between 1 October 2023 to 30 April 2024, wherever you go birding, keep an eye out for buntings
• Share any eBird lists made during this event with bunting species with eBid User id – HKBWS Landbird
• Upload all lists through eBird mobile App
• We strongly recommend that you report all species in each checklist, not just the buntings
• Some species are best identified by photographs so please try to take as many photos as you can
• Any information about buntings is welcome in your checklists, including detailed notes, audio, photographs, and video of their behaviour or habitat!

For more details, contact: Vicky Yeung. Email: [email protected]

Important: Any eBird lists made between 1 October 2023 to 30 April 2024 with bunting species can be shared with eBid User id – HKBWS Landbird

Below is a poster for social media circulation. Click here to download high-res image

The first edition of the Bunting Count was observed in October 2022 and below is the screenshot of results in Japanese. (Results in English coming soon.)

Results of the 1st Bunting Count held between 1 November 2022 to 15 April 2023

Header Image: Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla by Sandip Das/Macaulay Library