Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata) [XC734510]
by Geoff Carey from Khingansky NR, Arkharinsky District, Amur Oblast, Russian Federation (alarm call)
Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata) [XC405227]
by Tom Wulf from Muraviovka Park, Russian Federation (alarm call)
Subspecies
Recent phylogenetic analyses indicating that this species is sister of Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) considered unreliable, and not well supported in different analytical approaches in same study.
Proposed subspecies fluviatilis (described from Zhenjiang, in Jiangsu, in eastern China) treated as synonymous with kuatunensis.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
fucata Pallas, 1776 - Breeds eastern Mongolia (including Khentii) and south-eastern Transbaikalia east to south-eastern Russia (Amurland, southern Khabarovsk, southern Ussuriland), north-eastern China (Heilongjiang), Sakhalin I, Korea and Japan (southern Kurils, and Hokkaido south to central Honshu). Winters in southern Japan (central Honshu south to Ryukyu Is), southern Korea, southern China, including Hainan, and Taiwan.
kuatunensis La Touche, 1925 - Breeds eastern China (Zhejiang and Fujian). Winters to south-eastern China, Bangladesh, northern and central Myanmar and northern Indochina.
arcuata Sharpe, 1888 - Breeds in Himalayas from northern Pakistan east to western Nepal and southern China (northern Yunnan). Winters lower in western Himalayas.