China (mainland) (B), Hong Kong (China), India, Japan (B), Laos, Mongolia (B), Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea (B), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), South Korea, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Vietnam.
Vagrant to Bhutan, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Netherlands Antilles, United Kingdom.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza) [XC491988]
by Magnus Hellstr\u00f6m from Sumiin Khoolo\u00ef, Khalkhgol, Dornod, Mongolia (alarm call)
Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza) [XC659564]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Dongyin Nursery, Taiwan (call)
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in a separate genus, Ocyris. Recent phylogenetic study suggests that this species is closely related to Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla), Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica), Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza aureola), Yellow Bunting (Emberiza sulphurata) and Chestnut Bunting (Emberiza rutila), forming a subclade with them. It has been suggested that they form a polytomous group of species, probably the result of a rapid, "simultaneous" radiation. Distinctive subspecies personata possibly represents a separate species. Further study is required. Nominate subspecies exhibits slight clinal variation in colour, with increasing green on crown, nape and throat and more yellowish underparts from west to east, but individual variation also significant, and populations at extremes of cline not well differentiated.
Proposed subspecies oligoxantha (described from Kuznetsk region of south-central Siberia) and extremiorientis (from southern Ussuriland) represent respective ends of this cline.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
spodocephala Pallas, 1776 - Breeds from central Siberia (Novokuznetsk and Krasnoyarsk) east to southern coast of Sea of Okhotsk, northern Sakhalin I and Sea of Japan coast, south to Sayan Mts, Altai, northern Mongolia (Khentii Mts), Transbaikalia, north-eastern China (Heilongjiang), south-eastern Russia (Ussuriland) and northern Korea. Winters in southern and eastern China (southern Yunnan and Hainan east to Fujian) and Taiwan.
personata Temminck, 1836 - Breeds southern Sakhalin I, Kuril Is and Japan (Hokkaido south to central Honshu). Winters from northern Honshu south through Shikoku and Kyushu to Ryukyu Is and Izu Is. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Masked Bunting (Emberiza personata).
sordida Blyth, 1845 - Breeds east-central China from northern Gansu and north-eastern Qinghai south to western Sichuan and northern Yunnan (south to Yangtze Valley), east to northern Hubei, and occasionally in central Guizhou and western Hunan. Winters in area from central Nepal east to north-eastern India, northern Myanmar and northern Indochina.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet