Habitat
Breeds in reedbeds and edges of marshes along rivers and lakes, but in highlands also in wet meadows and drier grasslands. Winters in coastal marshes.
China (mainland) (B) (NB), Japan (B), North Korea (P), Russia (Asian) (B), South Korea (NB).
Vagrant to Hong Kong (China).
Population
Estimated population is 10,000 - 19,999 (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Loss and degradation of wetland habitat within its breeding range, and the destruction of coastal marshes in its Asian wintering grounds, are the presumed main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Voice
Seeds. Will take insects and berries in the summer.
Japanese Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis) [XC86705]
by John Wright from Tonegawa Kojyurin Park, Chiba Pref., Japan (song)
Japanese Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis) [XC285606]
by Peter Boesman from Tonegawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan (song)
Subspecies
Together with Pallas's Bunting (Emberiza pallasi) and Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), sometimes placed in genus Schoeniclus. Recent molecular study indicates that it is a sister-species to both of those.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
continentalis Witherby, 1913 - Breeds in extreme eastern Mongolia, north-eastern China (Heilongjiang) and southern Russian Far East (Ussuriland). Winters in coastal eastern China.
yessoensis (Swinhoe, 1863) - Breeds in central and southern Japan (northern and central Honshu and Kyushu). Winters in southern Japan and Korea.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet