Data from: Habitat use, survival and migration of a little-known East Asian endemic, the Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans

Basic information on the ecology of species is key for their conservation.
Here we study the ecology of the little-known Yellow-throated
Bunting Emberiza elegans based on a multi-year study on its
breeding grounds in the Russian Far East. For the first time in this
species, we quantified breeding habitat parameters, calculated
sex-specific apparent survival, and determined individual non-breeding
locations using light-level geolocation. We found that the habitat around
song posts of male Yellow-throated Buntings is characterized by tree and
shrub layers on richly littered moist ground. Habitat use overlaps with
co-occurring Tristram´s Buntings Emberiza tristrami and Black-faced
Buntings E. spodocephala, but territories differ especially in tree cover
and litter cover. Based on four years of colour-ringing data of 72
individuals, we calculated an apparent survival rate of 36 %, with higher
survival estimates for male than for female Yellow-throated Buntings. We
found no effect of carrying a geolocator on survival. We retrieved six
geolocators from males. All birds migrated south-westward during autumn
and spent the non-breeding season at locations in China 700-1700 km away
from their breeding sites. At least two individuals spent the boreal
winter outside of the known range in northern or central China. Birds left
the breeding area between early October and early November and returned
between mid-March and mid-April. Our data on habitat use, survival rate,
and migratory connectivity will help to assess threats to the populations
of this enigmatic species, which might include habitat loss due to forest
fires on the breeding grounds, and unsustainable harvest for consumption
during the non-breeding season.