This is an adult male showing black chin. HBW splits this race into a separate species which they call Masked Bunting (Emberiza personata). This treatment is based on the controversial Tobias system which gives a score of nine based on "objective" criteria. Under this system, a score of seven or more raises distinctive subspecies to full species. Perhaps more compelling are several recent studies showing the genetic distinctiveness of this taxon (Pckert et al., Saitoh et al., Weissensteimer et al.) However, this split has not yet been accepted by Clements/eBird, IOC or H&M4 all of whom treat E. s. personata as one of three subspecies of the Black-faced Bunting with two other races found on the Asian mainland. Regardless of taxonomy, the population in Japan differs markedly from the others by its yellow throat and breast as seen here. Mainland birds usually have a full gray hood.
