A Photo Almost Overlooked Revealed Bangladesh’s First Yellow-Throated Sparrow
The yellow-throated sparrow is a dry-country bird of South and West Asia. In April 2026, three birders photographed one in a humid evergreen forest in southeastern Bangladesh. It is the first record of the species for Bangladesh and, according to the study, the easternmost record anywhere.
The team described the sighting on October 15, 2026, in the journal Check List. Corresponding author Najmul Hasan, a research assistant in the Department of Zoology at the University of Chittagong, spoke with BioExplorer about the find.
The yellow-throated sparrow (Gymnoris xanthocollis), also called the chestnut-shouldered petronia, is a plain gray-brown sparrow with a small yellow throat spot. It lives mainly in dry, open country from Türkiye to India. In April 2026, one was photographed in Bangladesh for the first time.
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Almost Overlooked
On April 24, 2026, Ahsan Uddin Chowdhury, Raihan Bablu and Jahir Mahmud Sohag of the Chittagong Bird Club were on a birdwatching trip. Near Baraichari, in the Kaptai area of Rangamati, they spotted a bird at the top of a roadside tree. Chowdhury took several photos with a Nikon Z8 and a 500 mm lens.
According to Hasan, the three did not know what they had seen. They only learned its identity later.
Only after returning home did Ahsan Uddin Chowdhury notice the distinct yellow throat patch, identify the species, and immediately alert us all.
Najmul Hasan, University of Chittagong
Hasan described what the team felt when they realized what the photos showed.
Discovering that a photograph almost overlooked in the field turned out to be a historic first for Bangladesh was an incredible mix of surprise and relief.
Najmul Hasan, University of Chittagong
How They Knew
At first glance, the yellow-throated sparrow looks like a dull, gray-brown bird. The team identified it from the photos by comparing them with regional field guides. They listed six key features:
- A fine, pointed bill.
- A plain, unstreaked brownish-gray head and back.
- One prominent white wing bar.
- A faint eyebrow stripe.
- A small yellow spot on the throat.
- A light chestnut band on the shoulder.
The paper’s record line lists the bird as a female, but its photo caption calls it a male. Hasan confirmed to BioExplorer that the bird was a male and that the female label was a formatting error.
A Dry-Country Bird
The yellow-throated sparrow belongs to Passeridae, the Old World sparrow family, one of many groups in our guide to types of birds. It usually lives in open woodland, scrub, farmland, dry savanna, orchards and villages. Like many desert birds, it is at home in arid and semi-arid country.
Its range stretches from Türkiye, Syria and Iraq through Iran and parts of Arabia to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The paper lists it as a passage migrant in Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, and as a rare vagrant in Israel and Sri Lanka. Before this record, confirmed sightings at the eastern edge of its range came only from West Bengal, India.
The Wrong Forest?
The Bangladesh bird turned up somewhere unexpected. It was photographed beside a road in mixed evergreen forest, only 37 meters above sea level. The Chattogram Hill Tracts sit where the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots meet.
Hasan said vagrancy, or dispersal after the breeding season, “can occasionally push individuals far outside their typical bioclimatic envelopes.” He also pointed out that the species lives in nearby West Bengal. Some birders say they have seen it in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, but this is the first official record.
Hasan suggested that climate change and habitat change may be shifting the range of the species. However, he stressed that the study did not set out to explain why the bird was in an evergreen forest. More research is needed to find out.
The Salim Ali Link
The yellow-throated sparrow holds a special place in South Asian birdwatching.
Salim Ali, the famous ornithologist known as the “Birdman of India,” traced his interest in birds to this species. According to the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, he shot a sparrow with an air gun as a boy and noticed its yellow throat. W. S. Millard of the Bombay Natural History Society identified it for him as a yellow-throated sparrow.
For Hasan, that history makes the record more meaningful.
It carries a wonderful poetic resonance, given that a Yellow-throated Sparrow famously sparked Dr. Salim Ali’s legendary career; finding it as a first for Bangladesh feels deeply inspiring.
Najmul Hasan, University of Chittagong
The authors hope the sighting will spark public interest in birdwatching and conservation in the region. They also call for continued bird surveys and long-term monitoring across Bangladesh.
At a Glance
| Detail | Finding |
|---|---|
| Species | Yellow-throated sparrow (Gymnoris xanthocollis) |
| Other name | Chestnut-shouldered petronia |
| Date | April 24, 2026 |
| Place | Baraichari, Kaptai, Rangamati, Chattogram Hill Tracts |
| Habitat | Roadside in mixed evergreen forest, 37 m elevation |
| Evidence | Photographs by Ahsan Uddin Chowdhury |
| Significance | First record for Bangladesh and, per the study, easternmost record anywhere |
| Red List status | Least Concern |
FAQs
The yellow-throated sparrow (Gymnoris xanthocollis) is a gray-brown Old World sparrow with a small yellow throat spot, a chestnut shoulder band and a prominent white wing bar. It is also called the chestnut-shouldered petronia.
The yellow-throated sparrow lives mainly in dry, open country from Türkiye and the Middle East through Pakistan to India and Nepal. It uses open woodland, scrub, farmland, orchards and villages.
It was photographed on April 24, 2026, near Baraichari in the Kaptai area of Rangamati, in the Chattogram Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh.
The yellow-throated sparrow usually lives in dry habitats, but this bird was seen in humid mixed evergreen forest. According to the study, it is also the easternmost record of the species anywhere.
As a boy, Salim Ali, later known as the “Birdman of India,” shot a yellow-throated sparrow with an air gun. W. S. Millard of the Bombay Natural History Society identified it for him, an encounter that helped spark Ali’s lifelong interest in birds.
No. The yellow-throated sparrow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Cite this page
BioExplorer. (2026, October 31). A Photo Almost Overlooked Revealed Bangladesh’s First Yellow-Throated Sparrow. https://www.bioexplorer.net/yellow-throated-sparrow.html/
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