The image of a yellow-breasted bunting in a wheat field in Huzhou's Wuxing district. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

An image of a rare bird in a wheat field in Huzhou's Wuxing district was recently captured by a photographer.

The bird has been identified as a yellow-breasted bunting, which is under first-class national protection, according to local authorities. The bird's most distinctive feature is a plume of bright yellow feathers on its chest.

This is the first sighting of the bird in Wuxing district.

The once-abundant species was classified as least concerned according to IUCN Red List criteria prior to 2004. However, it was uplisted to critically endangered in 2017 because of overhunting.

According to a head official at the Wuxing bureau of ecology and environment, the bird's rare appearance is a sign of Wuxing's good natural environment, which was made possible by concerted efforts to protect biodiversity and stop illegal hunting.