Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family EMBERIZIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

Appropriately named, the Snow Bunting is a bird of the high Arctic and snowy winter fields. Even on a warm day, the mostly white plumage of a bunting flock evokes the image of a snowstorm.

Cool Facts

• The male Snow Bunting returns to its high Arctic breeding grounds in early April, when temperatures can still dip as low as -30° C (-22° F) and snow still covers most of the ground. The female does not return until four to six weeks later.
• Early arriving Snow Bunting males set up and defend territories that include good nesting sites. They will still come together in flocks to forage, and usually roost in loose groups of from 30 to 80 birds.

• The Snow Bunting places its nest deep in cracks or other cavities in rocks. Although such nest sites are relatively secure from predators, rocks are cold. The thick nest lining of fur and feathers helps keep the eggs and nestlings warm, but the female must remain on the nest for most of the incubation period. The male feeds her while she is incubating so that she does not need to leave the nest very often.

• Although breeding and nonbreeding males look quite different, the Snow Bunting has only one molt each year and no true "Alternate Plumage." After the molt in the late summer the male looks brownish with a brown and black striped back. Underneath the colored feather tips, the back feathers are pure black and the body feathers all are white. The male wears off all of the feather tips by actively rubbing them on snow, and he is immaculate white and jet black by the time breeding begins.

Description

• Size: 15 cm (6 in)
• Wingspan: 30 cm (12 in)
• Weight: 31-46 g (1.09-1.62 ounces)

• Small songbird.
• Lots of white in the plumage.
• Underside white.
• Large white patches in wings.
• Brownish on back and face.
• Black tail with white outer feathers.

• Dark wingtips.
• Short, stout bill with thick lower mandible.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs dark gray or black.

Sex Differences

Breeding male clean black-and-white, female streaked with gray and rufous. Similar in nonbreeding plumage, but female with darker wings.

Male

Wings nearly completely white at base, with black tips, and small black spot on leading edge.
Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Head, nape, breast, belly, rump and outer tail feathers white; back, wingtips, and central tail feathers black. Bill black.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Head, breast, belly, flanks, and rump white. Forehead, crown, nape, and face feathers tipped with brown. Feathers of back and parts of wings black with white or rufous tips. Faint brick red band across top of chest. Bill yellowish orange with black tip.

Female

Wingtips brownish black, with much dark across leading edge of wings. Rear and inner section of wings white. Bil yellowish orange.
Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Head grayish, with indistinct dusky streaking.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Head, breast, belly, flanks, and rump white. Forehead, crown, nape, and face feathers tipped with brown. Feathers of back and parts of wings black with white or rufous tips. Faint brick red band across top of chest.

Immature

Similar to adult, but more dark on wings.

Similar Species

• Rare McKay's Bunting very similar, but lacks black on back and has whiter tail.
• Horned Lark appears mostly white from below, but has longer, mostly black tail and lacks large white patch on top of wing.

Sound

Song a low, husky warbling. Calls include a clear "chew," a husky rolling rattle, a short buzz, and a sharp "chi-tik."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska, across northern Canada, to Greenland and Iceland. Also across very northern Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters from northern Canada southward to northern Nevada, northern Missouri, central Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Also across northern Eurasia.

Habitat

Breeds on rocky tundra. Winters in open weedy and grassy fields and along shores of lakes and oceans.

Food

Weed and grass seeds, insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Walks on ground and pecks at food. May jump up to take seeds from taller stems.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of moss and grass, lined with fine grasses, rootlets, and fur and feathers. Placed well back in cavity in rocks, such as cracks.

Egg Description

Creamy white with variable brown spots and scrawls.

Clutch Size

2-7 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, with long, gray-brown down.

Conservation Status

Common. Both nesting and wintering habitats currently extensive in North America and not threatened.

Other Names

Bruant des neiges (French)

Sources used to construct this page:

Lyon, B., and R. Montgomerie. 1995. Snow Bunting and McKay's Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis and Plectrophenax hyperboreus). In The Birds of North America, No. 198-199 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.