Birdpass
English
Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

Identify the Snow Bunting by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Snow Bunting is an Arctic specialist that breeds across the circumpolar tundra and high mountains and is the most northerly breeding songbird in the world. Males turn strikingly black and white in spring as the pale fringes of their feathers wear away. In winter it moves south to open, windswept coasts and fields, often in tight, swirling flocks that flash white wings.

Did you know?

  • It is the most northerly recorded songbird in the world.
  • Its spring plumage appears as feather tips wear away, not by moult.

Voice

Song

About the species

Identification

A white-patterned bunting whose flight silhouette shows large white wing patches. The breeding male has a white head and underparts and a black back; in other plumages the back and crown are rusty-brown and the underparts white, and the bill is yellowish with a dark tip. It is told from Lapland Longspur by its much greater amount of white.

Family

Emberizidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

white, black, brown, grey

About the habitat

Breeds on Arctic and alpine tundra with rocky slopes and boulder fields; in winter open habitats such as coasts, beaches, dunes, harbours and fields.

Diet

Mainly seeds of grasses and weeds, especially in winter; insects, spiders and other invertebrates in summer, which also feed the nestlings.

Behaviour

A ground forager that walks and runs, often in tight flocks outside the breeding season, making low, bounding flights that flash white wings and tail. Males sing a loud, rippling song from rocks or in song flight, each with a distinctive pattern. It nests deep in rock crevices, lining the nest with feathers and hair against the cold.

Sources

Photo: Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), Thule, Greenland 1.jpg

Sound: Vladimir Yu. Arkhipov, Arkhivov, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plectrophenax_nivalis_song.ogg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_bunting

See also