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Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)
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Family Buntings, Finches, Sparrows (Emberizidae)_blue
Species Plectrophenax nivalis
Length6.25 - 7.25 Inches
Wingspan12.5 Inches

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting: Medium-sized, strikingly white sparrow with black back, central tail, and wing tips. Bill, legs and feet are black. Forages on ground for seeds, insects, larvae and caterpillars. Swift flight, alternates rapidly beating wings with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "chi-chi-churee", "tew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Snow Bunting: Eats seeds and insects in summer. During winter, gleans ground and snow for seeds.

● Breeding & nesting: Snow Bunting: Four to seven white to blue green eggs with brown and black markings are laid in a nest made of grass and moss, lined with fine grass and feathers, and built under a grassy tussock, in a rocky crevice, on a building, empty oil barrel, or other artificial structure. Incubation ranges from 10 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Snow Bunting: McKay's Bunting has a white back.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with rapid wing beats.
Snow Bunting Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Snow Bunting: Breeds from Aleutians, northern Alaska and Arctic islands south to northern Quebec. Spends winters regularly across southern Canada and upper tier of states to Oregon and Pennsylvania; also found in Eurasia. Nests on high mountain tops. During the winter stays on sandy and shingle coasts, salt marsh, and rough coastal fields.
BreedingMonogamous, Pairs
PopulationFairly common
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.5 Ounces