Snow bunting
The snow bunting is a small bird known for its notable white plumage and ability to thrive in the harsh climates of the far northern regions. Typically measuring six to seven inches in length and weighing one to two ounces, these birds exhibit sexual dimorphism in their plumage; during the breeding season, males display bright white feathers with some black, while females have rusty brown backs that contrast with their lighter underparts. Nesting takes place on the ground, where the female constructs a cozy nest from materials like grass and moss, laying four to six eggs that hatch after about two weeks. Snow buntings are highly social, often seen foraging in large flocks, which can resemble flurries of snow as they move together across the ground. Their diet consists of seeds, grasses, and insects, and they are known for their distinctive hopping and running behavior. They breed along the northern coasts and tundras of the Arctic before migrating southward in the fall to more temperate regions, where they find suitable feeding grounds. Snow buntings are part of the Emberizidae family, which encompasses old world buntings and new world sparrows, and they can live up to four years in the wild if they evade predators and survive harsh winters.
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Snow bunting
Snow buntings are small birds which manage to breed quite well in the far northern regions of the world. Their name comes also from the large amount of white plumage on their bodies.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Plectrophenax
Species: Nivalis
Snow buntings are six to seven inches (15 to 18 centimeters) long and weigh one to two ounces (30 to 55 grams). During the breeding season of May through July, the snow buntings have mostly white plumage, or feathering, with some black on their wings and tails. After they molt, or shed, their feathers in the autumn, the females have rusty brown plumage on their backs and white underneath. The males also keep their white plumage on their chests and bellies, but have reddish-brown plumage on their heads, breasts, and upperparts. Along with the change in plumage, both males' and females' black bills turn yellow except for the black tips.
During the rest of the year, when the birds are not mating, they are social creatures that roost and feed in flocks. While in flight, the flurry of white bodies has caused some people to think the birds look like a flurry of snow, and so they have called them "snowflakes."
After mating, the female builds a nest on the ground of dead grass, moss, lichens, and stalks. She lays her four to six eggs on a soft lining of grass, wool, and feathers. At the end of the nearly-two-week incubation period, the chicks hatch from their light yellow or bluish-green eggs. Although the female incubates the eggs by herself, the male now joins her in filling the mouths of the young. Their appetites require feeding both day and night so that they grow quickly. After 10 days of receiving food and protection within the nest, the young are strong enough to fledge, or to fly for the first time. They are independent at this time or soon after. Toward the southern edge of the breeding range, a male and female may be able to have two broods, or batches, of young each year. If they survive predators and the winter weather, snow buntings may reach the age of four years.
Snow buntings rarely perch in trees but spend most of their time hopping and running across the ground on their large feet with long toes. As they do so, they forage for seeds, grasses, grains, buds, and insects. When large flocks feed together they look like they are playing leapfrog as they hop over each other to move forward across the ground.
The breeding grounds of snow buntings lie along the northern coasts of the continents and islands which fringe the Arctic. In these extreme places the snow buntings live in the tundra, along rocky coastlines, and on mountain peaks and glacier outcrops over 3,000 feet (900 meters) above sea level. During the fall they migrate to their winter grounds farther south in Canada, the United States, and Eurasia. In these places they find sand dunes, grassy areas near coastlines, and inland fields.
Snow buntings belong in the family of buntings and tanagers. They are one of the species within the group called old world buntings and new world sparrows, which is the subfamily Emberizinae. This is one of five subfamilies within this family.
Bibliography
Cunningham, Ashley. “Plectrophenax Nivalis (Snow Bunting).” Animal Diversity Web, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Plectrophenax‗nivalis/. Accessed 4 May 2024.
Goodrum, Nick. “Snow Bunting.” Animalia, animalia.bio/snow-bunting. Accessed 4 May 2024.
“Snow Bunting Overview.” All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow‗Bunting/overview. Accessed 4 May 2024.
“Snow Bunting ‘Plectrophenax Nivalis.’” Boreal Songbird Initiative, 1 Dec. 2015, www.borealbirds.org/bird/snow-bunting. Accessed 4 May 2024.