McKay's Bunting

Plectrophenax hyperboreus

Breeds on two tiny islands in the Bering Sea and nowhere else. Your message has a very limited zip code.

Population: ~27,500–35,400 mature individuals (2008 survey basis; BirdLife/IUCN reassessed 2020, still using this range), stable single subpopulation
Habitat: Breeds on vegetated and rocky tundra in coastal lowlands, nesting in hollow drift logs and rock crevices on shingle beaches and scree slopes; winters on coastal marshes, shingle beaches, and agricultural fields with exposed vegetation
Fun fact: McKay's Bunting is the whitest songbird in North America, breeding almost exclusively on two tiny, uninhabited Bering Sea islands (Hall and St. Matthew) that together total only about 300 square kilometers.
Range: Breeds almost entirely on Hall Island and St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, Alaska (occasionally St. Lawrence and Pribilof/St. Paul islands); winters along the western Alaska coast from Kotzebue to the Alaska Peninsula, irregularly farther into the Aleutians and southern Alaska, with vagrants reaching British Columbia and the US Pacific Northwest
Diet: Insects and spiders during the breeding season; primarily seeds (weeds and grasses) in winter, with occasional small crustaceans or other marine life foraged along shorelines
Size: 0.18 m
Wingspan: 0.315 m
Lifespan: 8 years

More Songbirds