Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

Black-and-white flocks roll across winter fields like blowing paper. The northernmost-breeding songbird on Earth.

Population: Approximately 29 million individuals globally (BirdLife International/Partners in Flight estimate), including roughly 14 million mature individuals in the USA and Canada; global trend considered slowly decreasing
Habitat: Breeds on high-Arctic tundra, nesting in rocky crevices, scree, and cliff cavities; winters in open lowland habitats such as farmland, weedy stubble fields, coastal dunes, and lakeshores
Fun fact: Unlike most songbirds, the Snow Bunting's breeding plumage change from rusty-brown to crisp white is achieved not by molting new feathers but by the brown feather tips wearing away over the winter to reveal the white feather bases beneath.
Range: Circumpolar Arctic breeder (northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Svalbard, northern Russia/Siberia, Alaska); winters south into southern Canada, the northern contiguous United States, and northern/central Europe and Asia
Diet: Mainly seeds of grasses and weeds (e.g., knotweed, ragweed, amaranth) in fall and winter; shifts to invertebrates (flies, butterflies, spiders) and berries (crowberry, bilberry) in summer, with nestlings fed almost exclusively on invertebrates
Size: 0.15 m
Wingspan: 0.35 m
Lifespan: 9 years

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