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Bird name:

Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Code 4

SNBU

Code 6

PLENIV

ITIS

179532

Breeding Location:

Mountains

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Pairs

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

White to blue green with brown and black marks

Number of Eggs:

4 - 7

Incubation Days:

10 - 16

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Grass and moss with lining of hair, feathers, and soft grasses.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Snow Bunting: Medium-sized, strikingly white sparrow with black back, central tail, and wing tips. Female is duller, has a red-brown rump, and shows red-brown and gray streaking on head and back. Winter adult and juvenile are duller with brown wash on back, sides, and head.

Range and 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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and Feeding

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

Readily Eats

Safflower, Apple Slices, Suet, Millet, Peanut Kernels, Fruit

Vocalization

Snow Bunting: Song is a musical, high-pitched "chi-chi-churee." Call is a whistled "tew."

Similar Species

Snow Bunting: McKay's Bunting has a white back.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America