Bird name:

McKay's Bunting

Plectrophenax hyperboreus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Code 4

MKBU

Code 6

PLEHYP

ITIS

179535

Breeding Location:

Rocky cliffs, Beaches, coastal

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Uncommon to fairly common

Egg Color:

Pale green with light brown spots

Number of Eggs:

3 - 5

Incubation Days:

10 - 16

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Lined with fine grasses., Grasses

Migration:

Migratory

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General

McKay's Bunting: Large bunting with bright white body, black wing tips, and black markings on back and tail. Large bill, legs, and feet are black. Female has black-streaked back. Winter adult and juvenile are suffused with orange-brown on heads, sides and backs, and have yellow bills.

Range and Habitat

McKay's Bunting: Breeds on Hall and Saint Matthew islands in Bering Sea. Spends winters east to coast of western Alaska and Nunivak Island. Nests on tundra; found along coastal shores in winter.

Breeding and Nesting

McKay's Bunting: Three to five pale green eggs with light brown spots are laid in a nest made of grass and lined with finer materials. Incubation ranges from 10 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

McKay's Bunting: Eats seeds, spiders, flowers, buds, and insects; forages on the ground.

Readily Eats

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

Vocalization

McKay's Bunting: Song is a loud, trilled, flutelike warbling. Call is abrasive "tew."

Similar Species

McKay's Bunting: Snow Bunting breeding adult has a black or gray back, and more black on wings and tail. Female has a red-brown rump. In winter plumage shows more black on wings and tail, more black streaking on upperparts, and more of a red-brown wash on underparts.

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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.

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