Rate of Decline: 64 percent in 40 years
Global Population: 29 million
Continental Population: 14.5 million now, 40 million 40 years ago
Watch List Status: 
Appearance: We usually see snow buntings in the winter, as small, pale-brown-and-white birds foraging on the ground, or showing black, white, and brown patches in flight. In breeding season, they sport striking black and white contrasting plumage.
Vocalization: During the non-breeding season, snow buntings have a wide variety of relatively quiet calls.
Listen (© Lang Elliot, Nature Sound Studio).
Habitat: In winter, ocean, lakes, and rivers shores; grassy fields and grain stubbles; roadsides after a heavy snow. In breeding season, rocky tundra near grassy tundra with sedges and lichens.
Range: Circumpolar breeding distribution. In North America, breeds along shores in Alaska and northern Canada and at high elevations in Alaska. Winters throughout southern Canada and the northern United States (and at similar latitudes in Europe and Asia).
Feeding: Feeds on the seeds of grasses and weeds from late fall to early spring, and seeds, buds, and invertebrates from late spring to early fall. Forages by pecking at food on the ground; also darts around rocks to catch basking spiders during the breeding season and gathers seeds from weed stems in the snow during winter.
Reproduction: Returns to the tundra very early in the spring due to fierce competition for territory. Unlike other arctic songbirds, Snow Buntings construct their nests in rock cavities, making them less susceptible to predation but more vulnerable to the cold. Produces only one brood per season, and the clutch size range is 2-7 eggs. To protect the eggs, females remain in the nest during the incubation period and receive food from their mates.
Conservation Issues & Efforts:
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Threats: Global warming in the breeding areas of this species causes earlier thawing of the tundra and allows more woody plants to grow. Snow Buntings prefer relatively open sites, and these habitats are declining. In addition, global warming allows more predators (both mammals and birds) to survive and prey on Snow Bunting nests.
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Outlook: The Snow Bunting is by no means the most specialized of the tundra breeders, and it is therefore likely to survive in the face of global warming, but in diminished numbers. Its decline is an indication of the severe threats to the more specialized tundra breeders.
What Can You Do: -
Help Halt Global Warming
Back strong federal, state, and local legislation to cap greenhouse emissions, and spur alternative energy sources. Conserve energy at home and at work (http://www.audubon.org/globalWarming/BePartSolution.php).
- Patrol Beaches
Join beach watches to look for oiled birds or other signs of coastal pollution. Lobby local, state, and federal officials to maintain wildlife-friendly beaches and clean coastal waters.
For more Information:
References:
Kaufman, Kenn.
Guía de campo a las aves de Norteamérica. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
Lyon, B. and R. Montgomerie (1995). Snow Bunting and McKay’s Bunting (
Plectrophenax nivalisand
Plectrophenax hyperboreus).
The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences and Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists’ Union. Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/Snow_Bunting
