Snow Bunting

A low, husky finchlike warble that tumbles between rough and musical notes. Males sing from a rock or during a fluttering display flight over the tundra.

Breeds circumpolar across high Arctic of North America, Europe and Asia. Winters in temperate latitudes from southern Canada and northern United States across Eurasian steppes.

Open treeless landscapes: Arctic tundra, windswept mountain ridges, coastal dunes, agricultural stubble, frozen lakeshores and prairies.

Migratory. Arrives on breeding grounds shortly after snowmelt (May–June), departs August–September. Winters October–March in open lowlands; forms large nomadic flocks.

The Snow Bunting is a hardy, sparrow-sized songbird built for life on wind-scoured Arctic tundra and frozen shorelines. Clad in frosty whites and warm cinnamon tones, it is the northernmost-breeding passerine on the planet. In summer the males wear striking black-and-white plumage as they sing from rocky outcrops; in winter enormous flocks swirl like wind-blown snow across open fields and coastal flats farther south.