Bird Sightings: Snow Bunting

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Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Pletrophenax nivalis

Gaelic: Gealag-an-t-sneachd

Photograph © Terry Fountain
Loch Carnan - Lochboisedale - South Uist - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
9th December, 2006

"A solitary Snow Bunting outside my lounge window at Loch Carnan today. Photo not great as it was taken through a rather wet window (great weather). Hopefully the seed I covered the grass with may attract it back tomorrow and I can get some really good pics (fingers crossed)."

Monsoon weather followed....

Terry sent in a snow bunting report in November, 2007..."Today at Balgarva (South Uist) approx 100 Snow Bunting"...

Hi Terry was it like a blizzard of snowflakes, with all those flashes of white?

"It certainly was! Although there was probably less than a quarter males in the flock, so not as Snowy as it could have been.."

Snow Bunting

AKA: Snowflake, Snaa Fuhl

Plectrophenax nivalis

UK Resident Breeder, Passage/Winter Visitor

AMBER LIST: UK 70 - 100 prs (Summer) 11,000 birds (Winter) RSPB

Breeds: Arctic: (Circumpolar) Greenland, Iceland, North America, North Europe - A Few in North Scotland. (Has bred on St Kilda)

Winter: Heads South: South Europe, Central Asia, South USA

Breeding Habitat: Tundra, treeless moorland (rock crevices)

Diet: Ground feeder: Mostly seeds (summer insects for young), rocky shores (follows wrack-line), short & open vegetation, sand dunes

Large buntings. Summer males: Heads & underparts all white with black back & wing tips. Females & juveniles pale ginger above, white below. In Autumn & winter the white has a sandy or buff wash & males' upperparts more mottled. Flight: large white wing patches. Not shy. Forms flocks

Listen: snow bunting (RSPB site)

The most Northerly breeding landbird, the Inuit equivalent of our house sparrow.

Flocks in flight: Hindmost birds leap-frog the front ones, creating a blizzard-like flurry of white wings & tails-markings - hence the Orkney name snowflake

Snow buntings have very occasionally formed flocks of 200 birds here (Feb 04).

Terry Fountain's web site:
http://www.hebridesphotographic.com

Other local bird photographs

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