BirdTab LogoBirdTab

Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Longspurs and Snow Buntings
Snow Bunting, photographed by Denis Doucet

Photo: Denis Doucet · iNaturalist · CC-BY-NC 4.0 (licence)

Add to my checklistRange map and sightings on eBird

Call and song

About the Snow Bunting

Bold black-and-white wing patches are distinctive in flight. Nonbreeding birds are overall white below with warm brown and orange tones on head and back. During the breeding season they are white with black or gray on the back. Breeds on tundra at northern latitudes; forms flocks in the winter and moves south, often joining up with other species of field birds. Listen for distinctive tittering rattle and “tew” calls as they fly overhead. Foraging flocks also gives harsher buzzy calls.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 56 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

More longspurs and snow buntings