First Snow Buntings arrive

                                                                                                                                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

WSNOW BUNTINGW

Plectrophenax nivalis

We've had no snow on the ground yet, but I saw Snow Buntings this morning in the village of Nobleton.   There was a flock of about 30 and they swooped about me for almost five minutes while I patiently waited for them to land, so that I could get a photo.   They did not land however and disappeared across a field, so I did not get a picture.   Ah, but what about the photos above?   I took the photos above, last winter, with a more cooperative flock of buntings.   According to the Royal Ontario Museum Field Guide to the Birds of Ontario, the Snow Bunting is an uncommon to abundant migrant and visitor from October to May.   It breeds on rocky tundra... something I have never done.

Please comment if you wish.

BtheB