Photo by BarrytheBirder
I know it's only mid-October, but I'm already looking forward to seeing one of my favourite winter birds: the Snow Bunting. A day in winter is always more enjoyable when I am motoring about and come across a small flock of these winter warriors.
Male (above) - Female (below)
Photos by Christoph Moning / Macaulay Libray
Fred Alsop in his Birds of Canada Field Guide says this bird "...can survive temperatures as low as fifty degrees Celsius below zero and often tunnels in the snow in the shelter of grass tussocks or shrubs to keep warm".
They certainly make my winters more enjoyable and shorter when I take the time to watch them frolicking, and even bathing, in the snow.
Males have white rumps and females (non-breeding) have cinnamon rumps and shoulders.
They are fairly common on their arctic breeding grounds where they are found on rocky shores and dry tundra, feeding for seeds, insects and caterpillars, plus small crustaceans and mollusks on coastal shores. In winter they are found in stubby and grassy fields, on coastal beaches and around sand dunes.
I lived in an large agricultural area north of Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, for decades and watched the Snow Buntings gleaning from farm fields continuously. I never heard their trilling musical notes because they only sing on the breeding grounds.
As a bonus, my wife and I would sometimes see these birds in winter foraging with Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks.
Winter is always shorter when Snow Buntings are around and about.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder
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