Snow Bunting

How to recognise it

• Breeding male has a white head, throat, rump and underparts
• Breeding female has a grey-brown crown and nape and a brownish wash on the breast
• Bill is black in breeding plumage, yellow with a black tip in winter
• In flight, large white wing patches contrast with dark primaries

Call and song

Calls include a rippling “per'r'r'rit” like a Crested Tit and a soft whistled “pjyu” recalling Little Ringed Plover. Flocks give trilling calls such as “tirr”, “diüh” or “tsrr”. The song is short and twittering, with a clear voice and a lonely ring, like that of Lapland Bunting.

Where and when

The Snow Bunting is a partial migrant that breeds in Sweden, in the mountains. In southern Sweden it is a winter visitor, often on sandy coasts and less often on stubble fields. It is reported most in November and rarely in August and September. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Halland.

Food and behaviour

It feeds on seeds, and in summer also on insects. In winter it searches for food in the snow and picks seeds from low stems. It lives on the ground, where it walks, runs and hops when needed. Males arrive first on the breeding grounds and females follow four to six weeks later.