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The Cool, Rugged Life of a Snow Bunting
Arriving on the breeding grounds when it’s still frigid!
© Mick Thompson
The Arctic is still wintry when male Snow Buntings return to nesting areas in April. There's a big benefit to arriving early enough to claim a prime nest cavity in a rock face or under boulders, where it will be safer from predators. Nesting in chilly rock cavities means extra care must be taken to keep eggs and nestlings warm. That’s why, unlike many other bird species, female Snow Buntings never come off the nest. The males bring them food, giving them more continuous time on the eggs.
BirdNote®
The Cool, Rugged Life of a Snow Bunting
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Snow Bunting flight call, XC 636807, 0:05-0:08]
Weather in the Arctic is still wintry when male Snow Buntings return to nesting areas in April. They’ve spent the winter roaming shorelines and fields of grain stubble — cold, windswept places in the northern United States and Canada.
[Snow Bunting flight call, XC 636807, 0:05-0:08]
Males reach their breeding territories on the tundra a month ahead of females and defend them relentlessly.
[Snow Bunting song, ML 203901731, 0:21-0:24]
This means male Snow Buntings may face freezing conditions and snow blanketing the ground.
But there’s a big benefit to arriving early enough to claim a prime nest cavity in a rock face or under boulders, where it will be safer from foxes and Snowy Owls.
[Snow Bunting song, ML 203901731, 0:32-0:36]
Nesting in chilly rock cavities means extra care must be taken to keep eggs and nestlings warm. That’s why, unlike many other bird species, female Snow Buntings never come off the nest. The males bring them food, giving them more continuous time on the eggs. This shortens the incubation time, improving the odds of hatching a healthy brood.
And it all begins with an early — if somewhat cold — start to the season.
[Snow Bunting song, ML 203901731, 0:32-0:36]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Snow Bunting Xeno Canto 636807 recorded by L. Edenius, and Snow Bunting ML 203901731 recorded by J. del Hoyo.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote April 2022 Narrator: Michael Stein
SNBU-01-2022-04-06 SNBU-01
Reference: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/snobun/cur/introduction
