Snow Bunting
Photo: Drew Avery · CC BY 2.0

Longspurs and Snow Buntings

Snow Bunting

Plectrophenax nivalis

LCLeast Concern
Family
Longspurs and Snow Buntings (Calcariidae)
Order
Passeriformes

Overview

The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high mountain tops south of the Arctic region, including the Cairngorms in central Scotland and the Saint Elias Mountains on the southern Alaska-Yukon border, as well as the Cape Breton Highlands. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.