Snow Bunting

Table

Snow Bunting – Accepted
1. 25 Nov 1945	HY	s spit Humboldt Bay HUM	1987-090	14	ph., MVZ 94376
2. 25 Nov 1960		Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1986-092	14
3. 04 Nov 1961		Sacramento NWR GLE	1986-096	11
4. 22 Dec 1965		Tule Lake NWR SIS	1987-314	14	SDNHM 35513
5. 20–21 Nov 1969		Arcata HUM	1986-307	14	HSU 7330
6. 14 Nov 1970		Scotty’s Castle INY	1986-051	10	ph.
7. 30 Jan 1971		Trinidad HUM	1977-153	4	ph.
8. 26–29 Oct 1971		Arcata HUM	1977-019	4
9. 29 Oct 1972		s spit Humboldt Bay HUM	1977-018	4
10. 11 Nov 1972		s spit Humboldt Bay HUM	1977-018	4
11. 02 Dec 1972–11 Jan 1973		Alameda ALA	1977-148	4
12-15. 08 Dec 1972–05 Jan 1973	≤ 4	Arcata HUM	1977-168	4
16. 25 Nov 1973		Bodega Bay SON	1977-149	4
17-18. 27 Dec 1973–16 Feb 1974	≤ 2	Honey Lake LAS	1987-197	14
19-22. 13 Dec 1974–15 Feb 1975	≤ 4	Lake Talawa DN	1987-243	14
23. 07–17 Nov 1975		Fairhaven HUM	1984-066	9
24. 16 Nov 1975		Bodega Bay SON	1975-035	3
25. 13 Nov 1976		Bodega Bay SON	1986-218	14
26-28. 06–11 Nov 1977	≤ 3	Lake Talawa DN	1978-007/1986-352	6,14
29. 17 Nov 1977		Pt. Reyes MRN	1978-008	4
30. 19 Nov–03 Dec 1977	HY	Monticello Dam YOL/NAP	1977-129	4	ph., Roberson (1980), Beadle & Rising (2002:309)
31. 11 May 1978		Cape Mendocino HUM	1978-107	5	ph., Luther et al. (1983)
32. 27 Oct 1978		Tule Lake NWR SIS	1986-240	14
33. 14 Nov–02 Dec 1978		MacKerricher State Park MEN	1979-007	5	ph.
34. 16 Nov 1978		Pt. Arena MEN	1987-159	14
35. 23–27 Dec 1978		Kelso Valley KER	1979-035	5
36. 22–25 Oct 1979		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1987-124	14
37. 30 Oct 1982		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1987-125	11
38. 04–24 Nov 1982		Pt. Reyes MRN	1984-260	10	ph.
39. 10–12 Nov 1982		Samoa Peninsula HUM	1988-113	14
40. 04–24 Nov 1984		Crescent City DN	1984-273	10
41. 22 Oct–01 Nov 1985	HY	Pt. Lobos MTY	1985-137	11	ph., Roberson (2002)
42. 14 Nov–03 Dec 1985		Lake Talawa DN	1985-163	11
43. 10 Nov 1986		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1987-007	12	ph.
44. 30 Nov 1986		Bodega Head SON	1987-075	12	ph.
45. 06–08 Dec 1986		King Salmon HUM	1986-453	12	ph.
46. 29 Nov 1987–05 Jan 1988		Bear River Ridge HUM	1987-402	13
47. 27 Oct 1988	AHY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1988-213	13
48. 29 Oct–01 Nov 1989	HY	Arcata HUM	1990-046	15	ph.
49-50. 30 Oct–11 Nov 1989	2	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1989-124	16
51. 03–04 Nov 1989	HY	Tunitas Creek mouth SM	1990-009	15	ph.
52. 15 Nov 1989		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1989-185	15
53-54. 02–10 Nov 1990	2	Bear River Ridge HUM	1991-065	16
55. 02 Dec 1990	HY	Lower Klamath NWR SIS	1991-180	16	ph.
56. 27 Dec 1990		Tule Lake NWR MOD	1991-108	16
57. 22 Oct 1991		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1992-010	19
58. 26–27 Oct 1991	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1992-013	17	ph.
59. 26–28 Oct 1991		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1992-014	17
60. 27–30 Oct 1991		Ft. Funston SF	1991-189	17
61-63. 28 Oct 1991		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1992-015	17
64-65. 05–06 Nov 1991	2	Crescent City DN	1993-064	17	ph.
66. 06–12 Nov 1991	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1991-183	17	ph., one of six reported
67. 18 Nov 1992		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1992-298	18
68-69. 22–25 Nov 1992	≤ 2	Bear River Ridge HUM	1993-105	18
70. 15 Jan 1993		Sierra Valley PLU	1993-167	19
71. 27 Dec 1993–16 Jan 1994		Crescent City DN	1994-065	19	ph.
72. 22–31 Oct 1995		Pt. Reyes MRN	1995-108	21	video
73-79. 10 Nov 1995–06 Jan 1996	≤ 8	Eel R. mouth HUM	1996-020	21
80-82. 22 Nov 1995	2	Lake Talawa DN	1995-134	21
83. 29 Oct 1996		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1997-038	23	ph.
84. 29–30 Oct 1996	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1997-039	23
85. 04–10 Nov 1996		Mattole R. mouth HUM	1997-047	23	see records not submitted
86. 25–26 Nov 1997		Asilomar State Beach MTY	1997-196	23
87. 28 Oct 1998		Arcata HUM	1999-055	24
88. 01 Nov 1998		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1999-035	24	ph.
89. 28 Oct 1999		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2000-024	25
90. 06 Nov 1999		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2000-025	25
91. 07 Nov 1999		Purisima Creek mouth SM	2000-035	25
92. 14–15 Nov 1999		Little R. mouth HUM	2000-077	25	ph., Rogers & Jaramillo (2002)
93. 13 Nov 2000	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	2001-029	26
94. 15–20 Nov 2000	HY	Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	2001-022	26
95. 10–11 Feb 2001		vic. Benton MNO	2001-059	27
96. 30 Oct–04 Dec 2002		n Humboldt Bay HUM	2002-191	28
97. 10 Nov 2002	HY	Pt. Cabrillo MEN	2003-021	28	ph.
98. 11–16 Nov 2002	HY	Laguna Pt. MEN	2002-196	28	Figs. 307, 436, ph.,
					Cole & McCaskie (2004)
99. 29 Oct 2003		Southeast Farallon I. SF	2003-158	29
100. 15 Nov 2003–21 Feb 2004	HY	San Clemente I. LA	2004-013	29	ph., NAB 58:144,
					Sullivan & Kershner (2005)
Snow Bunting – Not accepted, identification not established
26 Oct 1972		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1987-251	16,30
29 Oct–10 Nov 1974	3	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1988-035	14
11 Nov 1975		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1988-033	14
17 Nov 1975		Southeast Farallon I. SF	1988-034	14
19 Nov 1983		Cape Mendocino HUM	1992-208	19
04 Nov 1989		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1992-234	21
26 Oct 1991		Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	1992-023	17
10 Apr 1993		Silver Lake SBE	1993-117	19
28 Nov 1997		Venice Beach SM	2000-042	25
28 Nov 2002		Tilden Regional Park CC	2004-115	31
Snow Bunting – Not submitted
19 Oct 1960		Belvedere/Tiburon MRN			AFN 15:73
26 Nov 1968		n Humboldt Bay HUM		14	Yocom & Harris (1975)
09 Nov 1969	2	Bodega Bay SON		14	Parmeter (2000)
15 Nov 1971		Saratoga Spring SBE			AB 26:124
04 Nov 1975	2	Samoa HUM		14	AB 30:124
19–20 Nov 1975		Arcata bottoms HUM		14	AB 30:124
09 Nov 1977	3	n Humboldt Bay HUM		14	AB 32:255
09–14 Nov 1977		Cape Mendocino HUM		14	AB 32:255
19–20 Nov 1978		Cape Mendocino HUM		14
26 Oct 1980		Mad R. mouth HUM		14	Harris (2006)
24 Oct 1981		Southeast Farallon I. SF		14	Richardson et al. (2003)
07 Nov 1981		Arcata HUM		14
11 Nov 1981	2	Eel R. mouth HUM		14
22 Dec 1981		Big Lagoon HUM		14	AB 36:329
23 Oct 1982		Salmon Cr. mouth SON		14	AB 37:222, published as 23 Nov 1982 by Parmeter (2000)
30 Nov–03 Dec 1986		Arcata HUM		14	photographed
24 Nov 1988		King Salmon HUM		14
22 Oct–17 Nov 1991	5	Pt. Reyes MRN			AB 46:147, see table entry 66
10 Jan 1993		Gazelle Flats SIS			Harris (2006)
12 Nov 1994		Morro Bay SLO			FN 49:103
28 Oct–10 Nov 1996	3-4	HUM			FN 51:117, see table entry 85
10 Nov 2000		Patricks Pt. HUM			NAB 55:100
08 Jan 2002		Shasta Valley NWR SIS			NAB 56:221
16 Nov 2003		Sea Ranch SON			NAB 58:140

Figures

Figure 307. Snow Buntings that reach California tend to be first-fall birds on the northern and central coasts. Typical was this first-fall female photographed on 14 November 2002 at MacKerricher State Park, Mendocino County (2002-196; David W. Nelson).

Figure 434. Seasonal occurrence of the Snow Bunting in California. Many records appear to involve individuals that overshoot their normal wintering grounds and then return north shortly thereafter. The earliest fall date is 22 October and the latest winter date is 21 February (but see Appendix H). Most unusual, temporally, is the 11 May 1978 record of a male in Humboldt County.

Figure 435. Distribution of 100 Snow Buntings accepted through 2003. Most have occurred along the coast south to Monterey County. Most remarkable of the geographic outliers is the record of a first-year male that spent the winter of 2003/2004 on San Clemente Island, Los Angeles County, although the CBRC has since accepted a late fall record from the same island (see Appendix H).

Figure 436. This first-fall female Snow Bunting, photographed on 13 November 2002 at Laguna Point in Mendocino County, shows off the exquisitely long primaries that carried it well south of its normal winter range (2002-196; Matthew Matthiessen).

Snow Bunting

SNOW BUNTING Plectrophenax nivalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Accepted: 100 (89%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 12	CBRC review: all records¹
Not submitted/reviewed: 35	Large color image: see Figures

This hardy bird breeds largely above the Arctic Circle and has a circumpolar distribution. The northern limit of the North American winter range extends from western Alaska and British Columbia east to Newfoundland. The southern limit reaches from western Washington and northeastern Oregon east to coastal North Carolina. In the Old World, birds winter from central Eurasia east to Siberia, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The species occurs casually or accidentally across the central and southern United States and has reached the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda, islands of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and northern Africa.

California’s first Snow Bunting was a first-fall female collected on 25 November 1945 on the south spit of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County (Sholes 1946). From the dozens of occurrences that have since accumulated, it appears that many of the state’s records probably involve birds that overshoot the normal wintering grounds and then return north within several days. More than half have occurred between 22 October and 30 November, and all but a few of the remaining records are from December and January (Figure 434). A preponderance of late fall/early winter records compared with midwinter through early spring is a pattern encountered even where Snow Buntings occur regularly in large numbers (e.g., in New England, Veit and Peterson 1993). The only record later than 21 February is of a male photographed on the remarkably late date of 11 May 1978 at Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County.

Most Snow Buntings have been found along the coast south to Southeast Farallon Island, as well as on Pt. Reyes in Marin County, with a few more along the coast south to Pt. Lobos in Monterey County (Figure 435). Far to the south, a most unexpected winter record involves a first-year male seen from 15 November 2003 to 21 February 2004 on San Clemente Island, Los Angeles County; see also Appendix H. Inland, seven have been recorded in the Klamath Basin, four elsewhere in the Cascades and Great Basin regions, one in the Sacramento Valley, one in the inner Coast Ranges, and two near the northern edge of the Mojave Desert. Groupings of up to four birds have occasionally appeared, and on 5 January 1996 an exceptional flock of eight appeared at the mouth of the Eel River in Humboldt County.

¹Off the review list 1981–1982

[MCKAY’S BUNTING Plectrophenax hyperboreus Ridgway, 1884 – see hypothetical section]