SNOWFLAKES ARE FLYING
BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
This bird brings winter, cold winds, snow, lightness, hardiness, tenacity and survival to mind. They thrive in the harshest conditions and are a thrill for new birdwatchers and old-timers alike. They spend the winter on Nantucket but they don't skulk in the cover of forests and swamps. No, we find them in the most exposed locations. So exposed, we humans don't get to know them all that well because we don't have the fortitude to hang around and study them.

Snow Buntings

The official name for them is Snow Bunting and their nickname is 'snowflake.' Their scientific name is hard to get your tongue around, Plectrophenax nivalis. That jaw-breaking genus name translates to a false rooster's claw or hind-claw. It gives you a clue that they are close relatives of another group of ground finches known as 'longspurs.'

We have Leonhard Hess Stejneger to thank for that name. He was a Norwegian zoologist, but he came to the U.S. in 1880 when Spencer Fullerton Baird, who founded the Woods Hole Marine Laboratory just across Nantucket Sound, encouraged him to come and work at the Smithsonian Institution. Stejneger made numerous expeditions to the Arctic including the outer Aleutians and Kamchatka where I went in September of 2006. As hostile an environment as that is today, I can just imagine how difficult a trip it was around 1890. He spent the last 60 years of his life working at the Smithsonian, finishing as Head Curator for Biology when he passed away in 1943.

When many of you think of 'buntings' you may imagine the stunning blue Indigo Buntings that appear here in April. Snow buntings are mainly white, just a bit larger, over six inches from beak to tail, and appear rather plump. They arrive on Nantucket in mid-October and depart by the end of April. We consider them common from December through the end of February. But have you ever seen one? Probably not. Strange since I just mentioned they are 'common.'

To find Snow Buntings on Nantucket you generally have to go to the beach and you have to do so when it is not fashionable. Recently I saw a flock of over 50 on the Galls when returning from Great Point. These birds exploded out of the dunes and beach grass as we drove by and then sparkled in the air like their snowflake nicknames. They flew around us in a big loose flock, bounding up and down in the air and we could hear their rippling, twittering call notes in the chilly air.

Snow Buntings nest so far north there are no trees in which to nest and not even twigs from which to build one. They nest on the ground in a hole or cranny, forming the framework with bits of grass and then lining it with gull or ptarmigan feathers or even those from a Snowy Owl.

Although they can be found here until the end of April, the birds remaining then are all females or young birds. The breeding males head for Greenland and Iceland very soon, arriving there as early as February, often before the winter night has ended and the snow is still in heavy drifts. The females and males in their first breeding cycle straggle in through the end of April and even May.

Both parents must work together to raise the chicks that are hatched in their ground nest and are quite helpless for up to two weeks. The chicks and eggs are prey for Arctic Foxes and even Lemmings, small rodents that feast on shells and contents alike.

This is a time when the sun shines 24 hours a day. It's thought that these creatures sleep only a few hours a day when the sun is at its lowest. The males tend the early nest departures and the females manage their slower siblings. Snow Buntings gather in large flocks in the high Arctic through August into early September before beginning what is for many, their first flight south. Most of the birds arriving on Nantucket have traveled thousands of miles including hundreds over chilly water.

Most recently, a flock has been seen at the site where Sankaty Lighthouse used to be. The trick to studying them is to wait until they land. Then you can see them scuttling along the ground. They are among our whitest birds. When you see them in flight, check to see the color of their tails. If you see dark tails, you may have found some Horned Larks or Lapland Longspurs mixed in.

When our snows do arrive, conditions are just right for these flying snowflakes. They take snow baths and even appear to swim through the snow at times. Whenever I'm with a group that sees them, it always seems there are several for whom it is a new bird. People always seem amazed that such a delicate creature can thrive in such a harsh environment. The

sport of birding has many exciting surprises for us. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781-259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net