---
title: "Snow Bunting"
description: "Plectrophenax nivalis — Birds. The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/snow-bunting
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Snow Bunting

> Plectrophenax nivalis — Birds. The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae.

- Scientific name: *Plectrophenax nivalis*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `mountains` (Mountains), `arctic` (Arctic)
- iNaturalist observations: 19315
- Wikidata: [Q26416](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26416)
- iNaturalist taxon: [117059](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/117059)

## Names

- en: Snow Bunting
- de: Schneeammer
- es: Escribano Nival
- fr: Plectrophane des neiges
- nl: Sneeuwgors
- pt: Escrevedeira-das-neves
- pl: Śnieguła zwyczajna

## Countries with the most observations

US (5004), CA (4771), RU (3832), IS (837), GB (638), GL (580), SJ (547), DE (280), FR (219), NO (192), DK (145), FI (137)

## Summary

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.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_bunting

## Photo

![Snow Bunting](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/snow-bunting/medium.jpg)

Photo: Dario Taraborelli · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142501881

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/snow-bunting?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).