[mou] Kanabec Snow Buntings

[Alt, Mark]

Here is a link to my blog entry of a video of feeding Snow Buntings in Kanabec County..

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&Mytoken=FF91BA23-E888-487F-A01


This flock of over 100 Snow Buntings is coming to a feeder in Kenabec County. The birds feed for 2-3 minutes, then flush and fly to the top of a large tree 1/4 mile away. When they are feeding,t hey are cramming millet into their mouths until they can no longer close their beaks, when one bird gives an alarm call, they all lift off. Adults can be seen (with the clean small black patch on an otherwise white wing) and first winter birds (with the black also in secondaries and tertials). Variability in body plumage is also evident, some birds have a buffy wash on their sides, others are white underneath. Some birds have dark foreheads and chest-band collars, others have lighter tan coloring in these areas. A Shrike gave chase to the flock and managed to separate 4 buntings from the flock. The 4 birds flew higher and higher, keeping themselves above the shrike, when we lost sight of the buntings, it seems the shrike gave up and it took off to the north. So buntings are flighty and nervous, but it seems it is with good reason, they are not that high up the food chain.

Mark Alt
Brooklyn Center, MN