Snow Bunting

Description:

The snow bunting has the most northerly distribution of any passerine bird, and has actually been seen at the North Pole by a surfacing US submarine. It's quite large for a bunting, and the males are easily recognised by their white and black breeding plumage. The female has streaks of brown instead of black. They possess a beautiful song, which I was lucky enough to hear! The second pic is the male belting out his tune.

Habitat:

Circumpolar distribution, breeds mostly on tundra, open moors and mountains. Arctic specialist. It does migrate though, and can be seen in the UK during the winter (though I've never seen one).

Notes:

I found a few snow buntings when we stopped in Ny-Alesund in Svalbard. They had such a sweet song, it was the first bird song I had heard in many weeks (since you don't hear many out at sea..!).