Tag Archives: Snow Bunting

Snow Buntings, October 24, 2020

Snow Buntings

Snow Buntings (click to see the larger version)

Snow Buntings are one of the last fall migrant passerines we see at Montrose. Two showed up in the Dunes on October 24, the first of the season. Montrose Snow Buntings can be tame and approachable, as the photo suggests. The best way to see them is to check the Dunes, especially the more open sandy areas at the south end. I’ve included a link to my eBird checklist for the day below.

eBird Checklist
October 24, 2020

Snow Buntings, March 10, 2016

I lugged my Questar out to Montrose this morning, hoping to see waterfowl and other things on the water or flying by. Lake Michigan was nice and flat and the visibility was good, but except for Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, and a few Horned Grebes I saw little. More interesting and unexpected were 2 Snow Buntings playing around on the Fishhook Pier. Snow Buntings are regular at Montrose from late fall to early winter but are less common in spring. I guess they have to go back north at some point.

Rough-legged Hawk, November 22, 2015

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting (click to see a larger version)

I had a Rough-legged Hawk fly south over Montrose Point this morning. Rough-legged Hawks are rare at Montrose; I think I’ve seen fewer than 10 in the 35+ years I’ve been birding there. I saw the bird just after sunrise and it was a couple of hundred feet high so it must have started migrating in the dark.

Other birds seen at Montrose this chilly a.m. include:

American Pipit – 2
Fox Sparrow – 2
Savannah Sparrow – 1
Lapland Longspur – 5
Snow Bunting – ~8
Common Redpoll – 3
Pine Siskin – 1

It was so cold this morning the lake was steaming, something we usually don’t see until well into winter.

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan Steaming (click to see a larger version)

November 6, 2015

Given the strong west winds I expected the dunes to be full of Short-eared Owls this morning but alas I could only muster one. Other birds seen or heard at Montrose this a.m. include:

Wilson’s Snipe – 1 in the western panne
American Woodcock – 1 flushed from the Magic Hedge
American Pipit – 1 flying over the beach
Lapland Longspur – 3 in the dunes
Snow Bunting – 1 in the dunes
Rusty Blackbird – 1 in the western panne
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1
Pine Siskin – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 3
Fox Sparrow – 1

West winds in fall do a birder good.

LeConte’s Sparrow, November 3, 2015

LeConte's Sparrow

LeConte’s Sparrow (click to see the larger version)

I had a latish LeConte’s Sparrow this morning in the grass at the base of the willows at the east end of the beach. I have had LeConte’s in November in Lincoln Park but not very often so this is unusual. There were good numbers of other birds in the dunes, mostly American Robins and Savannah Sparrows but I also had a flyover Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur. No Short-eared Owl this a.m. I saw nothing else of note in a short walk around the point but I didn’t stay long.

Short-eared Owl and Franklin’s Gulls, October 29, 2015

Snow Buntings

Snow Buntings (click to see the larger version)

The gusty west winds produced a Short-eared Owl and 9 Franklin’s Gulls this morning, October 29. The owl flushed out of the dunes and the Franklin’s flew south over the east end of the beach. I only spent an hour in the field so I imagine there were more Franklin’s moving. I also had a Greater Yellowlegs on the beach, a Wilson’s Snipe in the dunes, 2 Snow Buntings, and 15 or so Pine Siskins at the point. The Snow Buntings posed obligingly on the fishing pier for a photograph (try to ignore the graffiti).