Snow Buntings

Today was a beautiful, sunny cold afternoon. There is still some snow cover, so I decided to stop by Mount Comfort Airport to see what might be happening. I had seen one Snow Bunting here last week, and thought I might get lucky. Sure enough, a large (~50) flock was feeding on the cracked corn along 500W. Shortly after I parked, the flock eagerly returned. Their calls sounded contented; the -10F windchill didn't seem to be of concern. Of course, there were Horned Larks in the mix, plus a handful of Lapland Longspurs. When I had last posted on Snow Buntings (five years ago), I had tagged them with my "Sparrows" tag. Now they are considered to be a in their own family with the longspurs (Calcariidae).