Photo: Anne Morkill · Hall Island, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge · U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service · Public Domain
Passerines
McKay's Bunting
Plectrophenax hyperboreus
One of the rarest and most localized songbirds in North America, McKay's Bunting breeds almost exclusively on remote St. Matthew and Hall Islands in the Bering Sea, with virtually the entire global population wintering along the western Alaska coast. Males are strikingly white — more so than the closely related Snow Bunting — with minimal black in the wings.
Where to look
St. Matthew Island (breeding, very inaccessible); western Alaska coast from Nome to the Alaska Peninsula in winter. Occasionally appears on St. Paul Island (Pribilofs) during migration.
Habitat
Rocky tundra and beach wrack lines (breeding); snow-covered coastal fields and tundra (winter).
Diet
Seeds, especially beach grass; invertebrates in summer.
Natural history note
McKay's Bunting is so white in male breeding plumage that it was described as 'the snowflake bird' by early explorers — it is one of the palest passerines in North America.