December 5, 2010 - Feathery Snowstorm
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

For us a winter trip south often means a journey to Florida. For snow buntings south just might be Pennsylvania. These appropriately named birds are mostly white with brown on their faces and back and black tails. Their small flocks swirl into fields like feathery snowstorms, flashing white as they turn their undersides toward you in unison before disappearing onto the ground. When icy winds and snow blast their Arctic homelands, these sparrows head to southern Canada and the northern United States. That means a possible visit to Pennsylvania. Since these seed-eaters forage on the ground, they are often overlooked until a flock flies up like leaves caught on the winter wind, a place they seem right at home. Their musical notes, even in winter are, as naturalist John Burroughs wrote, “the voice of good cheer and contentment.”

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.