November 27, 2011 - Vanishing Act
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

A flock of snow buntings takes to the air, flying up from the grass in a flurry of flashing wings. They twist and turn flying up and back down before landing again farther away. As they settle back to earth, these black, white and brown birds vanish from view, well camouflaged in the grass. Only a pair of binoculars and a bit of patience reveals their presence. Summer residents of the Arctic tundra, snow buntings spend a lot of time on the ground. Working their way across a field picking up seeds birds in the rear suddenly rise up and fly over the flock to take the lead in a leap-frog manner. When they finish foraging, the flock rises in a swirling, undulating pattern, disappearing then reappearing depending on whether their white or dark parts are turned toward observers.

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