ABSTRACT
Snow Buntings provisioning their nestlings in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland flew up to 520 m to forage in localized habitats. Invertebrates on snow patch margins in two habitats were exploited, but those trapped on the snow surface were not. The birds’ use of habitats on snow margins was probably related to weather conditions. There was little evidence of specialization in food resources available on snow patches.
Acknowledgements
The author held a Schedule One licence while carrying out this work. I thank the British Trust for Ornithology and the (then) Nature Conservancy for their co-operation and interest, S.D. Langton for statistical consultancy, C.D. Owen for field assistance and the late Dr. A. Watson for encouragement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.