Justification This species has a very small population confined to a small breeding range on just four islands. However, as it is currently increasing its range and numbers, it is currently considered Near Threatened.

Family/Sub-family Emberizidae

Species name author Ridgway, 1884

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Identification

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

6,000

unknown

5,400 km²

Yes

Range & population Plectrophenax hyperboreus breeds on the Hall and St Matthew islands (totalling 300 km²) in the Bering Sea, USA, and occasionally on St Lawrence and probably St Paul islands. It winters along the west Alaska coast from Kotzebue to the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, irregularly on the south coast of Alaska, occasionally to the Aleutian Islands and accidentally in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington and Oregon, USA. At the mean breeding density for Snow Buntings P. nivalis (4.68 pairs/km²), the maximum population on Hall and St Matthew is 2,800 individuals. Even at the highest recorded density for P. nivalis in North America (10.2 pairs/km²), the total population would be no more than 6,000 birds at the beginning of the breeding season. The actual population is almost certainly smaller because not all habitat on Hall and St Matthew is suitable.

Ecology: On the breeding grounds, it inhabits vegetated and rocky tundra, mostly in coastal lowlands, and typically nests on shingle beaches. It winters on coastal marshes, shingle beaches and agricultural fields with exposed vegetation.

Threats Although under no immediate threat, it is susceptible to devastation by any introduced rats Rattus, weasels Mustela or foxes Vulpes.

Conservation measures underway None are known.

Conservation measures proposed A survey of the breeding grounds is needed to determine population density and to assess whether populations are stable or threatened. Ensure continued protection of the breeding grounds.

References Lyon and Montgomerie (1995).

Text account compilers Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), David Capper (BirdLife International), Isabel Isherwood (BirdLife International), Andrew O'Brien (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Greg Butcher (National Audubon Society)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Plectrophenax hyperboreus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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