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Two Snow Buntings Raised Second Broods in the First Such Record From the Canadian Arctic

Snow bunting chicks in a nest in Nunavut
Research · Reproduction & development

Two female snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) in Iqaluit, Canada, Nunavut, produced second broods after already successfully fledging young earlier in the same breeding season. The observation, published in January 2026, is the first known record of successful double brooding by the species in the North American Arctic.

The two females were among 73 nesting females monitored in Iqaluit during the 2024 field season and therefore represented 2.7% of the females found nesting. Both belonged to the earliest-nesting group in the population. After their first broods fledged, they initiated a second clutch and successfully hatched or fledged young from the later attempt.

Snow Buntings at high Arctic latitudes normally face a short breeding season. The authors note that earlier spring melt and later autumn freeze-up can lengthen the period available for reproduction, while urban environments may further alter local conditions. They present the Iqaluit cases as evidence that breeding decisions in the species can be flexible under unusually long or favourable seasons.

Sources and image credit

  1. Rokitnicki, P., Tranze-Drabinia, E., Coxson, W., Kemp, A., Dow, R. E., McKinnon, E., Semeniuk, C. A. D., Vézina, F., & Love, O. P. (2026). Double Duty: First Record of Double Brooding in Snow Buntings in the Canadian Arctic. ARCTIC, 78(2). https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic82702Primary research note published 26 January 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Two of 73 female Snow Buntings monitored in Iqaluit during the 2024 breeding season successfully initiated second nesting attempts after fledging their first broods, providing the first known record of successful double brooding by the species in the North American Arctic.

Image: CambridgeBayWeather / Wikimedia Commons — snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) chicks in a nest at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada, 6 August 2015. Illustrative Arctic nesting photograph, not from the Iqaluit study; cropped to 16:9. · CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source

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