This little bird is a 'lifer' for most of us

A LITTLE MALE snow bunting flew into town to spend part of the day last weekend in front of the Newcastle Hotel at the Oceanfront.

This sparrow-like bird, an occasional winter visitor here, walked around munching hungrily on grass seeds in the hotel lawn by the Boardwalk.

Casual passersby probably didn't notice this unlikely tourist, because it blended so well with the grass turning winter-brown.

It was as if the bunting came to town to coincide its visit with an autographing event for author Scott Bastian. Bastian, of Friedens, Pa., was here to sign his new book, "Virginia Beach Naturally," at the AtlanticWildfowl Heritage Museum on 12th Street right next door to the Newcastle.

It was Bastian's son, Andy Bastian, who noticed the snow bunting first from the window of the family's hotel room in the Newcastle. Bastian said flocks of snow buntings were regular winter visitors in Pennsylvania.

"I've seen as many as about 300 snow buntings in exceptional flocks," he said

Snow buntings range as far south as the Virginia coast in winter, but not often. In fact, it was a life bird for avid birders Karen and Tom Beatty. Tom Beatty is the director of the wildfowl museum, and Karen Beatty was at the museum for the autographing that day.

Karen Beatty said she gave Andy Bastian "a hug for finding a lifer for us!"

At first Beatty wondered if the bird was all right because it didn't fly but kept on eating when she got close. Later, she learned from a couple of friends who are bird watchers that the snow bunting is very approachable.

And that meant that those of us coming to buy books and meet Scott Bastian got the bonus of perhaps seeing a lifer, too.

Karen Beatty took those who were interested out on the Boardwalk on a snow bunting tour. The bird cooperated fully, continuing to dine for most of the afternoon, occasionally raising its pretty head to pose for Beatty and company.

This time of year, the little critter is brown and white. Although it is sparrow-like, if you look at it closely, it is unlike any sparrow you've ever seen, particularly its brown and white striped back.

When they are in their breeding colors, male snow buntings are a beautiful white trimmed in black, perhaps to blend in with the stark snow white of their Arctic spring and summer home.

Like snow geese, a flock of snow buntings can look like a drift of snow or a snow flurry from afar, according to the website, All About Birds at www.allaboutbirds.org. Snow buntings are so cold-hardy that the males return to breeding grounds in early April when the temperatures are still below zero-

In fact, they nest farther north than any other songbird, close to the Arctic Circle, so we should feel lucky to have had a visit at all.

Pam Monahan photographed an almost white goose with some gray feathers and an orange-black bill. It was hanging out with some Canada geese at the Honey Bee Golf Course recently. Such geese have been seen before and no one is sure exactly what these mixes are - crossbreeds, throwbacks or partial albinos (or leucosticte in the bird world). Does anybody know what these birds could be?

Beverly Hills sent a photo of a handsome praying mantis on some pink chrysanthemums at her Kings Grant home.

Elaine Scholl-Iglecia photographed a spider with an "orange bulbous body" about the size of a marble under her deck railing at her Kempsville home. It turned out to be a marbled orb weaver that the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences website said was "one of our showiest orb weavers."

Woody Stephens sent a photo of a sweet little pied-bill grebe that arrived on Thalia Creek recently. This is a tiny duck-like bird with a longish neck. Stephens, who keeps a daily watch on the comings and goings around Thalia, says "more and more hooded mergansers are showing up" and he has seen his first buffleheads of the year. See the mergansers in Thursday Beacon's Close Encounters.

Diane Hobbs has a "lone female hummingbird" that continues to visit Hobbs' feeder in Thalia. She showed up very hungry about three weeks ago. "We love hearing her chirps every day."

Marcia Pierce snapped a photo of a white duck with a puffy topknot of feathers, swimming in the water around the Surf Rider restaurant off Shore Drive. Turns out the duck is a domestic breed called a white-crested duck.

Baltimore orioles that have spent previous winters at Marcella Beard's home in Suffolk are beginning to arrive again this year, Beard said.

John Koehler photographed his wife Patty Koehler on the beach. She was holding a string of conch egg cases that looks to be almost 2 feet long.

Harvey Seargeant photographed a curmudgeonly great blue heron perched on a piling on Baines Creek in Portsmouth. See it in Thursday Beacon's Close Encounters.