[2] The snow bunting was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[4][5] The genus name Plectrophenax is from Ancient Greek plektron, "cock's spur", and phenax "imposter", and the specific nivalis is Latin for "snow-white".

[5][12] A hybrid with a Lapland longspur was photographed at St. Lewis Inlet, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, during spring migration in April 2011.

In the spring, the buntings do not moult as many other passerines do; instead the breeding colours come with the wearing and abrasion of the brown fringes to show just the black centres of the feathers.

[14] Another species that it may occur with is the horned lark, although that has a conspicuous black-and-yellow head pattern, a longer, partly black tail and no white on the wings.

The song becomes an indicator of the parental care qualities of the male, since having an effective foraging behaviour will provide a better probability of survival of the nestlings.

Each song is composed of similar and dissimilar figures that create different motifs that will alternate and repeat, resulting in a unique pattern for every male individual.

[7] In the winter, they seek open habitats such as farms, barren fields, and lakeshores, where they feed on seeds in the ground.

This early migration could be explained by the fact that this species is highly territorial and the quality of the nesting area is crucial to their reproductive success.

[7] The birds overwinter in northern temperate zones in open fields and forms moving flocks that can number into the hundreds.

The migration is nocturnal and the birds are able to detect the geomagnetic field of the Earth in order to guide themselves to their breeding and overwinter territory.

[23] Right before the breeding season, snow buntings undergo significant physiological changes to prepare for their journey to higher Arctic regions.

During the summer their diet includes seeds of crowberry, bilberry, bistort, dock, poppy, purple saxifrage and invertebrates such as butterflies, true bugs, flies, wasps and spiders.

Snow buntings also prey on basking spiders by throwing rocks around and less regularly they will try to catch invertebrates in flight.

[7] Snow buntings have a monogamous behaviour in which the males have a positive impact in the reproductive success of the female, although they are not essential to the survival of the nestling.

[26] The nest sites provide safety but bring other challenges to snow buntings, since in rock cracks and fissures the microclimate could be harsh, the incubation time might be longer for this species and there is a risk that the lower temperatures kill the embryo.

This display will consist of very loud calls, the male will lower its head down and will turn completely to face the newcomer.

Studies have shown that warmer springs trigger an early breeding behaviour in the snow buntings that mismatches the peak of their food sources, leading to a lower success rate of the hatchlings.