Snowbird

Snowbird is the het ship between Qrow Branwen and Winter Schnee from the RWBY fandom.

Volume 3
Qrow's dislike of Atlas, Winter's birthplace, is brazen enough for him to immediately get into a brawl with Winter upon encountering her and personal enough for him to back down at the last second just for the chance to humiliate Winter in front of her superior, James Ironwood. He also shows a level of cockiness when he baits Winter into attacking him. Winter, although lady-like and dignified, loses her restraint when provoked by Qrow. While in battle, they did not have any malicious intent towards each other but rather, is shown to be more of on how the two tend to tease each other. Upon closer inspection, the two seem to be enjoying themselves as they can be seen smirking throughout the altercation.

After tutoring Weiss in her summoning. Both Qrow and Winter were framed as role models for their respective relatives; Qrow being a role model for his niece Ruby Rose and Winter being a role model for her younger sister Weiss Schnee. The episode shows the audience the parallels between Qrow and Winter as respective role models for their younger relatives, advising them about why they (Ruby and co.) should keep training to be stronger. Both Ruby and Weiss idolize their older family members to an extent and try to mimic them in appearance and behavior.

Volume 7
It is revealed that Qrow doesn't necessarily disrespect Winter and is actually quite terrified of her when necessary.

In the episode "A New Approach", Winter quickly addresses Qrow regarding how he chaperones the kids to which he replies that they are uncontrollable once they have their minds set on something. This scene parallels the skit from the Chibi episode "Monsters of Rock" wherein the two are portrayed as the group's parental figures.

It is revealed in "Sparks", that the only reason why Qrow wanted Ironwood to dismiss Winter was because he did not want her getting involved with The Inner Circle's dangerous mission albeit not knowing that Winter was already in the know regarding The Maidens and was Ironwood's personal candidate to be the next Winter Maiden.

Volume 8
Qrow and Winter briefly saw each other when him and Robyn escaped from jail, and they ran into her and Marrow. After looking over Qrow's direction, Winter then states smugly says "Speaking of help," followed by the two making up a plan together with the escaped convicts.

RWBY Chibi
In "Mortal Frenemies", Qrow amuses himself at the expense of Winter over petty squabbles. Professor Ozpin reminds her that the two are on the same side, so Winter proposes a truce, which does not last long. As they continue to fight, Ozpin remarks that "flirting was a lot less destructive" back in his day.

In "Battle of the Bands", Qrow and Winter are seen sitting next to each other as judges of the contest alongside Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck. Even though Winter could have sat away from Qrow (if she truly despised him), she still chose to sit beside him, lightly nodding her head to the beat of the music.

In "Monsters of Rock", Qrow and Winter take the kids to the local escape room facility wherein Winter took charge of looking after Qrow's nieces, whereas Qrow took charge of taking care of the boys. This shows the characters present in the skit as a married couple taking their kids out for fun. Winter also expresses her concern for Qrow after Yang breaks the wall of the room they were in.

In "Cool as Coco", Qrow calls four other people for a "Cool People Meeting", in which these people include: Cinder Fall, Lie Ren, Neptune Vasilias and Winter Schnee herself. He calls on her attention first and proceeds to praise her display of tough love on her younger sister, to which she confirms and expresses great pride in. After Coco Adel returns from her mission back to Beacon Academy, a crowd of people quickly swarm after her, much to the dismay of the people present in the "Cool People Meeting". This is then followed up by Winter running after Coco, demanding she tells her her secret to being cool, much to Qrow's surprise.

Fanon
After spotting the similarities the two share regarding their troubled lives, fans have been wanting an episode wherein the two would talk things just between the two of them. Regarding their similar problems, situations, and how both have grown up in their own ways during their in-show four years of separation. It is also hoped for that once they talk things out, the animosity the two had for each other will die down and the two will once again make amends and work together. Other than the two sharing similar problems and aesthetics overall, many fans agree that Qrow would be the perfect partner for Winter and vice versa since Qrow could teach Winter how to be her own person and have fun/lighten up whereas Winter can guide Qrow on how to keep his life right on track.

Many shippers believe that Qrow and Winter, were at one point, a couple, or at the very least, have slept together sometime in the past. And that the only reasons as to why they have developed their animosity towards each other is because Winter joined Ironwood in the military and because Qrow became a drunkard. Fans are still waiting for Winter's reaction/comments on Qrow sobering up, alongside what she would say to him regarding him keeping an eye out for her sister and her schoolmates throughout their journey. As well as what Qrow's reaction would be to finding out about her fight with Cinder. Many are also waiting for the two to have a rematch of their interrupted battle in Volume 3. The spin-off series, RWBY Chibi, only added further fuel for the ship throughout the cameos they both appear in, and most notably during the episode centering around the two titled "Mortal Frenemies".

A popular scenario featuring the two in fan fiction is Winter meeting up with Qrow in a bar, either because Ironwood assigned her to fetch him or because she did so on her own. Many shippers are now also hoping that in either volume 9 or 10 the two will try to comfort each other since they are both now grieving the loss of their family members.

On AO3, Snowbird is Winter's most written for pairing and Qrow's second most written.

RWBY Chibi
"I wonder how Qrow's doing with the boys..."

- Winter to herself, "Monsters of Rock"

"You know, flirting was a lot less destructive back in my day."

- Ozpin regarding Qrow and Winter, "Mortal Frenemies"

Songs

 * Qrow vs. Winter | Jeff Williams
 * played during their fight in Volume 3
 * Free Bird (Solo Verse) | Lynyrd Skynyrd
 * The song whose solo verse their fight was made in-sync to

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Qrow/Winter tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Qrow/Winter tag on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

TWITTER
 * Snowbird Compilation account on Twitter (Inactive)

DISCORD
 * Snowbird server on Discord

Trivia

 * Their color schemes heavily compliment each other. With Qrow's color scheme being black, red, and gray whereas Winter's color scheme being white, blue, and gray.
 * They were designed to have an opposing motif/aesthetic.
 * The first time Qrow and Winter are seen interacting with each other on-screen on both the main series as well as on Chibi were on the third episodes of the third seasons.
 * The two are seen facing off in the Volume 3 opening and are seen together in the Volume 7 opening.
 * The two can be seen facing each other in the last page of the RWBY: Manga.
 * Jason Liebrecht (Qrow) and Elizabeth Maxwell (Winter) are currently in a relationship.
 * Maxwell was the one to encourage Liebrecht to audition as Qrow's replacement voice.
 * Vic Mignogna (Qrow; formerly) is also an avid supporter of the ship and would frequently make skits with Elizabeth during panels.
 * Vic Mignogna and Elizabeth Maxwell (Winter) have also played a couple in Star Trek Continues.
 * Miles Luna, one of the main writers of the show, was the one to give this ship its name.
 * The voice actors of Team RWBY as well as Miles and Kerry themselves comment on the not-so-subtle sexual tension between the two
 * Their fight was made to be in-sync with the solo verse in "Free Bird", the signature love song by the band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
 * Both the main writers of the show, Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross, are avid supporters of the pairing.
 * According to Maxwell, Winter's type of men are those who are "Tall, dark, handsome, avian...and with a really big 'scythe'."
 * The cover of the official Volumes 1 to 6 DVD features Qrow and Winter facing each other.
 * During the February 2019 update of the mobile game, Qrow was given a Valentine's Outfit called "Dandy Qrow". A year later, during the February 2020 update, Winter was given a matching Valentine's Outfit called "Queen Winter" with the following caption: "Winter can fight with Qrow all day as mortal frenemies!".
 * On Valentine's Day of 2020, The title "Mortal Frenemies" is distributed to players that logged in during that day. RWBY_AA_Valentines_2020_Title.png
 * The notification for the title reads "Cold Heart | Hot Love: We'll underline all the...'good parts.'".

Gallery

 * Snowbird/Gallery

Variations

 * Arctic Jailbirds — the ship between Qrow Branwen, Winter Schnee, and Robyn Hill